This morning a much smaller group of just 3 of us hung out. We decided it'd be good to go catch some breakfast at a mall about 2 blocks away. The walk was miserable. It was a steady medium rain. The path lead us down through the subway system to try and avoid the rain as much as possible. We were aiming for one building and found another by accident. One of the folks didn't bring along the power adapter for her laptop on accident so while in a very large electronics store we checked to see if they had the equipment. The electronics store had a footprint of about the same size as a applebee's restaurant only 5 stories tall.
First floor of the store was computer dealers, dell, asus, leveno, sony, toshiba, etc. Each floor was devoted to the individual product types; this is very common it seems. The basement level was just cameras. Other floors, music / portable electronics, diy computers... etc. We found the proper cable for her laptop but wanted to be sure, so decided we'd come back after breakfast with the laptop to make sure it works. For breakfast, we went to a local mall. Unlike home, there isn't too much in the way of bread around these parts. The carbs from the meal usually comes from rice. We walked past a bakery called BreadTalk and knew it was perfect for us. I got a ham/cheese sandwich, bacon salad (roll with bacon and lettuce), and a desert bread stick totaling 18 yuan (less than $3). I grabbed a soda from Burger King in the dining court and was kinda ripped off for one cup of coke 7.50 yuan ($1.10). Either way, it was awesome. Someone else got a piece of bread with an over-hard eggs in the center baked over cheese and bacon then run through a horizontal toaster - amazing.
After breakfast we returned to the rooms to drop off the unfinished bread and grab the laptop. We got back and purchased the proper power cord with a few chinese phrases and went to a nearby super market. After covering every isle, the items that were chosen were different than from at home. I got 4 USA red delicious apples 45 yuan ($6), a few bags of crackers 14 yuan, and 4 L of water 6 yuan, for a total of less than $10. We returned in the rain to the room to consider resting a bit after a long 1.5 hrs in the grocery just looking at things.
Lunch came later in the afternoon because we watched a video I had on Shanghai, Paul Merton in China; Shanghai. I referenced this video in the past but - I really enjoy sharing it with people so the three of us watched it again. As the afternoon ticked by and rain continued to fall we decided that adventuring too far away would be less fun than staying nearby. We went over to a very close by Japanese noodle place. I got a beef and bamboo soup with noodles and it was pretty good for 28 yuan ($4) served with tea. Satisfied with dinner, we continued on to get foot massages - I've never had a professional massage it seemed like a good something to do on a Sunday afternoon. We went to the massage parlor off campus and for 88 yuan (12.85) we had the choice of a foot massage or full body message. We nearly went for the full body but opted for a foot message because it was the first time in China and didn't wanna get in over our heads.
It was great.
After dinner we returned with friends to the Japanese noodle house for dessert. It wasn't good - had loads of funny tasting beans on it and such, but I split it two ways for for 15 yuan ($2) it wasn't the end of the world. Unsatisfied, I ran over to McD and got an ice cream cone. Despite the rain, it was good and the price was right 2.50 yuan ($0.37).
Now I've returned to my room for the evening to document the day and it's coming up on 8pm. Classes start tomorrow at 10:30 am not far from the building we are staying in. None of us are excited to have classes starting soon.
I don't intend on keeping the blog in this much detail, but I think that posting details now helps people relate to whats going on. The last couple days have been fun and easy. There are many things that are overpriced. It just depends on where the shopping happens. When I know more Chinese it'll be a better time of getting lower prices.
Thanks for reading
JBiber
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