To The Cube, Dude

Yesterday morning Sarah and I packed up and left the civilization of the main core of Beijing behind and headed out to the Olympic Site. As you know from watching TV, there are numerous sites all over town, but the main one with Bird's Nest, Water Cube, etc. is also home to the newest member of the InterContinental Hotels family and we booked ourselves in.

It couldn't have been more brilliant planning (even if accidental) as the Great Wall at Badaling is not that far from the hotel, so we were able to drop off our luggage and then whizz off past the Summer Palace, a few more Olympics venues and right onto the Badaling Expressway. Monday was also a good choice since there was no traffic. In less than an hour, we were at the Starbucks at the Great Wall.

I swear it. Tall mocha, no foam, 24 RMB ($4).

Things out there at Badaling are much changed since I was there last, so I was glad to go again and be able to report on it for BTS. Everything is clean and spiffy and perfect-- the big antiques shop is gone and while there are numerous stalls, the ones that ring the parking lot are pretty much the same. As you walk from the lot up to the entrance, there's a string of more shops (and Starbucks) that are far more interesting... including the Badaling Hotel Coffee Shop which is sort of a mini-Freindship store and a great place for over-priced souvenirs.

Mostly we went for the foto op-- Sarah and I wearing our caps at the Great Wall. Turns out all my preparations were silly-- there are at least three dozen stands selling hats here (department of silly hats must have HQ here) and the selection is far superior to anything i brought with-- fur hats with red stars on them, princess caps, panda heads, etc. Although we did find some British girls to take our picture on the Wall, the baseball caps I brought with cast shadows over our faces and the foto will not win any prizes, even in our scrapbooks. Thankfully, we got good shots at Starbucks.

But enough about us.

The true story of the day is the InterConti Beichen, so named for the intersection where it is located in north central Beijing. This is a staggeringly 'hot' hotel in the sense of being hip, so very Wallpaper Magazine. The hotel elevator reads your smart card key, not just for security as we've all seen before, but to get the floor for you.

Once in the hallway, we pass the central atrium (one atrium per every three floors) which is strung with blue neon bleepy lights like cerulean fireflies, strung on filament to fill the space and amaze you with the reminder of the contemporary art scene in Beijing.

Our room was booked as 'room with a view' which in many cities means historical or natural views. In this case, we have the Bird's Nest, the Water Cube, the TV Tower and five or six other landmark buildings right out our window. At night they are lit with different hues and you can stand at the window and realize that watching the Eiffel Tower blink on the hour is very fine, but this ain't bad!

Since the hotel has no shopping in it (not even a gift or sundries shop), we hopped into a taxi for a two minute drive and $2 fare to the nearby malls where every chain is well represented as are a variety of fast food joints.

We chose to go to the North Star Supermarket, inside the North Star Plaza, a luxury mall. We grabbed a shopping cart with its own flat video screen and stereo sound system and began to prowl the aisles. Sarah is technical enough (evenin Chinese!) to be able to figure out the screen and soon had a map of the store loaded in. Every time the cart began to talk to me I starred at it, trying to will it to speak English.

We only bought a few things-- mostly gifts-- but I did find a tube of snake gall cream for Jay Leno. All of gall may be divided into three parts, but I only bought two tubes. I did load up on my toothpaste ; Sarah sprang for the Crest Jasmine that she has used before. In some cases, I bought items just based on the packaging. I did not do my usual haul, partly because I am trying to reform but mostly because we still have to schlep our luggage onto the train to Shanghai. Our time for Girls Gone Wild in the Supermarket is coming up later in the week.

Because of the grandeur of the room, and its view, and the fact that you can soak in the giant bathtub and look out at the Water Cube, we chose a room service dinner and spent a lot of the evening being blue as we watched the sunset toward the Summer Palace and the Water Cube go from pearly white to pale blue to bright blue.

I'd rather be blue thinking of you than be hap-hap-happy with somebody new.

Confessions from the 7-11

So before I begin the round-up, I confess that I do read this sucker before I post it and I think that I have fixed all the typos. Spelling is something I can't do too much about, but typos I try to grab. The problem with proof-reading your own work is that you read what you thought you wrote, not what's on the page (or screen)-- so accept apologies for typos as well as bad spelling.
With six you get eggroll.

We have decided that Sunday is the day for the Great Wall, so today we did some of the important things. First stop was the Eye Glasses Mart. The address written in my latest edition of Born to Shop was in pinyan so even the concierge at the Hilton couldn't quite figure out what I needed when I asked for a taxi card. It took a huddle of three doormen to get the taxi driver calm enough to take off...and this only after I assured everyone I knew where I was going and could give directions. (Anyone wanna buy a bridge?)

This is not a total lie, but this part of Beijing has been enormously built up in the year and a half since I was here last, so it was fascinating to see what had once been badlands now turned into middle class housing with a village feel. I guess it takes an Olympics to make a village.

We sped out the Third Ring Road and were indeed able to find the building in question. Of course by the time we spotted it, the taxi was in the middle lane of hurtling traffic without an exit in sight. This did not bother him at all (welcome to China). He just pulled over to the median, asked for some money and sent us on our way. We dodged a few buses and some Skodas and learned why the chicken crossed the road (to get to the Eye Glasses Mart).

