China has two national holidays where we get a week off work as paid vacation.  One during Chinese Lunar New Year in January and one during the Mid Autum Festival in October.  Last year this holiday in October was news to me and I spent it wandering around Shanghai since I had only been in the country two weeks and made no plans to travel. This year, at least I knew it was coming, but it seemed that all my friends had previous plans.  I really wanted to see Guilin with its peaks and rivers- so I decided to take my first solo vacation. Ever.

Traveling in Golden Week as it’s affectionatly called is chaos.  Everyone travels.  That’s over a billion people. So maybe not all of them travel, but it sure seems like it. The prices sky-rocket too. Airline tickets, if not booked months in advance, are 4x the normal rate.  So while I was pricing flights and hotels and tours the idea came to me to take a slow train from Shanghai to Guilin. It was only 520 RMB, so about 90 USD one way.  It’s a sleeper train, so for part of the 19 hr journey I would be attempting to sleep…. I took one before to and from Beijing before the high-speed train and before domestic air travel was popular 12 years ago.. it wasn’t so bad so I decided to try it again. So with the help of a friend who booked it on-line for me I had my ticket…which is a feat since you can’t buy a ticket more than 12 days in advance on-line and 10 days in person.  I wasn’t able to book at return ticket, they were sold out on the day I wanted to return so I took a deep breath and got out my credit card and booked a flight home.  Next came the hotel and tours.  I opted for the Sheraton since it was centrally located and I was sure they would have a soft bed… and booked two drop in tours on-line.. one to the Longji terraced rice fields and one Li River cruise to see the karst mountains as seen on the back of the 20 RMB note.

When Monday finally rolled around I hailed a cab to the Shanhai South railway station and I was off on my adventure. The main railway station is about 10 mins from my house… that’s where some high-speed trains and some sleeper trains depart but the south station was all slow trains. When I arrived, 45 mins later, my train was already boarding… sweet!  I found my car and had to ask where my bunk was. As I made my way down the aisle lo and behold there is another lao wai (foreigner) sitting in the little jump seat in the hallway right outside my cabin. Looks like I am not the only crazy person out there.  My friends thought I was nuts for wanting to take the overnight train.. I was looking forward to it. 19 hrs with my iPad, books, TV shows, my journal and my thoughts.  Sounded like the perfect start to my first solo vacation.  Seeing the University of Michigan tag on some luggage I knew the other Westerner would be in my cabin. At least I would have someone to talk to.

As we started to get settled in, me on the top bunk, Michigan on the other top bunk and two Chinese guys on the bottom bunks I knew I had made the right choice. I had my own little nest and was looking forward to some deep thoughts- Jack Handy style. But given my outgoing nature, I spent the first 5 hrs chatting with the guy across from me, swapping stories of how we ended up in China, where we lived, how safe China was, where we like to party, etc. It was nice to have someone to chat with.

I decided I wanted to explore a little so I took a walk through the cars.  Now on a slow train there are several ‘classes’ of seats/tickets.  I was in soft sleeper.- 4 bunks to a room, and the room has a door.  There is also first class soft sleeper, two bunks to a room, but then there is hard class sleeper- 6 bunks to a room and your room doesn’t have a door.  I experienced that on the way home from Beijing 12 years ago and I won’t lie, I didn’t want to do it again.  The bunks are pretty close as you can imagine they are stacked 3 high, you can barely sit up.  And then there are seats. Yep. Seats. Kind of the like the seats in the dinning car, with a table. These are the cheapest seats and they are sold out during holiday travel times.  I made my way through all the soft sleeper cars, hard sleeper cars and found the seat car.  I decided not to wander in the seated area because it looked so crowded I didn’t think I could actually make it through, so I turned back around and made my way back to my car.  As I walked I could feel the stares… I could even hear kids saying “Mom, look at the foreigner”. Yes, dear little one, some of us laowai don’t want to pay an arm and a leg for airfare to get to Guilin. And yes, some of us speak Chinese.

On the train next to the bathrooms are little ‘wash up rooms’.  There are 3 sinks  per room, where you can wash your face, brush your teeth, wash your dinner dishes…  the bathrooms and wash up rooms are usually at the end of every other car, and in between cars is the ‘smoking’ area.. where guys would sit and puff away, scream on their cells phones and generally act Chinese.  Ah, the joys of train travel.

