All good things must come to an end, and that includes the vacation portion of my trip. Daniel headed to the Beijing airport early Sunday morning (11/28) to begin his travel back to the US. I accompanied him on the subway as far as the Airport Express train station. As I watched him disappear down the escalator, it began to sink in: I was now alone in this very foreign country. So what do I do now? I could head back to the hotel room and hide and begin preparing for the busy work week ahead, but I wasn't quite ready to do that. Then I remembered that there was a Walmart very near my hotel. It might be worth checking out. I did want to buy a new hat, the fleece cap I brought with me was just not doing the job against the cold winds here.
I could see the familiar Walmart sign from the exit of the Zhi Chun Lu subway station, so I set off to do some good old American shopping. The sign was clearly visible, but it took me three tries to get to the actual store. My first try landed me in a dead end alley, good thing it was broad daylight. My second try brought me to railroad tracks and a barb wire fence that I wasn't even going to try to cross. I headed back to the subway station, to the sidewalk along the road, and worked my way under the tracks and around, making it to the entrance of the store on my third try.
I could start to see differences immediately between this store and the ones at home. The entrance was comparatively small. No huge bank of automatic glass doors; this store had a couple of large openings that were covered with thick heavy curtains that you had to force your way through to get inside (kind of like getting on a crowded subway here). I guess this worked well as an insulator against the weather, but I was glad I would never have to try to push a shopping cart through it.
The inside did not look at all like what I was used to at home. Maybe it was a combination of the lighting and the no-frills displays, or maybe it was the armed guards carrying rifles. This place felt more like a warehouse store than a Walmart. The flooring and display cases looked, not dirty, but worn. I bet this place sees quite a bit of foot traffic. The first floor was electronics and entertainment, lots of CDs, DVDs, TVs, appliances, etc.. I did see some familiar brands like Panasonic, Philips, Citizen, Disney, but there were also others that I'd never heard of before. I saw lots of familiar movie titles among the DVDs. In the CD section, I expected to see familiar recording artists like Michael Jackson and Lady Gaga. There were also names that surprised me, Like Kenny G and Richard Clayderman. Who knew they'd be so popular in China?
Since I was on a mission to find a new hat, I decided to head upstairs to see what was there. To get to the second floor, you had to ride a long, sloped, moving sidewalk, intended for people with grocery carts to be able to move easily from level to level. The second floor consisted of Health and Beauty Aids, Clothing, and Household Goods. The HBA area looked more familiar, there were a few brand name make-up counters and skin care displays. The clothes, however, again had that warehouse look. No large signs advertising specific brands or sale pricing, just rack after rack of shirts, pants, coats, underwear, socks, shoes.
It took me a few minutes, but I was able to locate the winter hats. Now I just had to pick one. I wanted something to match the coat I was wearing, and finally settled on a gray knit cap. Only problem was, it had an unfamiliar brand name very visibly embroidered on it, "huakangtai". I had no idea if this was a good brand or a bad brand. What if wearing this on the street attracted attention and harassment, like the JCPenney Plain Pocket Jeans of my youth? There didn't seem to be many other options, so I decided to take my chances. I also bought a pair of knit gloves that left the fingers exposed, I figured that might come in handy for cold weather photography.
Seeing the HBA section reminded me that I also wanted to look for underarm deodorant. How many of you know exactly how long a stick of deodorant or tube of toothpaste lasts? I sure don't keep track of such things. When I packed for this 5-week trip back in Pougkeepsie, I had to guess as to what quantities to take. I had decided on taking only one brand new stick of deodorant, that surely would be enough. However, I noticed this weekend that it was already feeling a bit light, and I thought it would be a good idea to locate some more just in case I got close to running out.
I was unable to find any deodorant for sale in this Walmart at all. Honest. I looked through the HBA aisles 3 times. I saw lots of familiar products: shampoo, conditioner, lotion, band aids, OTC medications, pretty much everything you'd expect to find in the HBA section. Except deodorant. And you can thank me for perpetuating the pervy American stereotype - I spent an embarrassingly long time in front of a wall of small boxes, trying to figure out if they were what I was looking for, only to realize with horror that I had been staring at a condom display. I considered asking for help, but I don't know how to say "deodorant" in Chinese (nor any other word, for that matter). The thought of having to pantomime the application of deodorant under my armpits to a sales clerk was too much to deal with on my first solo outing. I decided to take my chances with what I had. (Note that I am not trying to poke fun at the local people with this story - I have not once detected any offensive body odor during my stay. I just do not understand why deodorant is not available. Is it possible that the vast majority do not need it? Ancient Chinese secret?)