Saturday shoppers were scurrying all around us, abuzz with their errands and fits of Spring Fever. The weather has been very mild so the sidwalks were crammed with shoppers. Since we know the Eye Mart fairly well, we jsut returned to one of the shops where I had done business before and knew they spoke a form of Chinglish.

Sarah chose three pairs of glasses for one of her daughters for a total of about $100. I also spent $100, but on one pair of glasses with progressive lenses and tri-focal input as well as snap on sunshadess fitted to the brushed titanium frames. Sarah's order could have been completed in an hour but mine was more complicated so we agreed to return tomorrow morning. The clerk took a foto of what I bought with my telephone, but I can't figure out how to attach it.

The Eye Glasses Mart is conveniently located around the corner from the famous Dirt Market. There has always been some controversy with my Born to Shop readers who argue with me that this market is only on Sundays when I have visited on Saturdays and Sundays and so stated in my pages. In front of the market today was a large sign that said (in English) that the market is now open daily. I will try to get back there mid-week to see what it looks like. Meanwhile, it was business as usual in possibly the only shopping destination you ever need to visit in Beijing.

This market is so terribly cleaned up that a lot of the fun has been taken away... thankfully the vendors still cough in your face and frequently spit on the ground, so you know you are still in China. The guys who used to be in the dirt (hence the name) are now neatly lined up against walls on the perimeter of the market; an entirely new section has been set up next to the carpark on what would be your right hand side when you enter (the wall huggers are to the left, as they have always been). Additionally, two new hangars of large furniture have opened up and even a few food joints, although I didn't fall for the good duck. There is even a shipping agent.

I don't think I bought anything or if I did, I don't remember and it explains what was in the black plastic bag I can't find. (I'd swear I had two black plastic bags, but ended up back at the hotel with only one). The merchandise is yummy but my own home already looks like one of the market stalls, so I was fairly restrained with my yuan.

In order to catch a taxi to our next destination, we had to hop over barriers in the middle of the road in front of the market entrance and flag down a cab headed in the 'wrong' direction. These new white barriers -- almsot like picket fences--are all over town and possibly were part of The Games. At the sound of a gunshot, I hurdle and sprint.

We sped off to Silk Alley.

Silk Alley is an indoor mall that has replaced the old street market by the same name. The street market was a lot of fun; I have hated this new building and only returned there today because it's my job. (Hey, someone has to do it.) Imagine my surprise to fall in love. OK, I'm easy but this place was stuffed to the rafters with four legged Polo ponies and more jade than Mick Jaegger ever imagined.

This market, much like Ya Show but larger and more crowded, had much better quality in all merchandise. I was actually charmed by a 'Mulberry' handbag, asking price 950 yuan. Since I never buy anything I don't need, I kept walking.

For purposes of comparison only, I was compelled to make a few purchases at the market's name-less DVD shop. This time the English DVD's were through a clothing store behind the full length mirror inside the dressing room. Curiouser and curiouser, said Alice. Here the movies were 10 yuan DVD's and 12 yuan. The high cost product is super 9 or something like that. I bought several just to test them against yesterday's purchases. Science is in my genes.

Exhausted, we checked into The Pen where the VIP service in our room included a tray of chocolates accompanied by chocolate chop sticks! Now if I can jsut get my hands on a chocolate Prada handbag, I'll be all set.

With the realization that this hotel gave us chocolates but no water, we went to the nearby convenience store. I bought the usual necessities-- crisps, bottled water, packet of 5-spice and, here comes the confession part, three tubes of toothpaste. I know that I swore I would never buy toothpaste in China, but I found a shelf filled with my favorite bamboo salt toothpaste that I normally buy in Hanoi and couldn't resist. I jsut hope Ilive long enough to be a hypocrite.

Up Against the Wall

The sky is bright and sunny, somehow it is a Saturday here (not in my head or body) and we are considering a trip to The Great Wall of China, which I have disdainfully called The Great Mall of China ever since my first visit there.

Sarah has never been and I haven't been in a number of years...so today could be the day. I am just trying to reason out if weekend crowds will be overwhelming or if the weather will hold til Monday, or, for that matter, are Walls closed on Mondays? Or perhaps they open after lunch on Mondays, as they would if they were in Italy? We really need to get to The Dirt Market and the Eye Glasses Factory before we go up against the wall.

Having just begun this format, I have already discovered that you probably aren't interested in as many of the little details of local color I have noted in my Clairefontaine French shcoolgirl notebook. I have therefore decided to go more toward information to update on changes, express cultural curiosities or help out the newbie who may not quite be the Old China Hand that I am.

Naturally, we are here to revise Born to Shop China, which will be in bookstores and Kindles everywhere by 2010 in time for the Shanghai World Expo, but if you hit the road before then, perhaps my observations will help out.