I didn’t eat dinner in the dining car, when I walked through the fare looked kinda sad so I just decided to dine on the plethora of snacks that I had packed for the trip, washed down with some warm Sprite I procured in the dinning car.  Warm PBR didn’t sound quite as yummy as warm Sprite.  It wasn’t until after some dinner/snacks did I settle in to read some of my book and write in my journal.  About an hour later I still wasn’t sleepy, so I broke down and watched the episode of Man Men I bought from iTunes and downloaded onto my iPad the day before… not very deep, I know, but I was attempting to get drowsy… and attempting to drown out the sounds of the bottom bunk dweller’s snores.  I was happy I packed my earplugs and sleep mask for sure now.. but man. That guy on the bottom had some serious sleep apnea going on.  They ban that stinky ass fruit durian on trains, can’t they ban dudes who snore so loud it can be heard three doors down?  I could seriously hear him on the way back from the bathroom… It was going to be a loooong night. I was wishing I had popped my Tylenol PM.  I finally fell asleep probably around 2 AM… and was woken up by the bottom bunk dwellers relatives and they came over to visit. At 7 AM.  After a futile attempt to fall back asleep I got up, rustled up my plastic mug and my instant coffee and went in search of the hot water. Once I had my steaming cup of Nescafe 2+1 I headed to the dining car.. knowing that I could find a seat and a table.    Once there I was told I couldn’t sit down.. so I asked “you still selling breakfast?” So for 10 RMB I bought myself a seat that came with some warmish buns, some congee and a hard-boiled egg.  As I ate my congee I watched the staff straggle in to eat their breakfast.

China tends to over staff just about everything.  The train was no exception. They have a person to man each door when we stopped at the various stations and scream “Get on the train” for 10 minutes before we would chug out of the station.. the reason I know this is that they also lock the bathrooms at each stop, so I got to wait and witness this twice during the journey.   The staff stay in the hard sleepers and they were all pretty young- I would say 18-20, so it gave off a college dorm vibe. Girls giggling and looking at the boys, the boys trying to ignore the girls and text on their cell phones.

After breakfast I had a few more hours to kill so I read some more… took some photos.. stared out the window at the countryside. When we finally pulled in, 2 hrs late, I bade goodbye to Michigan and made my way to the taxis…  I’ll explain the taxi ride in the next blog update.

One year, 52 week, 365 days.. one revolution around the sun. How every you want to count the days, I have been in China for over a year now.  And what a year it has been.  It’s been fun, challenging, sad, scary and above all a learning experience.  When I made the choice to move abroad and take the job I knew I was doing it more for the life experience than for my career. I didn’t want to be a 75-year-old woman sitting on my porch wondering how my life would have been if I had taken the chance and moved to Shanghai.  I didn’t want to live with those regrets.  Everything that I have been through this year- moving, leaving friends and loved ones behind, making huge life changes, losing and gaining loved ones have made me a stronger woman.

I believe that I was strong to begin with. Hell, I packed up my life and moved to China. But coming here, meeting new people, learning a new city, being so far away from all I knew and loved forced me to change. All the boring clichés come to mind “Change is the only constant”, “If you stand still you die”, yada yada yada.. but man, let me tell you. They are kinda true. At 38 I can tell you I have grown more in this year than I have in the past 10.  I did not change my core beliefs or who I am really. I just found my voice with the help of some dear friends, and I learned that it is ok to ask for help, to demand it at times. I have learned it’s ok to be selfish and to tell people what I want and what I expect from them. As a ‘giver’ and a ‘nurturer’ I needed to learn how to surround myself with people who would give back and how to stay away from those that wouldn’t.

The biggest thing I learned is that is it not OK to live with regret. I don’t regret any decision I have made this year. Do I wish I had run more? Sure.  Do I wish I had traveled more? Sure.  Do I regret the Sundays spent on my couch surrounded by friends as we recover from a late night? No.  Do I regret the chances I have taken when I have failed? No. Do I regret going after what my heart wanted? No.

