Monday, October 20, 2008

The British are Coming! The British are HERE!


Yes! They have arrived. The British department store, Marks & Spencer opened their Chinese flagship store here in Shanghai on October 2nd. Mike and I went after Mass last week and we had a great time. They have "large" sizes for regular Western people and great food! Check out the roasted red peppers, the horseradish sauce and the free trade coffee! Such a find!
Last week was a good week. We met Mae-Ling Tien, a lovely young Chinese American housewife from California. She and her husband have a 7 year old son. CeCe, Ellen and I went over to Anfu Lu to meet her at iiiiT which is lovely cafe in a gated community called The Summit. Very nice atmosphere. Then we dined at the Cafe Montemarte. It was lovely restaurant in the French Concession. We stopped at the Hu & Hu sofa store and found some great buys on Chinese furniture (I've been looking for tables) and some lovely sofas that Marybelle Hu can make up for clients in no time at all. Neat fabrics - colors you'd never imagine and some neat accessories too!
Saturday, Mike and I did a romantic thing. We grabbed a taxi and journeyed out to Hongmei Lu. We jumped out in front of the Pearl Market and dashed across the street to the Movie Store - yep, that's the name of the store. I had bought some great DVDs there a week or so before for 16 RMB which is about US $ 2.50. I cannot understand why they are so cheap especially when the quality is first rate. We've seen some pretty poor movie quality from some other stores but this store has 3 floors and it is absolutely amazing. I think I'll buy the MASH series for 64 RMB the next time I go out there. I would love to watch all those old MASH reruns. The problem - you cannot take them home with you. It is not legal to take them back to the States - I can understand why but the quality is first rate. Maybe they buy in such quantity, do you think that's why the prices are good? So we bought some CDs so Mike could download some music to his MP3 player - I stored all our other CDs - I wasn't thinking when United Van Lines came to pack them. And we bought The Kite Runner - I cannot wait to watch it. Read the book and read about the movie.
Then we went to Mexicolindo, a cute little Mexican restaurant on the Hongmei Pedestrian Street for dinner. Margarita and shrimp fajitas for me and a margarita and taco platter for Mike. I think it cost us about US $45. Not bad for a nice dinner and a seranade by the local Rolling Stones band. We didn't get there in time for Happy Hour but we were happy!
I still haven't been to Walmart yet. I don't have any plan to go either. Just thought I'd let you all know that. . .
Today I picked up a sweet baby gift for Miss Karina and Rob's new baby boy. I'll send it off this weekend after I get some wrapping paper at Taikang Lu on Friday. CeCe's driver, Skip will take us there on Friday. This Saturday is a golf marathon with the Westinghouse guys - they are playing 18 holes so I'll be alone all day. It's a shame - I'll have to get a manicure or something.
Today, one of our friends was sick so Skip took us to a Chinese pharmacy. I was expecting roots and bugs and stuff and guess what we found there? Tylenol Cold for 25 RMB which is about US$3.50. Enough for ten days. It's just up the street and they had Robitussin there too. I was amazed. It was so clean and the clerk spoke a wee bit English. China amazes me every day!

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