The price of food!

I'm not imagining it. My ayi has mentioned it to me but I kinda 'forgot' about it (because, well 5 RMB is a lot of money to her!).. but man! Everything has been going up (something to do with the weather down south I think?) - Rice, meat, fruit, veges. Imported food not so much but that was always expensive anyway.

They say it's cheap to eat in China.. well only if you like Chinese food!

Last week I went to City Shop in Gubei. First time I've been in all the time I've lived here (LOL). I bought so many bits and pieces and it ended up costing me almost 500 RMB! I nearly had a heart attack! I was actually looking at prices too when I was buying stuff and usually choosing the cheapest option.

Everything that I like to eat is damn expensive eg cheese, breakfast cereal/muesli, Western style bread (ie bread that is not sweet) and pastries.. etc.

A box of ordinary cereal (from Germany or UK) costs up to 100 RMB!
A packet of 250g shredded Coon Cheese (from Australia) costs about 40-50RMB. It costs less than that for the 500g size in Australia! ARGH!

This really really sux cos hubby and I both do not have huge appetites and do not really like Chinese food all that much. Plus recently we have barely eaten out at all and been cooking a lot more at home but really, eating out is still SO much cheaper than cooking at home.. so why bother?

So anyway then I went to Carrefour a few days later and only spent about 150 RMB.

Yesterday I went to Zara on Nanjing West Road. I just felt like going to Zara and never been to that store before. It was absolutely FREEZING yesterday. It must've been around the 0 degree mark for sure. Anyway there was no sale on and I didn't find anything I particularly liked/had to have (plus they were selling Spring/Summer clothing like t-shirts and sleeveless dresses, and I was thinking WTF? Because it's still SO cold)

Anyway so then I walked around looking for somewhere to eat. Since it was 3pm now (Yes I tend to eat breakfast and lunch very late) not a lot of places were opened. I ended up going to the top of Plaza 66 and had lunch at Zen. It was OK but I was not that impressed. First of all, the water in the tea tasted like tap water, even though according to them it wasn't (and it cost 5 RMB for the pot), second of all they took forever to come to me when I tried to grab their attention (when there were hardly any customers there at that time and enough staff) and thirdly, well there was no thirdly. The portion of my lunch was huge and I took the rest home and had it for dinner.

Then I went next door to the Shanghai Centre to go to Paul's. The most delicious bakery ever! But boy oh boy are they expensive. The smell in there drives me crazy and I want to buy the entire store! But alas the prices are a real turn off. In the end I got 3 things and it cost 82 RMB - a berry tart thing, an apple thing, and a breadstick thing with olives and herbs in it.

Then I went to City Supermarket and bought some stuff. I was disciplined this time and didn't go overboard (after my last experience) and spent around 100 RMB. I was supposed to buy rice but the variety wasn't that great and to be honest didn't want to carry such a heavy thing so this morning got my ayi to buy it for me from the supermarket across the road from our place, when she went to buy other stuff.

On Monday I asked my ayi where she got her puffy goose down jacket from and she told me she had it made at this place... I couldn't believe it. It looks so professionally done like something you'd buy in a store and I never thought you could do this. I have wanted a longish goose down jacket for so long but was trying to be 'good' since I already got that white cashmere coat made and I already own a goosedown coat (but it's only waist length). During CNY I tackled the shops (BAD mistake, it was crowded as anything) and tried in vain to search for one amongst the crowds. I have so many criteria and just gave up. Plus it was impossible to try anything on and I HATE the rude unhelpful salespeople.

Anyway so my ayi told me I could get it made at this place and she only paid 190 RMB. I nearly died!! $30 for a custom made goose down coat? Can you believe it? I paid about $200 for mine in Australia and it's not that great. She even told me she thought it was 'ugly' haha. (I bought it in 2004 just prior to going to Europe). Well there are like NO choices in Australia.. and are all freaking expensive. Anyway so I was getting really excited dreaming in my head of colours and styles.. then this morning she tells me that that place has closed down since Spring is coming! ARGH!

I know it happens in every place around the world but I really really hate how in winter they bring out summer clothes and in summer they bring out winter clothes. I remember seeing these goose down coats when it was still 38 degrees in summer. ARGH!

Lantern festival (Yuanxiao jie 元宵节/節)

I can't believe I almost forgot to mention this.