It is ‘Golden Week’ here, Chinese National Day Holiday and Mid Autum Festival all rolled into one.  We get a week off and everyone travels.  My closest friends are traveling, or gone home to the USA for good, so I am traveling solo to Guilin.  I am taking a 24 hr train down there, staying 2 nights, joining in on some drop in tours, and flying home. I have always wanted to go to Guilin and seeing that I am out of vacation time, this is the only chance I have to see it. So I am going alone. My bags are packed, my train and place ticket all booked. I am armed with my iPad, iPod and an old-fashioned journal and a pen.  I am going to take this time to reflect on all that I have been through this past year and think about where I am going in the next.

I’ll be sure to blog about the trip and update you all on all the things I haven’t yet put in here, like my love affair with street food and some other musings.  Until then, love and live my friends. Don’t let the fear of failure stand in your way. Don’t live with regret.

Wow- mid August- where did the time go? Next month I will have been here a year. Daaaaang.  I went stateside in July- I needed me some Americana and I got it. 4th of July, small town fireworks, swimming pool and lightning bugs. I needed some time away to ‘de-China’. It was nice… And when I came back it was full force summer in Shanghai. Yep. Hot.as.hades. And humid. Did I say it is hot in Shanghai in the summer?? Cause it is.

My fav way the locals deal with the heat is what I call Chinese air conditioning – its when the men folk hike up their shirts and show their bellies. I guess it’s similar to how elephants fan their ears- increasing airflow over their capillaries – maybe. They stroll around- bellies showing proudly- and I have to admit I’ve been tempted to follow suit at times. I get stared at enough here so why not?  Maybe next week.

The heat has forced me into evening runs- when it gets below 88 degrees I venture out – usually around 8 pm. The Chinese love after dinner strolls. I have to dodge them at times- I take the same route along  SuZhou creek and I have started to see the same people walking their dogs- running- stretching- bathing. Yep. Full blown street showers. I was running along (more like a nice slow jog) and I thought I smelled Head and Shoulders… I squint ahead and see a guy in his undies pouring water over his head from a bucket on the side of the road. Hmmm. I have seen people washing their clothes in tubs on the side of the road, even prepping and eating dinner- but the outdoor shower was a new one. As I jogged past he didn’t pause or anything- so it must be a common occurrence for him… And I thought ‘maybe I should do that too’… Maybe I’m getting too used to living in China.

Time is flying.  I have been in Shanghai since mid September, and here we are almost mid May.  I have been through Shanghai winter, which was cold (well, not as cold as Chicago, but WAY colder and damper than San Diego) and just witness the shortest spring of my life.  The leaves on the trees popped, the rain came in, and now it wa 91 degrees today.  And it’s only May.  I caved just now and turned on my air conditioning and I am planning on packing up the winter clothes soon.

It gets redic hot in Shanghai.  I remember when I was here during high school- it was the summer.  I actually slept a time or two on the roof of our dorm attempting to get some relief because air conditioning was basically unheard of.  I remember watching the heat lightning and hoping that the very large cock roaches that I would see all over were somewhere other than on the roof with me. This coming summer doesn’t look like it will be any cooler, except now I have ‘kong tiao’ in my apartment.  Ah, yes, the beloved air conditioning.

It’s also too hot to run in the middle of the day I have found.  I went out for my last long run before the Great Wall half marathon on 5/19 on Saturday.. went out a little later than normal and decided 6 miles into my 10 miles that it was just too damn hot to keep running.  After much self cussing and stomping I had to walk back to the start.. yep. I walked.  Couldn’t muster up the strength/endurance/fortitude to just run… too.damn.hot.   And as a result, I am taking a half day vacation to finish my last long run before my race.  So, looks like I get up at the crack of dawn for my long runs or learn to love the treadmill.   Looks like I will be learning to become a morning person.  At least the streets won’t be as packed at 6:00 am. I hope.

I won’t lie.  Being an expat can be hard.   I know, woe is me… right?  But really.

Getting around can be a challenge… usually the cab drivers can understand me, or where I am heading has a ‘taxi card’ in my iPhone application, but sometimes, my Chinese is faltering and they don’t understand me.  This happened once- wanted to go to the train station and ended up at some university… problem cause I told him I wanted to go to the “flower station”, hua- third tone is ‘fire’ – first tone – ‘flower’.  Sometimes, I just want to get in a cab and use English.  On the metro- they shove and push and don’t say ‘sorry or excuse me’ when they shoulder check you.  Shanghai people DO NOT know metro etiquette.. meaning: If you are standing in the door way, get off, let people exit, then come back onto the train.  Don’t just stand there and look annoyed when people run into you. Shoving your way onto the metro in the AM will not make you get to work faster- it holds up the whole train when they can’t close the doors!

