Horrible news - Grand Gateway

Oh Gosh.. I just read Shanghaiist which reported 2 young people (lovers) who committed suicide in Grand Gateway Mall. Luckily they had the good sense not to post the graphic photos on their site (you can still see them via a link though which I did NOT click on, I don't think I want to have nightmares as I get freaked out easily). Stories like this really freak me out and sadden me because they are rare-ish, and unusual, and tragic. Car or plane crashes or murders where people die are also tragic of course.. but those people who died had no say in the matter and those sorts of scenes are seen so often in movies I guess you kinda get desensitized to them... whereas suicide is another kettle of fish.. but not only that, to do it in such a (crowded) public place is also IMHO a bit selfish.. Now all those onlookers who saw them do it will probably need post-traumatic stress/grief counselling. :(

Something similar happened in Sydney in Chatswood Westfield (a large shopping mall in the north shore) and every time I walked near the spot where 'it' happened I felt chills run through my body and I could never ever get the thought or image out of my head no matter how much I tried. I just shudder thinking about. It's just horrible horrible for all involved.. :(

RIP to the young couple though. :(

Dain Ti Hill dinner and Electronic Translator

The reason why I haven't uploaded any pics for ages to my blog is because I've been having computer problems. Well not really problems as such but it's just running extremely slowly, it's driving me mad. I should get it checked out but have heard that people that deal with Macs in Shanghai aren't very knowledgeable. Ugh. Anyway despite this I'll do a post with a few pics.

Last night we had dinner in Dain Ti Hill in Metro City. We've been there a few times, but always at the one in Grand Gateway. They are on both the 4th and 5th floors in that building. We had a seat right next to the window, that look out of the huge glass/metal 'globe'.

We ordered a couple of dishes.




Tuna Salad



Chinese-style sushi with prawn, mango, and special sauce



Chicken with pine nuts (except we think they forgot the nuts!)



Fried fish



After that we went to the basement to look for an electronic dictionary/translator for the hubby. He's been going on about getting one for ages and we finally got one. We were there till after 10pm, when the stores were all closing! The one he got is a Besta CD-900. It cost 1300 RMB. It has a full colour screen. The one with a black and white (green and black?) screen cost 850. It is quite a big difference in price but we figure the colour one was better for a few reasons: the colour screen, the much brighter screen, the pen/stylus is stored inside so it won't accidently fall out, it has the ability to add SD cards later which translate between Chinese and European languages, the battery is like a mobile phone battery and fully rechargeable (the B&W one uses AAA batteries).

There are so many features it's mind boggling. It even has this cute picture dictionary. But the main feature of it that's one of the best is the ability to write characters. So if you see a character and you don't know what it is you just write it in and it tells you on screen what it is, the definition, translation, and how to pronounce it. There is audio accompanying all the thousands of words stored in there. It is also an MP3 player and more.

It's pretty cool. I wouldn't mind one for myself except I wanted traditional characters as well, and that model cost more than 3000! Such a huge price difference. Besides, I found myself getting distracted by cameras (as I'm a camera nut). When hubby was looking I wandered to the Canon camera stand next door and asked if I could have a look at their SLR cameras. It's such a difference to hold one of those instead of a small point & shoot camera! I tried the EOS 400d and EOS 40d and there is a huge difference between those two as well. I asked hubby which one I should 'get' (hypothetically speaking) and he said the smaller one. He said, quote, "The bigger one is a big man camera. It's just a big penis extension." Hahaha. Erm. As you can tell he is not into cameras at all. He is happy with his Kodak p&s camera that he got free from work!







In other news, the weather is getting warmer. It's still sunny almost every day which is great, and I can't complain about that. However, it's still as dry as heck. Almost every morning my right nostril is bleeding. Not a lot, not running, but it's still kinda scary to see. :( It's a light watery red, the colour of tomato sauce. And I'm still getting itchy eczema lumps on my face and neck every day. ARGH!

