Delivery

Getting goods delivered in Shanghai is super easy and inexpensive (or free). I think it has to do with cheap labor, population concentration, and family cars are just beginning to become popular.

A lot of the times delivery is free. It goes without saying, we get our 5-gallon water bottle for the water cooler delivered free. Among the more reasonably priced and accessible beers, John likes Carlsberg best. We get them delivered by the 12-bottle case in the 20 oz size. Our fruit vendor delivers with a phone call though they are only 150 meters away. I order on the web from our grocer (Lianhua, a huge chain). Delivery is free for 20 RMB purchases, 2 RMB otherwise.

I do quite a bit of my purchases online. Next day delivery is 5-6 RMB for the 1st kilogram 100 kilometers around Shanghai, including pickup and dropoff. Now, whenever I need to get something to a friend or relative, I use the courier service too.

The only problem with delivery is that you have to be there to receive and sign. For small things, I have them delivered to my office. In the lobby of our apartment building, there is an Ayi from 8am to 8pm. The Ayi is kind enough to sign for us. The other day we picked up a small piece of furniture when cruising the street. It got delivered and was waiting for us with the Ayi in the lobby before we even got home.

Japan 2006 - Part 2 - Mt. Koya to Tokyo

I have posted Part 2 of our Japan trip report over on meckleyearth. To only see the photos, click here.

A preview:

Rock garden at the Fukuchi-in, the temple/hotel where we stayed on Mt. Koya.


The food was tasty, the owner gracious, and the beer cold at this DIY teppanyaki restaurant in Tokyo.

A Busy October

It's been a busy October.

We spent the first week of the month in Japan. I hope to get the trip report posted sometime in 2006 but I'm way behind as Bali and Nanjing remain unreported as well. The short report: Japan was awesome! See the photo below.

The second week of the month was spent looking at apartments in the XuJiaHui area of Shanghai. We found a nice 3-BR apartment on the 11th floor of the "Ya Du" complex which is close to Sun-Ling's office, Metro Line 1, and the Intel shuttle bus stop.

Thus, the 3rd and 4th weeks of the month will be spent packing, moving, and settling in to our new home. Updates to this blog will be sparse.

Our new address is:
300 Nandan Rd
Bldg 8, #1101
Shanghai 200030
China


John enjoys a cold beer with the vegetarian dinner served to us in our room at a Buddhist temple/inn on Mt Koyasan.

Kunshan Beer Festival

Last week I won 2 free VIP tickets to the Kunshan Beer Festival. Each VIP ticket comes with free admission to the German Tent, buffet dinner, 1.5 liters of beer, and a spot at a reserved table. Woohoo!

When the tickets arrived, they were stamped "August 19" so it was Saturday Night at the Beer Festival.

Kunshan is basically a suburb of Shanghai, about a one hour bus ride from downtown. The shuttle bus (discount price of 30 RMB for VIP ticket holders) left Shanghai Stadium at 5:40 PM and arrived at the Beer Festival around 6:45 PM.

We found the German tent, hopped in the buffet line, and by 7:15 were drinking Budweiser draft (unfortunately the only "free" choice) and chowing on the German buffet: baked, boiled, and fried potatoes, spaetzle, salad and soft pretzels.

There was an excellent traditional German band "Lichensteiner" on stage and everyone had a great time. The video proves that "Take Me Home, Country Roads" is one of the most popular songs in the world. The band did an extended version that featured tempo changes, key changes,and a jammin' ending.

Festival entrance.


Pouring the Suds.


The band.


The food.


Enjoying the band.


Check out the Budweiser logo on the mugs.


Gan bei! Cheers! Prost!

Beer

How is the beer in China? Well, it depends. There is beer. There is cold beer: an improvement from 10 years ago. There are beer girls: girls in tight fitting logo clothes that try to sell you their brand as soon as you sit down in the bar or restaurant. There is a brand of beer called "REEB" ---- that's beer spelled backwards --- how good could that be? There is Tsing Tao. There are 7 flavors of TsingTao. There is a cold quart bottle of Budweiser "to go" for $1. There are cases of beer delivered to your home. There is Heineken and Corona. There are six-packs. There are Irish pubs that have Guinness on tap. There are at least 20 brands of beer in the Carrefour (like a Walmart) supermarket where we shop. However....... There are no pale ales. There are no IPAs... Sigh... There are no micro breweries (that I know of). There is a Trappist beer, Chamay, from Belgium at Carrefour that costs about 3 US dollars for a 12 oz bottle. It is pretty darn tasty.