Shopping.  Grocery shopping is the other tough one. I know, I could go native and learn to cook chinese (I have tofu stir fry down PAT), but sometimes you want some home cooked western food.  Then you have to hit every Western grocery store looking for ricotta cheese to make lasagna… not to mention it’s ghastly pricey to buy dairy for some reason…. and then you see something in the store and you are like “I HAVE to have that” and get it.. knowing full well you are about to pay $10 USD for a jar of pizza sauce, but you realize you haven’t made your own pizza in 6 months and all of a sudden are dying to have one… along with the Betty Crocker chocolate chip oatmeal cookie mix that found it’s way into your basket.

But then, you stumble upon something that makes your day, and you smile, and realize you can probably make it another day, lugging your groceries home in the taxi… like the Cadbury Creme egg that also ended up in your basket that is now sitting in your fridge, waiting patiently for Easter so you can enjoy  a little bit of home.  But I won’t eat it on the metro.

When I realized I hadn’t written a blog post in a few weeks (um, maybe months) I thought to myself, well, that’s cause I haven’t been doing anything particularly interesting of different.  Then I realized, well, hosting two birthday parties, training for the Great Wall Marathon (I’m only running the half), figuring out the high-speed train system and just living in Shanghai is interesting.

My friends Danielle and Dom had birthdays in February.  I hosted dinners and pre game at my house- full on dinner spreads along with birthday cake made in a toaster oven in disposable pie plates.  For Dom’s birthday we got a table at Richbaby- a full on Chinese club.  Table service in China is essential if you want your own space and the ability to sit down, which is a fantastic luxury when in Shanghai and in 4″ heels. The price is reasonable if you don’t like well liquor as well. And at my age, I don’t do well liquor. Unless I’m at Phebe. And the next morning I remember why I don’t drink well liquor. We had a blast at Richbaby- dancing’, drinkin’, chillin’, laughin’.

I finally signed up for the Great Wall Marathon on 5/19 . We do run on the wall for a portion of the race, but not all of it.  It’s going to be here before I know it, so it’s time to enter training mode.  I ran 5 miles around Jinji Lake in SuZhou, where Dom and Danielle now live, and then yesterday 6 miles in Shanghai.  I found a new route along SuZhou Creek in the city, which was WAY less crowded than Beijing Lu, where I have to bob and weave around strolling smokers and electric scooters driving on the sidewalks. Now if the sun will just come out….

Dom and Danielle moved from Kunshan to SuZhou, a little further away from Shanghai, but a larger city with more expats. More to see and do there when compared to Kunshan, so I have been spending time out there… which means the high speed- gao tia – which means Colleen had  to do some trial and error to determine best station to leave from and arrive at… which means Colleen got frustrated more than once. But, I got it a little more dialed in that when I started… The high speed is a very convenient  way to travel in China- there are a few train stations in Shanghai- one out at the domestic airport, one close to my house. You need to buy a ticket ahead of time or you risk waiting in the station for an hour or more if the next train is sold out. Another reason is the lines at the station are CRAZY long and people love to cut in front of you. For some reason Chinese people don’t find this rude.  But a quick “I’m buying a ticket, get to the back’ in Chinese usually gets my point across.

In other news- I hired an ay yi… meaning a housekeeper.  They are not costly here- everyone has one.  I just felt so lazy hiring someone to clean my house, and then I realized that freed up hours to train for GWM and it balances out the hours I spend traveling to SuZhou on the weekends. DONE!  So far she has only been twice- and does a decent job cleaning.  I’m nervous to trust her with my laundry- but I’m sure I eventually will cave and have her do a load here or there.

Now all I need is the weather to warm up and the sun to come out and I will start to explore Shanghai and other areas in China.  I made a list of places I want to go using the UNESCO website.  Top on my list:  Tibet, Sichuan province, Hangzhou and Suzhou.  I wanted to do Tibet for my birthday but the government closed it to foreign visitors until April. Not going to book a flight until I know I can actually get in there….so until then I’ll just stick to traveling to places we can get to on the high speed.  And I’ll keep buying my tickets ahead of time.

