What shop is that?

How difficult is it to exist in China without understanding Chinese? Earlier I promised to post a range of photos showing shop fronts. I defy anyone who has no Chinese to identify these shops. Hint: most of them are restaurants and liquor/gift stores. And one is a foot massage shop - look for the feet!

Chinese don't like cheese

The German teacher, Ralf, told me of another supermarket, RT Mart, which is only a short bus trip, or 20 minutes walk away. It has the predictable KFC and McDonalds on the outside, and the array is similar to Carrefour, but the fruit and vegetables seem better. Near it are several other shops catering for westerners: Jenny's Cafe, and a Unimart which stocks imported goods exclusively. It was there I bought a sliver (140g) of NZ cheddar, for the equiv of AU$13 a kilo. Chinese don't eat cheese.

One whole aisle is devoted to the conception and care of babies (in this One Child policy country, you've gotta make sure it's a good one) including "how to" books (somewhat dog-eared, probably from the university students), DVD's and CD's of prenatal music.
Some interesting products on the shelves: "Skippy" peanut butter; Australian oatmeal; and this woman is choosing which MSG she needs (seriously!).

Each supermarket has its own system, which you quickly have to learn. This one demands you show your receipt on exiting the shop, while struggling with all your bags of shopping. (Which reminded me of exiting the Jinan airport - I was obliged to show my luggage ticket stubs before I could leave with my bags - which makes a lot of sense I suppose. But I couldn't find them!)

Dear reader: you may be puzzled why I bother to make a post about supermarkets. Please forgive me. You need to understand that in Jinan, they are but a welcome oasis for a weary, dusty and battered foreigner who yearns for something he might relate to, just every now and then.

It's not the destination, but the journey

I bought a web cam for about AU$8 at a giant computer emporium - six floors of every conceivable piece of technology. It didn't work, when I got back home. :-(

I decided to valiantly pursue my consumer rights and so returned early the next day with my computer. I had to wait a while until the shop opened, so I took a few photos. I then finally found the shop, and showed to the manager my problem. She ummmed and aahed, and enlisted the help of several other stall-holders. Another more expensive brand worked, but I refused to pay extra. Eventually it worked!

I left in high spirits, and hailed a taxi that was perhaps the oldest and dirtiest (inside and out) in Jinan. The driver was also old and dirty - but the meter worked - and I showed a Chinese instruction to take me to the Sofitel Hotel. Two minutes after being dropped (on an expressway), I realised that I had bequeathed this piece of high technology to the old taxi driver.

Undaunted, I found my way to the Business Centre of the swank Hotel Sofitel, and tried to get some information about taking a holiday somewhere in China (I may have four days off 1-4 May). The girls who spoke excellent English were apologetic in that they only knew the local tours, and that their attempts at getting other travel agents to help me resulted in "booking are not yet open for that date".

So I had achieved nothing, but had enjoyed the process.

A walk downtown

As my spirits were spiralling down dangerously, waiting trapped in my apartment for a colleague to get some keys back to me (that I had foolishly left in the staff room), I eventually set out in the afternoon in warm spring sunshine to explore the city.

I came back after several foot slogging hours, not really that impressed. Sorry, Jinan citizens! So far I find a grey, dirty, gritty city, that doesn't welcome a foreign visitor. I had hoped for much more. Cafes and restaurants seem to be subsumed by giant shopping buildings, and building with huge edifices, and little understanding can be made of the Chinese signs in front.

Although I teased James for eating Kentucky Fried Chicken recently, that is exactly what I found myself doing, in the absence of anything else obviously clean and inviting.

The only part of this excursion that was enjoyable was exploring a little of the "canal" (see photo) and a huge bookstore where I bought an English-Chinese dictionary for 1/10th the price I would have paid in Melbourne.

On dropping a parcel in a crowd, one person gruffly indicated my problem, but not one person bothered to assist me, although it was obvious I was having difficulties.

Here are some of the photos:

Boys going fishing.
Shoppers on a Saturday afternoon.


"At least I have my back to you!"

These old men playing a board game totally ignored me when I requested a photo.

I must explore this street - I think it has many restaurants in it. (Later - no, I was wrong).

Carrefours

Within 15 minutes walk is an oasis – a shopping mall, with some western goods, and price tickets that have a (tiny print) English translation. Bliss! The prices are high for locals, but reasonable for us. It is here that I obtained some urgently needed goods such as cleaning materials as well a some CD’s of light classical music (playing on my computer as I type this) and a couple of DVD’s which can also be played on my laptop – “Elizabeth” and “Miami Vice”. This will be welcomed entertainment after experiencing the nth repeat of the government party line documentary on the only commercial TV channel. Any news is interesting – it seems that the unlawful scuffles in Lhasa were the work of the “Dalai clique”, and that the offenders will be caught and severely punished.


It is comforting to know that this store is nearby, but it still is difficult to get to, with the traffic and building works, and new sewer pipes being installed, effectively negating the footpaths. Which are often the preserve of motorcycles anyway!

Walking around the familiar layout of a large supermarket, I was able to find what I needed fairly well without assistance. Nevertheless, with the hordes of shop staff standing around, I was somewhat thrown when, undecided what brand cleaner I should get, a young woman thrust a container at Harpic at me, intoning in Chinese, perhaps, that this was the best product for stubborn stains. I accepted it with a curt nod, and fled.

One department to avoid is the toy department. With the one child policy in China, the little darling is allowed to run free and try out all the noisiest toys without restraint.

Out of habit, we look for signs, and labels and brands. Which is fairly useless when they all written in Chinese.

The travelator has tempting snacks to loook at while travelling.
The store has free lockers - something we don't get at all in Australia.