Thursday, February 1, 2007

The day off.

We had a day off, so we all went on an adventure yesterday. The other family in our group went with us so we had a good size group: 4 adults and 2 loaded strollers. We walked 3 blocks to a store called Parkson's. It has 5 floors with baby clothes on the 4th and groceries in the basement. We were set to venture forth into the wild traffic. We had to cross 2 streets, and only one of them had stoplights with walk / don't walk lights. The stoplights and lane lines are mere suggestions here anyway. Walking was interesting because this town isn't used to tourists. We received a lot of stares, but I think it's to be expected.

We went upstairs first for new shoes for Maggie with the strollers on the escalators. I hate these strollers. Oh, yeah. They set up the escalators so that you have to go up then around the store to the next one going up, then around the store to the next one. You can't just jump off one and onto the next one. Built for showing the store, not for efficient shopping. What a pain.

We found shoes, and worked with the sales lady that didn't speak English to find the right size. Eventually, everything was sorted out. Oh, yeah. You don't take the merchandise to the register at all. This means that if you find something, the salesperson writes up a slip, and you take that slip to the cashier and pay. Then you take your receipt, and a bag, back to the salesperson, and collect your purchase. There are cashiers scattered around the department store.

Then we went for groceries. Down 4 level of escalators, and into a world where everything is strange. We found what we needed. Coke Light, Cereal, 20 Diapers, Guessed at what looked like Ramen, 18 pocket packs of Kleenex. The noodles were for Maggie. She loves noodles, and we have hot water in the room, so we looked for a Ramen-like package that hinted toward chicken in the picture. That should be pretty safe. Everything was good, but it came with 3 different flavor packets. I went with the one that was naked-chicken-colored. I'm not touching the green one, or the mystery foil packet. Turned out pretty good. Maggie loves it.

Had to take a break to make Maggie more noodles. She noticed them and wants more. "Crikey, a wild Maggie can eat 1/3 her weight per day in noodles." Too soon for Steve Irwin jokes? Nah.

We payed a whopping 58.57 RMB. That comes to $7.32 USD. Wow. Turns out a 10 pack of diapers cost us $1.69 USD. I can live with that.





Original Comments from Post

Re: The day off. By Bryan on 2/1/2007
Mary here actually - Maggie is screaming because I just put her off my lap. She likes to touch all the buttons on the laptop and at the moment those fingers are covered in banana. Anyway - the grocery bill came to 58.57. The pj's were 58 themselves, and the shoes were 38. Divide that by 8 to get US dollars.

Re: The day off. By Emily on 2/1/2007
wow shes a hungry mungry for noodles!

Re: The day off. By Emily on 2/1/2007
wow shes a hungry mungry for noodles!

Re: The day off. By Emily on 2/1/2007
wow shes a hungry mungry for noodles!

Re: The day off. By Emily on 2/1/2007
wow shes a hungry mungry for noodles!

Re: The day off. By Davin on 2/1/2007
Pooh shoes, Diet Coke, Nestle cereal with cartoon bears - I'm glad to see that American culture is having little to no effect in the Chinese culture. However, I'm shocked at how much the American Ramen noodles that we eat over here look just like the ones from China. The Chinese are copying us!
Her diet sounds like my little girl (Rane) - all about the carbs.
The shopping experience reminded of dim sum dining, where they write on a little card as you eat things.
QUESTION: how does the pop taste? Is it NutraSweet? Have you tried regular Coke yet?

Re: The day off. By Amy on 2/1/2007
Bryan -- be sure to bring the green and mystery foil packets back home for us. Can't wait to see what's inside. We're all enjoying reading about the adventure you're having. Can't wait to meet her!

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