It is possible to find Western food stuffs in China.  They are pricey, but when it comes time to get my holiday cooking on, it’s worth it.  We decided to host Christmas Dinner in Kunshan- at our co workers house, since they have a 3 floor townhouse- they place where you can gather 19 people and feed them with tons and tons of food and ply them with lots and lots of drinks.

Christmas dinner prep started a few days prior to Christmas eve- made Irish Creme fudge (from scratch, in China, with no candy thermometer.  Take that Martha!), peanut brittle and over the next few days added rice krispy treats, spiced nuts, chocolate no bakes, roasted garlic. Danielle came into town Friday night to help (and to watch American Horror Story with me on netflix- who can watch that alone?)  Early in the AM we loaded up 4 large grocery bags with the supplies, made our way out to Bubbas Texas BBQ to pick up our pre cooked USDA hua ji, or turkey, gravy and stuffing.  I asked my boss if his driver could take us, cause there was no way I was going to be able to lug all those groceries out there on the high speed train.  no.way.jose.

We arrived in Kunshan at noon, right on time.  Started with the prep work around 1:30….I had a lot of helpers in the kitchen with me.  We had differences of opinion on how to peel the potatoes I wanted to go for speed, given we needed to peel about 14 of them, they want to conserve potato and not ‘waste’ food. But we managed to peel them all up,  mash them up (the guys had a potato masher, AWESOME)  and then served the first course at 6.  Turkey at 7. The turkey amazingly fit into their HUGE toaster oven, so we were able to warm it up and as a result  everything went off with out a hitch- man, did we feast!!!   Turkey, roasted garlic mashed potatoes, green bean casserole (yes, I found campbell’s cream of mushroom soup but no French’s fried onions), green beans with toasted almonds,  maple glazed carrots, stuffing, gravy, patas bravas, garlic and chili shrimp, stuffed mushrooms, roasted garlic with crackers and french bread, home made salsa and all the deserts I mentioned above.  Our host, Dom, said a heartfelt grace and we chowed down. The crew consisted of us expats, an Irish girl, Chinese co workers,  Mexican from Texas, a southerner from Virginia,  an Indian with an English accent, an Indian from Indiana… you get the picture.

After dinner we started up the Wii, played some bowling, then somehow it involved into a dance party with some Micheal Jackson moments, line dancing, Indian dancing and me attempting to learn some Irish folk dancing from Sarah.  I am sure I would have been a better student had I not had a few cocktails by that time of night.

We had such a great time bringing expats together and introducing our Chinese co workers and friends to the wonders of Christmas- like home made egg nog.  And Patron shots.   Only thing missing was snow….. but I can live with out that.  Friends become your family when you live so far away and I am blessed with some truly exceptional friends.   Merry Christmas!

On December 4th, I got up early, like many a half marathon mornings.  Walked into the kitchen, made some coffee, had some bread with peanut butter, pulled on my CWX compression capris, donned my running shirt, pinned on my bib…. all the paces I go through for getting ready for many a race back in the states.  Except, instead of getting ready to run The Strip like I did in 2010 on the same weekend- I was getting to run the Bund- the main strip in Shanghai.

I have been attempting to keep up with the running, but between working late and wanting to explore the city I have been less than strict with myself.  Gone are the days of taking a long lunch and banging out 4 miles in sunny Carlsbad, or waking up early and meeting my running buddy for a seaside run. Now, get up early and dodge and weave through crowds of spitting, smoking and slow walking Chinese to log my miles.  Yeah… sleeping in after going out with friends always sounds like a better option, now doesn’t it?

In order to sign up for this race, I needed to have a doctor sign a release form, stating my blood pressure, heart rate and that I was in good enough health to run the race.  In order go to see the doctor I had to pick one, make an appt, take time off work, etc, etc.  This lead to me procrastinating and not getting it done… which lead to me missing the deadline to sign up for the race. Luckily, a friend was able to put the word out and found a girl who couldn’t run the race!   He brought me the bib on race weekend, and I was good to go.

I stepped out into the frigid December air and walked to the metro… briskly, receiving the normal amount of bewildered looks – ‘what is that crazy white lady doing at this time of day in that outfit?’ – and the runners started to make themselves apparent.  Just like other races in the states, they gave up gear check bags- which I opted not to use- but many people did.  You can always tell a runner heading to a race by the bag on their arm- filled with dry clothes for a post race change, food, water, etc.   Given the balmy 39 degree start to race day I opted to wear my wind proof jacket and a long sleeve running shirt.   The jacket ended up being a great butt warmer as I tied it to my waist at the start of the race.