Restaurants non-smoking in Taiwan, Toilets in Shanghai

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2005/06/22/2003260251

SMOKE-FREE DINING: The health department called on the public to persuade restaurants to go non-smoking, and is offering prizes to people who are successful

By Mo Yan-chih
STAFF REPORTER
Wednesday, Jun 22, 2005, Page 2

Hoping to increase the number of non-smoking restaurants across the country to 10,000 this year, the Department of Health (DOH) yesterday invited the public to ask restaurants owners to establish a smoke-free environment.

"Since the non-smoking restaurant program was introduced in 2003, over 5,000 restaurant have registered with the DOH as smoke-free," said DOH Deputy Director Wang Hsiu-hung (王秀紅) yesterday. "This year, we invited the public to join the campaign and exercise their rights to say `no' to second-hand smoke when they eat out."

The non-smoking restaurant program's director, Han Bor-cheng (韓柏檉), said that the concept of smoke-free restaurants is a global trend, and more restaurants in Taiwan have joined the movement.

"In Ireland and Norway, legislation prohibiting smoking in restaurants has already been passed. In other Western countries, such as the US and Canada, are making similar efforts," said Han, who is also a public health professor at Taipei Medical University.

"In Taiwan, 88 percent of restaurant owners do not believe that a smoke-free environment will drive consumers away," Han said. "We are seeing progress through this program, so I think it will eventually lead to legislation banning smoking in restaurants."

While local restaurants across the country are not required to prohibit smoking, restaurants of at least 200m2 in size are required to establish non-smoking areas. Violators can face fines of up to NT$30,000 in accordance with the Tobacco Hazards Act (菸害防制法).

Wu Chi-hsiung (吳志雄), president of Taipei Medical University, said that people who eat at restaurants with designated non-smoking areas are still harmed by second-hand smoke. Only by establishing smoke-free environment can customers enjoy avoid being harmed while dining, he said.

According to DOH statistics, 93 percent of people support for a law banning smoking in restaurants. Over 75 percent would support the government if it legislated against smoking in restaurants -- and about 80 percent supported the idea of waiters asking smoking patrons not to smoke.

Since the DOH initiated the campaign two years ago, instances where non-smokers had to put up with second-hand smoke in restaurants dropped from 66 percent to 41 percent, according to statistics from the DOH's Bureau of Health Promotion.

Calling on the public to join the campaign, the bureau is sponsoring a raffle in which anyone who successfully persuades restaurant owners to make their establishments smoke-free may win up to NT$100,000.

People who are interested in participating in the program should sign up for the program, persuade restaurant owners to post non-smoking signs in the restaurant, have owners sign a pledge to make their restaurant smoke-free and fax or e-mail the pledge to program officials. They will then be eligible for prizes including refrigerators, DVD players and NT$100,000.

The campaign runs through July 31. For more information, visit the www.health99.doh.gov.tw Web site or call 02-2377-7152.

In addition, people can also participate in the "Help My Favorite Restaurant Quit Smoking" promotion, by casting a ballot for restaurants they think should become smoke-free. People wishing to participate in the online vote can do so at the above Web site. Voters will be eligible for NT$500 gift certificates to smoke-free restaurants. The event runs through July 20.

One thing I've noticed so far is all the restaurants and food courts (well all the ones I've been to!) are non-smoking. This is a true joy and pleasure for me. I feel like I'm back home in Australia again rather than some 'poor' little backward Asian country.

One of the things I hate the MOST about China is the incessant smoking. Outside, inside, everywhere. I hate it because I'm an asthmatic with crappy lungs and sensitive airways, but even if I wasn't I'd still hate it. Not only do I hate the effect on my health I just hate the smell permeating throughout my hair, clothes, everything. It stinks and it's gross.

I've long thought if China cleaned up its air pollution, enforced the non-smoking indoors policy (sticking up stickers doesn't do jack), cleaned up the disgusting toilets.. it'd be a much nicer place to live. I wouldn't even complain about all the other stuff foreigners complain about such as traffic, crowds, rudeness, etc.

