theoriginalblurker | Weekend Shopping Success

So, in case you were wondering, I did indeed scrape together the guts to wander the city alone this weekend. Having done so in April with someone else, I had a good idea of where I wanted to go, and the concierge at the hotel is incredibly helpful about getting folks where they want to go.

Saturday, I spent the day at the Qipu market. It's basically a multilevel mall that spreads over an entire city block. The stores on the lower levels are little more than stalls, similar to the Old Shanghai Market (Xiang Yang), which has been closed down. The higher you go, the more posh the business. I had a great time wandering around the lower levels for 4 or 5 hours, before I had to come up for air. And yes, I found some Pumas. :)

Sunday I went back to the Yu Yuan Garden, where we found a lot of cool stuff last year, although we never found the garden. This time I actually found the garden almost immediately, which was pretty funny since I wasn't looking for it at all. I also found some tea for

auspeople (although it's not the brand that they requested, sorry), a T-shirt for my coworker, gifts for Lager Rhythms and my mom, and a few cool things for me. :)

Now I just need to get some chocolate for my group at work and my boss (the new boss is a big fan of dark chocolate), and the shopping will be complete.

Also, in the "helpful concierge" department, I asked them about a German restaurant nearby that I went to in April. I had no idea about the name or the location, but they pulled out a card for the correct restaurant with a map and Chinese name for the taxi. It's called Paulaner Brauhaus, and I'll be going there for dinner tonight. It's got to be cheaper than the hotel!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It is so very, very bizarre to be sitting here at 7:45 AM on Sunday, having just woken up, and reading about what you did "this Sunday". That's one hell of a time change. :)

I'm 14 hours ahead of Houston and 13 hours ahead of you guys on the East Coast. That's why flying back home is so weird. I arrive in San Francisco before I leave Shanghai. :)

I arrive in San Francisco before I leave Shanghai.

Okay, everybody sing with us!

"Let's do the time warp again!"

:)

Thankyouthankyouthankyou!!! This will be such a surprise for K. Wooo hooo. It's great to be able to have something that's a complete surprise under the tree. I was going to call the hotel in Hong Kong if you couldn't come up with any!

Hey, who knows, it might suck!

I did get to smell an open package, however, and it smelled great to me.

:)

FWIW in keeping bosses happy, I just had the last piece of the chocolate you got me on your last trip. It's pretty darned nummers.

And it's a good thing you're out of town, that I can't tempt you with all the cookies I baked this week. Foul temptress and all that.

Ok, back to NaNoWriting. It's so very tiny.

K

Um - is it too late to put a request in on the shopping list? I'm having a hard time tracking down "black moss" (also known as fat tsai - pronounced fat choy) - scientific name Nostoc commune. Any chance you might get back out to a grocery store?

5 hours of shopping...that brings back memories.

Erm...is it a tea, or just a bunch of moss? What does it look like? How is it packaged? What the heck is it used for?

And is it legal to transport? It sounds kind of dodgy to me. ;)

It's actually a delicacy for Chinese New Year. It should just come in plastic bag packaging like the various kinds of sushi seaweed. Based on the images I've seen, it just looks like black wiry stuff.

Dodgy, heh. You sound just like my midwestern farm kids...

I looked in a few grocery stores for this during the week and found nothing. If I have another chance I'll keep looking.

Is it dried, or does it come ...er...moist?

Weekend Shopping Success

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