The start took place on the Bund, right next to the Huang Pu river. The start was like many a start in the states- crowded- people jostling and bumping- runner nervously chatting. Waiting for the starting bell- wondering if it’s nerves or do you really need to pee again before the race starts…..  finally, we count down  “San, Er, Yi”  ‘3,2,1’ and off we go.  Just like other races, my gun time and chip time were about 5 mins apart- takes that long to cross the starting line.

And the runners are off!  Down the street, dodging brightly colored garbage bags that people wear to stay warm, random gloves, clothes, jean jackets (no, really jean jackets too).  About a mile into the race, we come upon a large wall and I hear hooting and hollering.  I look my left, and startled to see no less than 50 dudes, lined up, all taking a leak… and more runners joining them.  Guess they did decide they needed to pee.  I laughed and almost wanted to stop and take a picture, but I kept on running.  Along the route, there were many Chinese cheering- mostly upper middle aged folks, but man, where they enthusiastic!   There were the just run of the mill on lookers, but then there were the ‘drum gangs’ as I call them.  In the AM, you can pass by any square and happen upon a group of 10-20 50+ women doing some type of synchronized dancing or drum beating, or fan dance or tai chi…. some days they are all dressed in matching track suits- which they decided to wear for the race.  I must have passed over 20 such ‘gangs’, some with drums, others with pom poms, or fans…. cheering and waving.  It made me smile, and when you waved back, they cheered harder.  The best was the group of middle aged MEN, wearing black track suits, waving silver pom poms.  They looked like some acid trip cheer leader squad…

The route was point to point, meaning start at the Bund and run into Pudong.  That means crossing the Huang Pu river.  Than means the Nanpu Bridge.  They shut the traffic along the route- so we got to run up the cork screw entrance ramp of the bridge- what an awesome sight to look up it and see almost a mile of runners before and after me.  Very inspiring, even if it was an incline.

 

NanPu interchange

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Run run run… and run some more.  Until I say a porta potty and decided since I wasn’t running for time, I would take a pit stop.  7 mins later and a few ounces lighter, I head back out.  I decided to wear my Amphipod running belt, fill it with gatoraide, and in the GU loops stash some single serve honey packets.  I didn’t know where to buy GU, so I figured some honey would do the trick.  It did, and I was happy to have my own water/gatorade supply.  The water stations were erratic, and instead of electrolytes, they had tea- no joke.  Some of the aid stations they handed out water soaked sponges (um, it was like 50 degrees out).  Run run run some more… play list hitting all the right songs at the right times to get me through the tough spots.  I see the finish line, look to the left and right and see if I can locate my co workers Danielle and Dom who came out to cheer me on… not seeing them, I focus in on the finish line and use up what I have in the tank… run run run, sprint…. cross, finish, stop Garmin.  It was not my fastest race, but it wasn’t my slowest.  And it was my first international race.  I’ll take that.

Like any large city, Shanghai has its different shopping areas and recently we ventured into the fabric market near the south Bund area.  The fabric market is home to dozens and dozens of tailors there is a large building, three floors, with just shops and shops – samples on mannequins or hanging for passerby to view and decide they just can’t live with out that cool looking, asymmetrical zipper black cashmere coat.  Can you tell I got sucked in?

A co worker need to go and pick up his jackets and shirts recently, so we all hopped in a cab and headed downtown.  We come upon the market and man, it is packed.  On one side of the street are some little shops- were James Tailor (hahaha get it?) is located.  We walk in, and take it all in.  There is some fabric here, but mostly just as a representation of what they have available.  They also have books with pictures of suits, shirts, coats that you can choose from in case you don’t have something already in mind.  But I did!  I came prepared!  I had heard you could take them a picture of something that you wanted and they could make a pattern and sew it for you. I had taken a photo of a jacket that I liked so I wanted to test out this theory.  As our co worker was getting his jacket, I showed my picture to the tailor.  He and I discussed the details of the coat, but couldn’t figure out how to text him the pic, so he asked me to come with him.  I thought we were going upstairs to get fitted or something, so I really didn’t tell my co workers where I was going. Turns out, the tailor intended for me to go with him.  The shops usually have two or three people working in them, so my co workers were talking with the shop owner.  And when he meant go with him, he meant on his e scooter, down the block to a place where they printed out the photo of the coat from my iPhone.  Let me tell you , cruising down a crowded street on the back of the tailors e scooter was fun, but also scary.  I was thinking “hmm…. could this be the start to one of the “Locked Up Abroad” shows? Luckily it wasn’t… we printed out the pic, headed back to the shop and I breathlessly told me co workers all about my little ride.