Not only are restaurants smoke-free in Taiwan, it is rare to see a person smoking full stop! I can't believe it. In Shanghai you can't walk anywhere outside or inside without seeing someone puffing away. And don't get me started on the atrocities inside Grand Gateway. The mall that sells big name brands - the stuff I would never be able to afford - which is supposedly non-smoking but I've seen men hiding out puffing away and then a cleaner lady comes along and picks up the cigaratte and keeps it like it's a $100 dollar bill - ew ew ew!!! And for such an upmarket mall the toilets are in an atrocious state too. Oh and I haven't even mentioned the queue cutters who just walk straight in, ignore the queue of women waiting and then go to the first available toilet!

I was very pleasantly surprised how far Taiwan has come in the world of toilets. There are far fewer squat toilets and more Western style toilets and they are spotlessly clean and they even have a shelf for your belongings, and (OMG!) provide you with toilet paper too. There is nothing worse than having nowhere to put your bags of shopping (no hooks, no shelf, nothing) while you are also hiking up your pants to go to a squat toilet, hoping to God your pant hems don't touch the disgusting, wet, dirty floor! Ew!

I will write more in detail but I am loving Taiwan (except the mosquitos who have eaten me alive). It is more like Japan rather than China. It is like a congested, smaller, messier, cheaper version of Japan - haha. :)

PS I am leaving Kaohsiung now. This is the last time I'm going to have internet access in my bedroom. My huge room with a queen size bed, own bathroom, lovely 4 storey house and grandma that does everything for me (she doesn't let me do anything!) and I never have to worry about food/meals/eating, the place that allowed me to finally be rid of my insomnia and start to get better over my sinusitis and bronchitis! Not to mention it is 17-27 deg C here vs 14-17 in Taipei. I will be very sad to be leaving this nice place and my grandparents but alas I will always have the good memories :) Now I now have to go to Taipei to visit my other grandparents.

Silver Bells... It's Christmas time in the city

Like most of my posts this should be backdated...

On Saturday 1st December I had an awesome time with people I barely even knew. My father had arranged to meet up with his old college classmates from National Taiwan University (NTU) - the most prestigious university in Taiwan (yes I had to brag cos my dad is a brain, and I'm not half as brainy as he is :( ) anyway.. it turns out that after almost 40 years they are still in contact. Can you believe that? That is pretty cool. Not only that, a fair few of them are now living in Shanghai (but previously living in the States).

So he arranged to meet up with them and dragged Mike and I along for the ride. First we stopped at friend #1's house. They live fairly close to us, near Shanghai Zoo. We stayed and chatted for around an hour before they drove us to Pudong, all the way to Zhangjiang, what I like to call 'woop woop' and where, unfortunately, my husband's company is moving to next year :( There, we met up with another former classmate and another who was in town visiting from from San Francisco.



Then, we had lunch at the restaurant/cafe place near Zhangjiang train station called "Shanghai Legend". We went to the 'green looking one with funky big Buddha inside'. Great description huh? I don't recall the name of the place but it had Shanghainese Chinese cuisine. After that, the first friend drove us to the fabric market for my dad to pick up 2 pairs of pants he had made.

While we were there, I also picked up the jacket I had made a few weeks back (remember?) Well I won't say I am 100% happy with it but it does look good in photos, in fact, much better than it does in real life! so I can't complain.




Also while we were there, dad and I convinced hubby to get his suit made at the same place that dad got his pants at. So he ordered 2 suits in pin-striped wool fabric. One dark dark blue and one dark grey.

After that, it was still light and amazingly not that cold at all. There was no wind and it was really pleasant outside. I suggested a walk along the Bund. It was a little further than I thought but still a walkable distance. I said that I was there with the 'two most special men in my life' :)

Soon after, it got dark and the twinkling lights came on. The Bund is absolutely nothing special in the day time but come dusk it is magical. I said it looked almost like Hong Kong harbour and my dad agreed.

