Shopping day

I went shopping today via the subway(.45 cents one way).

I spent $57.50 USD. All told I think I did ok. I had to limit myself as to what I was purchasing as I had to carry it home. Makes you think twice when you know you have to use a little muscle to get it home.

The big expenditures were : Olive Oil - $11.00USD

Salmon - $8.29 (it’s $14.41 a pound)

Land O Lakes Pepper Jack Cheese imported - $5.10

Mustard – $3.31

Chicken, 2 small boneless skinless breasts - $2.32 ($3.50 per lb.)

Wedge of Blue Cheese imported - $4.00 (I think I pay $4.99 at Kroger )

Dozen Eggs Brown- $1.46

Tuna fish, 1 can regular size (made in Thailand) $1.70

1 can tomato paste Hunts – $1.30

Small head of green leaf lettuce - .40 cents

2 small zucchini - .70 cents

Bread crumbs ½ lb package - .63 cents

Happy Cow ‘lite’ cheese -$2.19 (just like Laughing Cow cheese)

½ loaf of Whole wheat bread (6 slices)- .45 cents

Small head of broccoli - .62 cents

2 lemons - .95 cents

3 small red onions - .34 cents

2 long English style cucumbers - .50 cents

Saltine crackers ½ box - .63 cents

Green beans ½ lb - .40 cents

And a few other things.

Shanghai World Financial Center

On Dec. 24 we went up to the top of the World Financial Center which is 492 meters high or 1,614 feet high. The World Trade Towers in NYC were 417 meters high or 1,362 feet. The building on the left with the hole in the top is the SWFC, Shanghai World Financial Center. The building on the right is the Jin Mao Tower, the Grand Hyatt Hotel is located inside on the 53 through 57 floors, or something like that.

Here we are in the observation deck on the top floor, you can that looks down through the hole in the building.

We also went to the Jade Buddha Temple and the YuYuan Gardens. Here are a few pictures.


You are not allowed to take pictures of the actual Jade Buddha, bad Karma or something but here are pictures of the outside temples and a happy Buddha.




















































We also has a little lunch, which was quite yummy at the YuYuan Gardens.

Pick Pocketed!

Pick Pocketed!

You hear about it, you are warned about it and you really try to be careful but those pick pocketers are bold! Yes it happened to me. One evening this last week TJ, Tony and I were walking around, a bit lost. Our mission was to find an shop that sold DVD’s, ok so they were pirated and you may be thinking, serves you right as you were contributing to the illegal ways of China BUT we were FAR FAR away from the third story ‘shopping arcade’ which sold all kinds of fakey fakey purses, watches and the afore mentioned DVD’s.

Before I was accosted by the pick pocketer, we had been walking around trying to find a particular street and we were definitely lost. We were approached by a nice Chinese guy (the nationality distinction will become apparent later) who sidled up to TJ and began a small sing songy phrase, watch? Purse? TJ looked at him and said DVD’s? Sure sure I have everything, 5 minute walk come come. The three of us look at each other all thinking – never go with strangers. But there were 3 of us and TJ towered over him and really as a group (well Tony and TJ) could have taken him down! We shrugged and said ok. As we walked with this guy he whips out his Louis Vuitton business card case and hands us his card. And of course says ‘see nice case Louis Vuitton, I have everything’. Business card? Wow. He makes a turn into an alleyway and we were all thinking - what are we doing, yet continued to follow him up three flights of stairs. I know I know we should be dead right? This rickety old house was converted into a shopping arcade if you will, each room had different merchandise. I can’t tell you everything that was there as I was slightly nervous and didn’t take in everything, that feeling soon subsided as it really was a “legit” illegal shopping arcade. We had one focus and wanted to get out as fast as possible so I said DVD? And voila, hundreds of DVD’s appeared on the counter and we started to pick through them. We made a purchase and quickly left.

As we were walking home, still lost, our ‘beacon’ became the top of a high rise that has a light on top the shape of a ships smoke stack. We knew this was a building near our apartment. We would look up and continue walking toward our beacon knowing we were getting closer and closer to home. And then it happened, probably 3 blocks from home, off on a quiet side street I felt and heard the pocket zipper of my jacket being pulled down. Fortunately this jacket has faulty zipper pockets. The zipper always gets caught in the fabric edge and gets stuck. So this small guy came up from behind slipped his hand on to the zipper and began pulling, I did not feel it at first just heard the zip and then it got stuck. I realized immediately what was happening and turned around and just looked at this smallish white guy standing there looking right back at me. I paused and then just screamed, upon reflection not a good scream, but a scream nevertheless. Tony and TJ turned and came back toward us and I said hey this guy tried to pick my pocket. TJ and Tony were debating whether to take him down when this guy makes some gestures that I stepped on his foot. Finally we just turned and walked away; all of us really upset and jacked up. We were really surprised that a white guy was picking my pocket and we all were wondering where he was from.