Yesterday was the last day of CNY festivities. Although the public holiday was for one week, the actual time period of CNY is 15 days, ending yesterday 21st February.

I feel a little ashamed to say I didn't even know about this or what it's called. I don't recall ever learning about it :( All I knew was that last night the fireworks started up all over again but given I had seen and heard them so many times already I didn't even get up to look at them (I was kind of sick of them now to be honest)! I did have a quick look out the window later though, and noticed that the moon was very high, full, big and bright. Coincidence? I think not! ;)

From Wikipedia:

yuánxiāojié) or (Yuanxiao Festival), also known as the Shang Yuan Festival (simplified Chinese: 上元节; traditional Chinese: 上元節; pinyin: shàngyuánjié) is a Chinese festival celebrated on the fifteenth day of the first month in the lunar year in the Chinese calendar. During the Lantern Festival, children go out at night to temples carrying rabbit-shaped lanterns. The 15th day of the 1st lunar month is the Chinese Lantern Festival because the first lunar month is called yuan-month and in the ancient times people called night Xiao. The 15th day is the first night to see a full moon. According to the Chinese tradition, at the very beginning of a new year, when there is a bright full moon hanging in the sky, there should be thousands of colorful lanterns hung out for people to appreciate. At this time, people will try to solve the puzzles on the lanterns and eat yuanxiao (glutinous rice ball) and get all their families united in the joyful atmosphere.

Well there you go.. the things I learn by living in China and reading Wikipedia!

Edison Chen scandal

It is over.... or is it?

I hadn't blogged about this at all but anyone who is anyone in Asia or considers themself Asian would've known about this by now so there is no need for me to repeat the news and be stupid by posting the pics up on my blog. All I can say is - leave the poor man alone! He wasn't the one who distributed the photos. He's apologised and is going to quit showbiz. I don't understand why people are always so obsessed with celebrities' lives and pounce on them the minute they aren't shown to be 'perfect' and 'flawless.'

Spring has sprung!... kinda

Over the last few days I've noticed something. The roads are still quiet. People are still on holidays and not everyone is back at work... yet. It is so strange to see it so quiet and see little shops closed.

It has been getting warmer. The snow is 99.9% gone. Where there once used to be big huge chunks of it on our apartment premises, there is now none :( or very little left. I know it's been getting warmer because (apart from the snow melting more):
1) I can feel it (there seems to be a significant difference between 0 and 5 degrees),
2) the hubby mentioned it to me and has been wearing less layers to work,
3) the ayi mentioned it to me
4) the landlord mentioned to me
5) now when I go to sleep the aircon/heater is not at 30 degrees but at 23 degrees (down from 26 previously). Actually I turned it off totally the night before last, but found that a little bit uncomfortable on my face (kept feeling like I was going to sneeze but didn't) so I left it on last night, but at a lower temperature.

There are lots of posts I could do but I am too lazy to upload my photos. :( Plus also the internet has been acting up lately!

Orkut - Google's answer to Facebook

I consider myself a fairly net savvy person. I usually know most things going on around the 'net, web, or whatever you call it.. Anyway, I happened to see "Orkut" mentioned on some forum I found through Google. Curious, I went to look it up to see what it was all about. I had never heard of it before.

According to Wikipedia Orkut is a

social network service which is run by Google and named after its creator, Google employee Orkut Büyükkökten. It claims to be designed to help users meet new friends and maintain existing relationships. Similar to Facebook, Friendster and MySpace, Orkut goes a step further by permitting the creation of easy-to-set-up simple forums (called "communities") of users...

Orkut is the most visited website in Brazil, being more visited than Google Brazil, number 2 on the list. In total visits, Google is probably still more popular since it appears as the second (the Brazilian version) and seventh most visited site (the international version).

The initial target market for orkut was the United States, but the majority of its users are in Brazil.[2] In fact, as of January 2008, 55.32% of the traffic come from Brazil, followed by 16.53% from India.

Hmm... I signed in through my gmail account and see who on my contacts list (address book) it could find) - one Indian person and one Brazilian person! Haha! I don't think many people in Australia have heard of it, and I don't think anyone (that I know of) in the Australia or US uses the site. I'm wondering for something that come from Google why it isn't more popular?

Weird...