Unfortunately, I had left the house with my camera battery uncharged and only managed to take a handful of photos before it died on me.





Then, we crossed the road and walked all the way down Nanjing East Road (Nanjing dong lu) which was exactly the same route I had walked not long ago when hubby's friend was in town. We also stopped at exactly the same building/mall and had dinner at... Waga's.

After that we were all exhausted (it was a LONG day and we did walk a lot and it was now dark and getting cold rapidly) and decided to high tail it home. As the taxi drove around Nanjing Dong Lu, Fuzhou Lu, People's Square (Renmin Guangchang) and various others places I felt eerily like I was in a movie (as I described in an earlier post). All those twinkling lights had me mesmorised. But not just the normal every day neon lights but... the Christmas decorations were now in full force! They were everywhere and were beautiful. Especially the big ones outside hotels and department stores and malls. It was awesome. Of course I have no pics since we were zooming in a taxi driven by a crazed lunatic on drugs, and my camera battery was dead ... ;) (OK OK slight exaggeration!)

Cut to last Friday, 7th December. Feeling like death and freezing like anything. Had dinner in Grand Gateway (Element Fresh) and took a couple of quick photos all whilst freezing. We had to take the bus home (yes, slumming it - haha) because the taxi queue outside GG was massive (and not moving) and there were no available ones on the road either). So on the way I passed lots and lots of pretty lights but it was hard to take anything decent because 1) I felt like crapola 2) I was freezing* 3) I was holding a bag of groceries 4) I had no tripod and didn't want to use the flash which would be useless anyway. But all in all, not too bad. Take a look for yourself.









Compare this...



... to the photo I took before...



And finally, this one I took on December 5th (from inside a taxi) of Jiuguang/City Plaza near Jing'An Temple



This is what it looks like lit up at night (beautiful!) This photo is taken from the very funny Shanghai blog, ispyshanghai.com




* That night I was wearing 4 or was it 5 layers of clothes, 2 layers of pants, socks, 3 blankets, heater on high and I was STILL freezing. Whenever I get sick I get these horrible cold chills that run through my body that nothing can get rid of but thank God it only lasted about 24 hours.

Things to do in Shanghai...

After having guests stay with us recently I have made some mental notes of what they like to do.

Some are obvious like shop and eat, and shop some more, and eat some more... go to or just look at the Orient Pearl Tower. :)

Others which may not be so obvious but seem popular are:

1. Go to the fabric market. Get something made. If you want a suit you'll need at the very least a full week though. Simple things can be done in about 4 days. Bargain at least 10% if not 20% off! Start with 70% of the price they quote you. Addresses are listed in one of my older posts.

2. Get a massage. Massage places are EVERYWHERE and compared to almost any other country, are dirt cheap. The place we go to we pay 60 RMB for 1 hour for either a full body massage or foot massage. It is located in the Hongqiao/Gubei/Changning area known as "Little Japan" on Xianxia Lu and Zunyi Lu. It is always busy and they do a pretty good job!

When that's done, shop some more and eat some more ;)

Some places I can recommend are:

1. Xujiahui - where you can get anything under the sun, where there are 6? department stores, and the big Grand Gateway mall. Where the geeks can go crazy at Best Buy (or Metro City or Pacific Digital Plaza), and the foodies can go crazy at the top of Grand Gateway and Novel Place, and the shoe-aholics and clothes-aholics can go crazy at any store. My favourites are Pacific and No.6 department store. I can usually find clothes and shoes in there that I like at reasonable prices. The brands at Grand Gateway are generally way too expensive for me (since they are mostly foreign, mostly European brands). For basic staples (plain coloured tops, pants) Uniqlo (in GG) is great. Lots of easy-to-wear, mix-and-match stuff at great prices.

