Kaifaqu 101

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Shannon’s up and gone by the time we awake. We kept her up half the night and she has to work. She’ll teach tomorrow, too, before joining Damon in Malaysia.

At noon she calls to let us know that she’ll be home around 3 and we’ll take a tour to get familiar with our surroundings.

Our first stop is the store under the apartment complex. It’s actually just outside the gate and half a story below street level, a convenience with a small produce market beside it. Great-we’ll have fruits and vegetables.

We then hail a taxi and head to the shopping center. It’s actually not too far to walk, but it’s a cold day.

She takes us to an ATM in the Mykal Department Store that takes Plus system cards. Bernie gets some money and I take out a small amount just to make sure everything works, 200 RMB or about $28. Chairman Mao’s picture is on the bills.
Mykal is a modern, upscale store with a specialty foods section on the top floor where western foods are available. I buy cereal, yogurt, and cheese-all items that aren’t widely available in Chinese food stores. I can’t, however, find black tea (hello-is this China?). Shannon tells us Tesco or Trust Mart will have it.

We have our photos taken at the Kodak concession. We need them for our visit to the police station tomorrow to register.

Next we walk through New Mart, where many vendors have booths and prices, unlike those in the department store, are not fixed and bargaining is expected.
After we walk through Trust Mart which is owned by Walmart and where we get our first sight of the variety of meat cuts in Chinese stores, we’re ready to meet Shannon’s friends for dinner at an Indian restaurant in one of the hotels.

We exit through the same door we entered. As we near the door, a young woman approaches Shannon and asks her something in Chinese. Shannon understands “card” because it’s anglicized. We all realize she’s asking us about a card left at the ATM. Guess who? Yep. First day and I just about ruined our trip.
She takes us to the service desk and sure enough, there’s my MidFirst debit card.

So many stories abound about travelers being taken advantage of, but these people sought us out to return my card.

The food at the Indian restaurant is great and so is the company. The man, one of Shannon’s colleagues at school, is also from Canada. His petite, beautiful wife is Chinese and they have an eighteen-month-old daughter.

We’re back at the apartment after dinner. No one is eager to stay up any later, since we were up most of the night last night.

Tomorrow we’ll register with the police, something that must be done within five days of arrival at any place in China, or whenever someone moves within China.