I decided to go back to the first floor and do some more exploring there. I headed back to where I arrived on the second floor, unpurchased hat and gloves in hand. A girl there waved me away, pointing me in another direction and telling me something important that I had no chance of understanding. I decided she was telling me that I have to buy my merchandise on this floor, so I headed over to a register and payed. Y38 (about $6) for a hat and gloves, not bad. I headed back to the floor entrance, only to be waved off by the same girl again. What the...? Looking around, I realized why she was waving me away: you can only go up on this side of the moving sidewalk. But where is the down sidewalk? Since there were no signs (that I could read), I had to wander around the store for a while before I found it. It was located on the completely opposite side of the store. These people really like to walk.
This was a Walmart Supercenter, so it had groceries as well. I remember receiving an e-mail a while back with photos that were supposedly taken in a Chinese Walmart. These showed some pretty strange food items, like octopus tentacles and whole alligator. I figured that these items were too odd for Walmart, and that the photos were likely taken elsewhere as an attempt at sensationalism. After seeing this Walmart's grocery floor, I'm not so sure now. There were lots of very familiar looking sections, like the bakery, fresh fruits and vegetables, dried goods. The meat section, however, was where the most differences could be seen. Some of the meat on display would fit right in at a US Walmart. Others, like the chicken feet, pig's feet, pig's snout, you'd be more hard-pressed to find at home. There was a section of hanging cured meats that had no plastic protection over them, including some flattened smoked duck with the heads still attached. (I could not help but utter a dismayed "aw" at those poor ducks.) Raw meats such as chicken parts and pork were out on display and were self-service. Shoppers put plastic bags over their hands and used them as gloves as they picked through legs and thighs and wings and slabs of ribs. There was a live food section, which consisted mostly of turtles and fish. These were also help-yourself items. It was quite comical to watch the customers chasing an unwilling fish with a net and getting splashed in the process.
I made a mental note of some of the snacks that were available in the dried goods section for a future shopping trip, and decided to head back to my hotel room. I spent the rest of the day looking at my trip photos, catching up on US news, and reviewing my work materials so that I'd be ready for Monday. My vacation was definitely over.
I could see the familiar Walmart sign from the exit of the Zhi Chun Lu subway station, so I set off to do some good old American shopping. The sign was clearly visible, but it took me three tries to get to the actual store. My first try landed me in a dead end alley, good thing it was broad daylight. My second try brought me to railroad tracks and a barb wire fence that I wasn't even going to try to cross. I headed back to the subway station, to the sidewalk along the road, and worked my way under the tracks and around, making it to the entrance of the store on my third try.
I could start to see differences immediately between this store and the ones at home. The entrance was comparatively small. No huge bank of automatic glass doors; this store had a couple of large openings that were covered with thick heavy curtains that you had to force your way through to get inside (kind of like getting on a crowded subway here). I guess this worked well as an insulator against the weather, but I was glad I would never have to try to push a shopping cart through it.
The inside did not look at all like what I was used to at home. Maybe it was a combination of the lighting and the no-frills displays, or maybe it was the armed guards carrying rifles. This place felt more like a warehouse store than a Walmart. The flooring and display cases looked, not dirty, but worn. I bet this place sees quite a bit of foot traffic. The first floor was electronics and entertainment, lots of CDs, DVDs, TVs, appliances, etc.. I did see some familiar brands like Panasonic, Philips, Citizen, Disney, but there were also others that I'd never heard of before. I saw lots of familiar movie titles among the DVDs. In the CD section, I expected to see familiar recording artists like Michael Jackson and Lady Gaga. There were also names that surprised me, Like Kenny G and Richard Clayderman. Who knew they'd be so popular in China?
Since I was on a mission to find a new hat, I decided to head upstairs to see what was there. To get to the second floor, you had to ride a long, sloped, moving sidewalk, intended for people with grocery carts to be able to move easily from level to level. The second floor consisted of Health and Beauty Aids, Clothing, and Household Goods. The HBA area looked more familiar, there were a few brand name make-up counters and skin care displays. The clothes, however, again had that warehouse look. No large signs advertising specific brands or sale pricing, just rack after rack of shirts, pants, coats, underwear, socks, shoes.