2. Huaihai Lu - previously known as Avenue Joffre, or the "Champs Elysee of the Orient" this road is about 15km long. Yep, mega long. It's divided up into three parts - West, Central and East. Most of the 'action' can be found in the Central part (which is also the longest). I have pretty much walked along the entire street. It is tiring but the most benefit can be gained (for a shopaholic) by walking across most of length of this street (not in the one go!). There is no point to take a taxi and you can take a bus or the subway but you miss a lot doing that since the stops can be far apart. If you are just randomly browsing it's much better to walk, and walk and... walk. Near Shaanxi Nan Lu, Maoming Nang Lu, Huangpi Nan Lu (and in between) there are lots of department stores and boutiques. This street is also the home of wedding dresses and bridal photography stores. One after another, big glass windows with glittering displays of fancy sequinned, frilled, coloured, embroidered, wedding dresses. Billions and billions of different kinds. They must do a good business because day or night, they are filled with customers looking at their large sample albums. I like to take the 911 bus along this street because it's a double decker one and you can feel like a real tourist sitting at the top and looking out the windows. At 2 RMB a trip it's fun just to ride the bus along the whole length of this road to get a feel of what it has to offer you! :) Once you have pinpointed the places that interest you (I actually marked on a map where my favourite stores were), then you can get out and start pounding the pavement.

3. Dain Ti Hill/Neo Tang Dynasty - crazy Chinese modern fushion cuisine. Really tasty. There are chains everywhere but seeing as I just talked about XJH there is one on the 5th floor of Grand Gateway. Usually it's so popular you have to queue for an hour or so but sometimes you can get lucky and only have to wait 5-10 minutes. There is also one in an expat type mall on Huahai Lu near the Hong Kong Plaza. The one with Delifrance out the front.

4. Lynn - modern Shanghainese cuisine. Now I don't normally like Chinese food much but this place was out of this world. It would have gotten a 10/10 if it weren't for the fact that they allowed smoking. The fish with pinenuts was absolutely delicious. It looks like an expensive type of place too (being right near the Ritz Carlton hotel and Nanjing Xi Lu) but for 4 people we paid 490 RMB including drinks.
99-1 Xikang Lu near Nanjing Xi Lu 西康路99-1号近南京西路

5. Wagas - the good ol' staple. My husband is addicted to this place. Opened by an Australian there are now restaurants all over Shanghai. It serves simple, healthy stuff - sandwiches, wraps, salads, pasta for a reasonable price, and great smoothies and freshly squeezed juices. Everything is really fresh! If you go after 6pm they have specials on the pasta. The one on Huaihai Lu near Huangpi Nan Lu is always busy and easily accessible.

Metro City and Grand Gateway again

On the weekend I finally got better - Yay! All that drinking of garlic in hot water every day/night coupled with taking disgusting Chinese herbal medicine did wonders and 9 days later I finally got rid of this damn cold.

On Sunday I decided to venture out and Mike and I went to Metro City to get his Smiley Face red bean buns from Breadtalk.

After that, we had lunch in the food court in the basement of that mall. It was the first time both of us had been there. I had been in that building before when I was buying my laptop cooler, but not down to the food court. We were both pleasantly surprised. It is the same chain of food courts that we had already tried in Gubei Carrefour and Zhongshan Park, called "Megabite." You must purchase credit which is put onto a thick plastic card a bit like a credit card and use that to purchase your meals. Most meals cost about 18 RMB (Less than $3 Australian or US$2.50). However, we decided to try a Japanese restaurant inside the food court. I have been a lover of Japanese food since I was a young child and I can tell the difference between the authentic and non-authentic stuff. This place wasn't exactly 100% authentic, but nevertheless the decor was fab and the food looked even more fab!

We were not disappointed. The presentation of the food was amazing and it was delicious and came in fairly large portions. The decor of the restaurant was wonderful too, fitted out in a modern meets vintage style with mirrors and neutral colours like grey and camel, but with striking modern looking chandelier lights on the ceiling. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me but you weren't permitted to take photos there, or else I would have! The total cost came to under 60 RMB (or about $9 Australian).

