Shanghai China Snippets Observations about living in Shanghai and China in general

When I start hearing lots of car horns it is time to walk to the window
and look outside. I enjoy seeing new transport modes being blocked by old transportation methods.

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Wang Jian Shuo kickstarted the idea of a Shanghai list. Then came Bing Feng Teahouse, after which Micah followed suit. Now it’s my turn to add some.

This list is for information purposes only. In no way do I encourage you to visit these places besides virtually:)

* Favorite place to read inside: Valley Gourmet /
* Favorite place to read outside: “Starbucks on the River” in Pudong
* Favorite bus line: 911: Double Decker Hong Qiao to People’s Square (Great View)
* Favorite metro stop: Shi Men Yi Lu
* Favorite bread: Marco Polo Bakery
* Favorite coffee: Yunnan Coffee
* Favorite bar: A cellar somewhere in Xujiahui, can’t remember where
* Favorite view: Bund 18, 7th floor
* Favorite wet market: Next to Huating Lu Market aka the Fake Market
* Favorite newspaper: The Standard
* Favorite people-watching: My window
* Favorite Sundday brunch: Marriott Cafe
* Favorite Sichuan cuisine: Tony’s
* Favorite Thai cuisine: Irene’s Thai
* Favorite street: Xikang Lu
* Favorite cuisine: Xinjiang
* Favorite supermarket: City supermarket
* Favorite breakfast: Salmon Sandwiches Ikea
* Favorite pizza: Jimix
* Favorite city: Kunming
* Favorite book: White Swans by Jung Chang
* Favorite TV Program: English Speaking Contest CCTV 9
* Favorite building: Bund 12
* Favorite beer: Qingtao Black
* Favorite gym: Total Fitness Club
* Favorite Phone number: 17910 (IP Card)

The clouds are back again. For three days though I had the feeling
Shanghai looked different. The sun was the perpetrator. Even the most
grey buildings seemed nice. Walking outside the streets in my area,
quilts and sheet were hanging in the street, forcing me to zigzag and
duck. Sitting next to it were the owners, watching the airing of their
quilts, guarding it for sheet thiefs and enjoying the sun themselves.
For me this is real city life. The blending of the ordinary with modern
high rises. The Public Sanitation Bureau
is less happy with such activities, afraid as they are that the image
of Shanghai as an International Metropolis will be tarnished. There is
even a regulation forbidding it, adopted in April 2002. The
Shanghainese don’t care, luckily, they continue to air.

People who are seldom well served don’t know how to serve other people.
This statement was made by my girlfriend after we discussed service in
China. She told me how she had helped a friend getting his laptop cable
back he forgot in his hotel. The guy had called the hotel and they
confirmed they found the cable. To make a long story short. My
girlfriend needed to go there three times before she had a cable which
is likely to be the right one. First time she was on her way up and
down the Hotel. All staff ducked any responsibility, pretended to be
deaf and told her to ask somewhere else. The second time she got
closer. She was shown three plastic bags with cables. “Tell me which
one it is”. She didn’t bring her mobilephone but had the owners number
and asked them to give him a call to find out the exact brand. “Sorry,
we cannot make long distance calls” . Third time she knew the brand,
waded through the bag with cables and is likely to have found the right
one. “Please show me your ID Card”, was the question. Might I add, this
was the third time she went there and they never asked before. She got
angry, not like her at all, and this was the moment they gave her the
cable right way. She noticed that getting angry worked. It gives staff
apparently the feeling they are dealing with a boss-like person, which
can constitute trouble if they don’t act. Staying friendly gives them
the chance of not doing anything. Doing something means having the
option of making a mistake, which also means trouble.

One of the perks of living in [tag]Shanghai[/tag] instead of [tag]Kunming[/tag] is that there are more Western Supermarkets. Naturally they are more expensive than the local one’s. [tag]Dutch cheese[/tag] for instance is still not made in China.