It took me a few minutes, but I was able to locate the winter hats. Now I just had to pick one. I wanted something to match the coat I was wearing, and finally settled on a gray knit cap. Only problem was, it had an unfamiliar brand name very visibly embroidered on it, "huakangtai". I had no idea if this was a good brand or a bad brand. What if wearing this on the street attracted attention and harassment, like the JCPenney Plain Pocket Jeans of my youth? There didn't seem to be many other options, so I decided to take my chances. I also bought a pair of knit gloves that left the fingers exposed, I figured that might come in handy for cold weather photography.
Seeing the HBA section reminded me that I also wanted to look for underarm deodorant. How many of you know exactly how long a stick of deodorant or tube of toothpaste lasts? I sure don't keep track of such things. When I packed for this 5-week trip back in Pougkeepsie, I had to guess as to what quantities to take. I had decided on taking only one brand new stick of deodorant, that surely would be enough. However, I noticed this weekend that it was already feeling a bit light, and I thought it would be a good idea to locate some more just in case I got close to running out.
I was unable to find any deodorant for sale in this Walmart at all. Honest. I looked through the HBA aisles 3 times. I saw lots of familiar products: shampoo, conditioner, lotion, band aids, OTC medications, pretty much everything you'd expect to find in the HBA section. Except deodorant. And you can thank me for perpetuating the pervy American stereotype - I spent an embarrassingly long time in front of a wall of small boxes, trying to figure out if they were what I was looking for, only to realize with horror that I had been staring at a condom display. I considered asking for help, but I don't know how to say "deodorant" in Chinese (nor any other word, for that matter). The thought of having to pantomime the application of deodorant under my armpits to a sales clerk was too much to deal with on my first solo outing. I decided to take my chances with what I had. (Note that I am not trying to poke fun at the local people with this story - I have not once detected any offensive body odor during my stay. I just do not understand why deodorant is not available. Is it possible that the vast majority do not need it? Ancient Chinese secret?)
I decided to go back to the first floor and do some more exploring there. I headed back to where I arrived on the second floor, unpurchased hat and gloves in hand. A girl there waved me away, pointing me in another direction and telling me something important that I had no chance of understanding. I decided she was telling me that I have to buy my merchandise on this floor, so I headed over to a register and payed. Y38 (about $6) for a hat and gloves, not bad. I headed back to the floor entrance, only to be waved off by the same girl again. What the...? Looking around, I realized why she was waving me away: you can only go up on this side of the moving sidewalk. But where is the down sidewalk? Since there were no signs (that I could read), I had to wander around the store for a while before I found it. It was located on the completely opposite side of the store. These people really like to walk.
This was a Walmart Supercenter, so it had groceries as well. I remember receiving an e-mail a while back with photos that were supposedly taken in a Chinese Walmart. These showed some pretty strange food items, like octopus tentacles and whole alligator. I figured that these items were too odd for Walmart, and that the photos were likely taken elsewhere as an attempt at sensationalism. After seeing this Walmart's grocery floor, I'm not so sure now. There were lots of very familiar looking sections, like the bakery, fresh fruits and vegetables, dried goods. The meat section, however, was where the most differences could be seen. Some of the meat on display would fit right in at a US Walmart. Others, like the chicken feet, pig's feet, pig's snout, you'd be more hard-pressed to find at home. There was a section of hanging cured meats that had no plastic protection over them, including some flattened smoked duck with the heads still attached. (I could not help but utter a dismayed "aw" at those poor ducks.) Raw meats such as chicken parts and pork were out on display and were self-service. Shoppers put plastic bags over their hands and used them as gloves as they picked through legs and thighs and wings and slabs of ribs. There was a live food section, which consisted mostly of turtles and fish. These were also help-yourself items. It was quite comical to watch the customers chasing an unwilling fish with a net and getting splashed in the process.
I made a mental note of some of the snacks that were available in the dried goods section for a future shopping trip, and decided to head back to my hotel room. I spent the rest of the day looking at my trip photos, catching up on US news, and reviewing my work materials so that I'd be ready for Monday. My vacation was definitely over.
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