After that, we went across the road (underground, via the subway. You cannot cross the huge fiveways intersection unless you want to be squashed flat) to Grand Gateway. I wanted to check out the supermarket with Mike.

Every expat talks about and goes to Carrefour in Gubei because it's one of the biggest supermarkets in Shanghai and also stocks most foreign goodies. However, after going there.. what.. 10 times?.. I am soooo sick of it and dying to see and 'try out' new supermarkets. Well I had been last time but didn't look at much and didn't stay long. This is Lianhua 联华.

We didn't bring with us a shopping list (oops) so we didn't end up getting a great deal since all the necessities (meat, fruit, veges) we like to buy fresh and our 'ayi' (maid/cleaner/cook/housekeeper, nanny too if you want) also buys them for us.

After that, Mike went off to play basketball with his work colleagues and I went home in the taxi with all our groceries - including the cool mug Mike found and bought for me!





Taxi etiquette - First to push in, first served

There is a queue right outside GG for the taxi but unfortunately, most people in China don't understand what a queue is. With this in mind. I've taken to becoming a "push-er in-er" too.

So anyway I see this middle aged well-dressed couple waiting in an orderly fashion so I queue up behind them. They get impatient and walk off... A taxi comes along and stops right in front me so I'm about to get in, then the couple come BACK and at first I think they are just another Chinese couple pushing in, then I realise it was the exact SAME couple so I thought should be nice to give it to them since they were waiting longer than me... Out of the taxi comes an American(?) businessman with all his luggage and he says something about the taxi waiting for him and then taking him to the airport. Noone knows what he is saying except me.. and I tell the couple in Chinese.. and they start saying あそうですか in Japanese. D'oh! OK so I'm still waiting patiently for this taxi and I see one coming up the driveway into the mall. Then this stupid girl out of nowhere comes out of the mall and the taxi stops in front of her! ARGH! Of course she wouldn't have the decency or politeness to give it to me. So I wait. Again (kinda getting fed up by this stage given I'm carrying heavy bags of groceries!) Well finally, after what seems like an eternity I get a taxi - Yippee!

While I was out and about I thought to myself, "Hey it isn't even that hot" (remembering the last time I was out in the same place) but then when I got home I was so exhausted and realised the heat had zapped my energy once again!

(PS - put up my Weather Pixie today).

Crazy weather!

Well I succeeded in my mission to get a laptop cooler today.

I was determined to get a 'bargain' and only paid 65RMB for it. Oh, btw, it only lowers the temperature by 2-3 degrees. Still, better than nothing! But it's good in that it also stops the laptop from touching my legs and burning them, and the fan also cools my legs - bonus!

I went to Metro City in Xujiahui 徐家汇 and also Best Buy. It was really hot outside but the funny thing was, I got used to it. After a while it didn't even feel *that* hot anymore. And luckily the humidity wasn't that high so it was more of a dry heat (like a sauna), rather than a muggy wet sticky heat (like a steam room). Inside, the air conditioning in buildings and taxis did not seem to be working or coping that well.

I left just before 10am and didn't get home till 1pm because of my walking back and forth to compare prices, and just general wasting time window shopping. Also went to my fave mall Grand Gateway for another peak and checked out the basement supermarket, Lianhua, 联华 for the first time.

At around 3pm the city plunged into darkness. It was strange, one minute the sun is coming through the window, the next there is no light, as if the sun has gone down, except that it hadn't.

I look outside and it's foggy as anything and pouring rain. I am forced to turn on the lights in our apartment. But after a few minutes the rain stopped and the sun came out and everything was back to normal again. Weird weird weird.

This photo from ShanghaiDaily.com is what it looked like.

Only black clouds can be seen from the 38th floor of the Shanghai Daily's newsroom in downtown Shanghai at about 15:12pm today. The heavy rain which poured down cooled the city which had received its second yellow hot alert of the year in the morning. The temperature was predicted to surpass 35 degrees Celsius after yesterday's high of 36.3 degrees.