I tend to go the [tag]City Supermarket[/tag] that resides in the compound of the [tag]Portman Ritz Carlton[/tag] Hotel. It’s nice, it has more choices of cereals than even Dutch [tag]supermarkets[/tag] have (I actually just look at them to envision myself in a [tag]US Supermarket[/tag]) and until today I even felt they were managed in a normal way.

Here comes the bread from the title. I never realized that the bakery in the supermarket is actually not part of the supermarket. I mean, until now I paid once at the checkout so why bother worrying about it.

Paying my things I checked the bill (A good [tag]Chinese[/tag] custom) and was surprised the price of my [tag]ciabatta[/tag] bread had increased 25%.

I felt there might be a mistake and asked the cashier. No, she was not responsible for the prices of the bakery, she also didn’t want to know. I should ask the girl from the bakery. The [tag]English[/tag] speaking Manager told me the same.

“We just receive the money, the bakery girls
are part of [tag]Portman[/tag].”

So I strolled back to the bakery sections and asked why my ciabatta was now 15 Kuai instead of 12.

“The price changed”, she said.

When? “Today.”

So why where there price tags before with 12 kuai and no new price tags?

“The manager is still working on that.”

Which manager? The manager of the bakery section, the section which is not a part of the supermarket but nevertheless I still have to pay the supermarket.

I read about inflation in [tag]China[/tag] but 25% seems a bit steep. Let’s hope the rest of the supermarket doesn’t become a part of the [tag]Shanghai Portman[/tag].

Happy Hours are a poor man’s best friend. You get 2 for the price of 1
or you get one for half the price. I am sure they come in all kinds of
variations. It’s a lovely marketing tool to get people in at moments
when they should be doing something sensible like working or watching
tv. The first time that I exploited this phenomenon was on a holdiday
in Cuba, some 15 years ago. There were 3 hotels near the beach and
hotel 1 started their happy hour at 17:00 until 18:00, number 2 started
at 18:00 and ended at 19:00, and.. need I go on.

It made perfectly sense for two Dutch boys to walk the extra 10 metres
every hour and save some money. Yesterday I was in a bar on Nanjing Xi
Lu that also advertised with an Happy Hour.(And eventhough I am Duch, I
didn’t know before entering the place, Wenli and me were merely
looking for a warm place with coffee)

Buy 1, Get 1 one free the menu read, starting from 17:00 or was it
15:00. The menu wasn’t clear about that. I asked the waiter about the
deal and said I wanted to buy one bottle of Guiness and get the other
one right away. No, no… this was not how it worked. You first buy
one, finish it and then you will get the second. Confusing.. so could I
get one bottle and two glasses then. No problem.

One of my perpetual resolutions is shaping my stomach to a size that my buckle pin has more options than just one.

Fitness seems to be one of the activities that may help me here and after paying a lot of money I am now a member of such a centre. So far, so good and now it’s a matter of forcing myself there and start running without ever going anywhere, push weights and passing a Phd to understand machines that are intended to work out my body without me doing anything. Luckily there is also a lot to experience.

An Overview:

• After registering at the counter, a set of towels is given to me as well as tag with the number of my locker. My locker is always close to other white people’s lockers. Apparently there are some segregation rules to avoid nativesseeing aliens undress and vice versa.
• Each tredmill has it’s own tv-set. Although China has hundreds of tv-channels, a maximum of 6 available.
• The channels are preset in away that CCTV 1 is under 20, going backwards there is Shanghai TV on 8 and 6 and some other non descript channels. In between there is a blue screen and a lot of snow.
• I usually preset the channels again to keep myself distracted from what I am actually doing. The next time the same set has been reversed to .. well you guess.
• During the day it’s not busy. House Music is therefore on high volume to make me feel less lonely. My headset, which I use to listen to the tv, is now just making me look cool.
• The center provides hair dry blowers which are used by guys standing naked in front of the mirror and drying everything but their hair. Toes, groins, and torso’s are blowed.
• When I leave I am happy to eat my lunch. A burger with french fries. I have to keep a balance.