We learned from our tour guide the next day that he was Uyghur.

Here is a little research I did about the Uyghur's.

The Uyghur’s are a Turkic people of Central Asia. Uyghurs live primarily in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (also known by its controversial name Uyghurstan or East Turkistan) in the People's Republic of China. The name Xinjiang, which means "new territory" or "new frontier" in Chinese, is considered offensive by many advocates of Uyghur independence who prefer to use historical or ethnic names such as Uyghurstan or East Turkestan (with Turkestan sometimes spelled as Turkistan).^[14]

Following the September 11, 2001 attacks in the USA, China voiced its support for the United States of America in the war on terror. The Chinese government has often referred to Uyghur nationalists as "terrorists" and received more global support for their own "war on terror" since 9/11. Human rights organizations have become concerned that this "war on terror" is being used by the Chinese government as a pretext to repress ethnic Uyghurs.^[15] Uyghur exile groups also claim that the Chinese government is suppressing Uyghur culture and religion, and responding to demands for independence with human rights violations.^[16]

According to at least one outside source, Beijing has "decimated Uyghur culture."

The piece of land in China that sticks up between Kazakhstan and Mongolia is East Turkestan.

[Buy this map in different sizes or resolutions, please scroll down for the Order Form.]

Hangzhou Dec. 21-22 2008

We went to Hangzhou on Monday and Tuesday 12/21-22 about 3 hours southwest of Shanghai. It is considered one of the most beautiful areas of China. Marco Polo even commented on the beauty of Hangzhou back in the 1300’s. The main attraction of Hangzhou is West Lake and the manmade lakes and causeways. The area is considered “heaven on earth”. The weather was frightfully cold – 30 degrees F. but we managed to walk a bit around the lake and even take a 30 minute cruise on the lake.

The other attraction in Hangzhou is the Tea that is grown in that region. We went to a tea plantation and had a little tour and then tasted the tea with water from the Dragon Well. A ‘mystical’ well. Actually it’s just really good well water, unlike the water you get in Shanghai.

Our lunch was at a restaurant that served typical Hangzhou style food. You must understand it all tastes like Chinese food to me. Some dishes better, some worse. Here is a picture of the Beggars Chicken, which is a famous dish of the area. The chicken is seasoned then wrapped in 20 sheet of paper and then clay is packed around it to form a ball. Then it is placed in the oven and cooked. It is brought to the table after the clay is removed and the paper is cut open. It use to be when the small chicken was served the pieces were distributed thusly: the wings for the daughter, the legs and thighs for the son, the breast meat for the wife and the head and neck for the husband. Please note this bird arrived cooked with all its ‘pieces’, unfortunately we could not convince Tony that it was good luck to eat the head. The flavor however was very nice, nothing unusual just a nice roasted chicken. Unfortunately the restaurant had just opened and I guess they turn off the heat at night because we kept our coats on while eating as it was so cold inside!!!

By the way the pretty asian lady is our tour guide Melody.

Hong Kong

Sunday December 21, 2008

We are back from Hong Kong and it was a fantastic trip! We arrived at the Renaissance Hotel on Thursday late afternoon, the hotel was gorgeous and the views of Victoria Harbor were breathtaking.

TJ contacted his classmates and organized a time for them together later that evening. We really weren’t hungry so we decided to have cocktails and ‘dinner’ up on the club level where there was wine and hors d’ouevers aplenty between 5:30 and 7:00. A short walk around the hotel area and then TJ’s friends arrived at 9:00p to take him around town. They had a great time walking around Lan Kwai Fong a pedestrian area chock full of restaurants and bars. It has a great night life scene and the boys really enjoyed themselves. TJ and Mike (college mate) came in at about 4:00am, Mike just found a corner of the floor in the room to sleep and TJ fell right into bed. They said it was an awesome time and TJ can’t wait to come back to Hong Kong just for the night life in Lan Kwai Fong.

Friday TJ and I walked around Hong Kong, found an interesting market selling Xmas items as well as the usual open food market items. We took our time and just did a bunch of window shopping. Prior to that we had met Tony and his colleagues for lunch. I bought these pretty ornaments for our tree.

Tony worked a full day on Friday so he met us after work and we headed back to Lan Kwai Fong,…. the scene of the crime. Tony took us to a great Vietnamese restaurant that he enjoys to when he is visitingn Hong Kong, it was a nice treat.

Saturday we headed up to Victoria Peak the highest point in Hong Kong and what a view!! And what a day!! 80 degrees and sunny. After the picturesque visit we headed to Stanley Market on Stanley Beach. A little shopping, walking along the beach and then 3 hours sitting at a restaurant overlooking the beach just talking and hanging out and drinking beer.