PS - See? I told you my Chinese was improving! On Tuesday this new friend and I went to a road called Lianyou Rd 联友路. I only saw and wrote the words once. Last night I was 'studying' my Grand Gateway map booklet and noticed there was some kind of supermarket in the basement. However, I didn't know what it was called (but I could read the world for supermarket). But I thought to myself - What is that word? I have seen it before! And realised it was 'lian'. Then I already knew the word hua 华 too which is so common.

I also only knew the English name for Metro City (the building which looks like a giant dome or sphere) and wanted to tell the taxi driver where to go, so I consulted my Lonely Planet book and found out the Chinese name, Meiluocheng 美罗城 (lit. Beautiful 'net city). Best Buy is called Baishimai 百思买 (Bai-shi (sound for Best) Buy).

PPS - Yay, I have more visitors! Since I installed Clustrmaps the other day I only had visitors from Sydney (home), Shanghai (me probably), and somewhere in south-eastern USA. Now I have visitors from Singapore or Malaysia? and France? Yay! "Zoidberg has friends."

People and prices

People

I'm not sure how many people there are in Shanghai and I can't find any conclusive answers. All I know there is more people here than in Beijing and there aren't that many cities in the world with a bigger population than Shanghai!

OK according to wikipedia there are 18.6 million people in the municipality and 9.8 million in the urban area alone.

I have thoughts running through my head every time I go out and these little occurences have slowly made me realise not just how many people there are in Shanghai, but in China as a whole.

Shopping in the supermarket in the middle of the day on a weekday you'd think it'd be pretty quiet, right? Wrong! It's still just as busy no matter what time of day you shop. And every aisle is filled with people and their trolleys and the aisles never seem wide enough and I'm constantly dodging trolleys and trying to avoid hitting something or someone with my runaway trolley. As part of my early days here and still dealing with culture shock I complained to my mother, "Why are there so many people here?" and all she could reply was, "This is China!" which about sums it up.

Queues

They are everywhere, except Chinese don't quite understand the concept of queuing or waiting. In their mind you just rush to the front of the queue or counter and push in to get served, simple. Hmmm...

Prices

I am still gobsmacked and shocked at the divide between the rich and the poor. A few weeks ago Mike and I went to Grand Gateway 港汇广场 shopping mall (which, incidently we can see out our living room window) for some lunch and some window shopping. We went into a store which caught my eye, called Vero Moda a fashion label started in Denmark. The clothes in there were really beautiful and Helena Christensen was one of the models.

Some of the t-shirts were $40 or $50 Australian which I thought was absurd. I mean it is probably the going rate for a European label but I'd never pay that muh for a t-shirt in Australia, let alone China! Yet, I think most people in the West think of China as being really 'poor'. But noooo. On this Sunday afternoon, this shop was absolutely packed and I was constantly being followed with an overly zealous sales assistant wearing false eyelashes and bright blue eyeshadow.

I felt kind of sickened that these spoilt little rich fashionistas could afford this kind of stuff, yet there were people out on the street starving, or pulling tricycle wagons and sleeping in old, run down shacks. Erk.

A few days ago Mike and I were talking about where to go for the October public holiday. After researching endless options I decided it'd probably be best to find somewhere close by so as to not waste time and not spend too much money, and decided that Sanya in Hainan would be a great place. I started looking into the 5 star beach resorts and Mike said, being a public holiday, it would most likely be very crowded and booked out. I quickly blurted out, "How many people in China do you think can afford to stay in a 5 star resort?" without even thinking or realised how stupid I sounded. Mike said back, "More than you think. There are more rich people in China than any other country." And I thought to myself, Oh, shit, yeah... since there are over a billion people, even a small proportion of that is a huge quantity of (rich) people. Yikes.

So my conclusion is, you don't realise just how many people there are in China until you come here, and if you hate queues and crowds don't come here ;) And if you want nice designer label stuff (for anything, not just clothing) be prepared to pay the price because, even in China, it ain't cheap!