We looked over the bigger picture with the tailor, confirmed the details like button, collar, length and then I got measured.  Not only are the prices reasonable for a coat, it is custom  made for you.  I got a dark charcoal cashmere pea coat-ish jacket, custom tailored, for $125.  That is less than a new coat at H&M.  Well, that price was after some haggling, and some how in my broken Chinese I convinced them I was a student. (RIIIIGHT) so they gave me a discount.  I will send them some business for sure.

Two weeks later we (me and my weekend roommate Danielle, who is a co-worker but lives in Kunshan, so she usually comes and spends the weekend with me in Shanghai) go to our final fitting.  The coats fit, so we pay the remainder on our coats (you need to put a deposit down) and head across the street to the building that houses 3 floors of tailors.  But before we make it across the street we stop for some street snacks… I had a nice large, hot spring roll and Danielle got scallion pancake like burrito like thing with veggies… they were tasty and perfect fuel for some more shopping.  Up and around and down we go… We choose another coat.  We both got the same one, but man, is it awesome.  And $100 USD. And I was pulled into another shop by this nice looking long sleeve cowl neck dress on a mannequin.  That, custom made heavy jersey dress was only $32 USD.  I found my new shopping destination.  And I can take them a picture and get it made for me.  SCORE.  I picked up my new coat and dress this weekend, hopefully after completing my first half marathon in Shanghai on Sunday.

If you have every been to China, you have probably been accosted by someone trying to sell you something.  Watches, knock off purses, roller skates, laser pointers. USB sticks…. back in the day they would walk up to you with a bag of goodies.  Now, they show you a laminated card- that is if you are on the street near a shopping mall.   If you show interest, they might take you to their shop.  If you are really interested and lucky, they will take you to a secret room, either upstairs, or literally behind a wall- where they either knock to get let in or push on the wall Batman style to reveal yet another room of knock off Coach purses, Rolex watches, etc. The room is usually locked and stuffed with goodies… you have to sort through them to find a style you want, or you just look, say “No Thanks” and hope that they let you out.

A mecca for shopping for fakes- Converse All Stars, watches, purses, backpacks, etc is the Pearl Market in Hongqiao or another location we discovered this weekend… we went with the desire to get a purse and some ‘stuff’- at these places you kinda stroll around until something catches your eye.  This weekend I walked away with some crimson Chucks, some Dr. Dre ‘beats’ headphones, some DVD’s…. you name, they got it.  And you have to haggle for everything.  It’s a process.  They start at about 200% of what they are willing to take as a final price and each person has their own negotiating technique.  Me, I start in English and then when we get to the nitty gritty I switch to Chinese.  I have even take over negotiation for some friends if the mood strikes me- but then it’s more fun to see styles develop.  One co-worker just starts at a price and sticks to it.  Another one went native and yelled at the shop keeper “One Hundred!”  and I about died when he didn’t flinch and just said “OK”.  It also works well if you buy together we bought three pairs of headphones and got the price down.  My co-worker Danielle actually got a keyboard skin thrown in for free.  She says “I want these three- and this one for free” meaning the skin.  The guy was like “OK”.  Maybe I should let her negotiate for me from now on.  The sellers have their own styles too…. usually they try flattery… “Why you bargain so hard?”  “Your Chinese is so good”  “You are so pretty”… this last comment happened in the middle of negotiating for my backpack this weekend and it worked.  I caved and gave her the extra 5 RMB. She had moves I tell ya! At the end of the trip you are usually about $100 USD broker, lugging black plastic bags filled with goodies and wanting a beer….. this weekend was no different.  The co workers I went with and I decided we can only go once a month after pay day.   Good thing.  I need to watch those DVDs before I go back.