It is Saturday morning now; Sarah is packing to get us ready to move to the next hotel, I am sipping a Coke Zero (this Hilton Beijing Wangfujing is obviously the height of civiliazation as they seem to have the only Coke Zero [and in cans...an important item to those raised in the US Public Health Service] in Beijing) and will write about yesterdays' revelations so that by this evening I can plug in today's adventures and be on a one to one schedule-- more or less.

Sarah bought one of those little netbooks for our travels but we've had a lot of trouble getting google anything on it, so I am not certain if I will be able to blog from the overnight train. As i remind myself each morning: one day at a time. Today is yesterday for educational purposes. The train in China stays mainly on the track.

Before I get into the blow by blow or even the show by show of the shopping and the retail scene, I need to spend a few words talking about this hotel, which I conisder the major discovery of the trip so far. It had enough rooms open in August to accept Olympic travellers ,but the truth is the hotel does not have its formal opening until the end of April and won't really be in full swing -- attached mall open to shoppers-- until September '09. This means that there are preview rates in the Hilton system and I suggest you jump onto them.

I have followed Hilton for a number of years, partly because a personal friend was CEO and another friend was a Hilton GM. I covered the opening of the Hilton Arc de Triomphe for the LA Times as well as Born to Shop because it was such a departure from the typical Hilton Hotel we think we know and loathe. That hotel, a stunner created by Jacques Garcia in an art-deco mode taken from the design archives of Jean-Emile Ruhlmann, is as grand as any opera setting and as startling as anything Hilton might do to convince you the old big box hotel theme is dead.

Next comes the Asian group of hotels; this being the flagship. As everyone knows, Wangfujing is the main pedestrain walking and shopping street int he center of 'downtown'. The Forbidden City lies and one end and you are smack dab in the center of town. I have always considered this the best location in town, anchored by The Grand Hyatt at one end (closer to Forbidden City) and The Peninsula Beijing, a few blocks north.

Now, like a magic act, Hilton has taken the space on Wangfujing half a block from the Pen. Because there are now two HIltons in Beijing, this one is specifically named Hilton Beijing Wnagfujing. On the further side of The Pen, both The Regent and The Legende (that's a whole other story, beleive me) have taken root, but for those who want the best shopping access and the place closest to the action-- Hilton BJW (that's short for Beijing Wangfujing)has it nailed: a perfect 10.

There is a four story mall, the Macau Centre, that will open filled with trendy retail (they tell me) in the fall. As for now, the hotel runs much like a boutique hotel with a warm contemporary decor and many luxuries that you would never associate with an old fashioned Hilton.

There is a Portuguese restaurant (Vasco) as well as Chinese (Chynna) which is very representative of the contemporary art feeling in the new China. The food is good, but you go there as much for the combination of modest price and stunning Shanghai Tang twisted decor. If I could steal a set of the hot orange and gold patterned dinner plates, they would already be in the room. ..or my luggage.

There is an especially trained wine sommelier who teaches you how to pair wines-- Old and New World-- with Chinese cuisine. This is more interesting as the world spins, as it seems as the white with chicken and red with beef notion goes right over The Wall.

We spent our first morning in jetlag stupor exploring the hotel-- wishing we had brought bathing suits for the amazing swimming pool. After examing the hotel, we went onto Wangfujing to find our old faithfuls. Sarah collects City Mugs from Starbucks, so we went to the APM Mall next door to get a new Beijing mug. If you know who made off with her old Beijing mug, please write anonymously. We ate lunch at the McDo in that mall where I could indluge in spicy fried chicken wings, a delicacy only available in Asian venues.

Only then were we strong enough to pop a taxi to Ya Show (this makes me think of Ed Sullivan ' Well folks, we've got a very Ya Shew for you tonight') which is a market of items of, uh, questionable provenance. I call it The Bowling Alley because of the size and structure of the building.

Before entering by the well marked front door, we head around the building on the left hand side and go to the last storefront in the strip. (It has no name.) Years ago this was a great secret place for CD and DVD purchases. In the last few years, perhaps for legal resons, things are more complicated.

You say "Do you have any DVD's in English?" and a Chinese hand motions to a back door with a bearly perceptible flick of the wrist. You pass around the back innards of the market itself, down halls, turn left and, knock three times and whisper low. And there is DVD nirvana. The going price is 10 yuan (this is high , but then, I vouch for the quality here) per DVD and if you buy over a dozen, you will get a 20% discount.

The house specialty is actually boxed sets, which can be pricey and very heavy. These guys spend a lot more on packaging than on products, which is also terrifying. But, never mind. I promsied a friend an Acadmey Award birthday celebration and scarfed up the DVD's to the best picture nominations and a few for best actor/actress.

The DVDs are quite cute in their cello wrap and printed materials, but unfortauntely I will habve to undress them and slip them into a CD case for transport to the birthday guy. I am buying very few movies since my son disapproves of the very notion. And beleive me, morality aside, and without serious though to intellectual property rights, I want to tell you that last night's movie-- Valkyrie-- wasn't one I care to bring back to the US. I read the bad reviews, but I still very much wanted to see this movie. I can only thank Buddha that I did not waste my $6.50 early-bird senior discount at the Regency Cineplex. Or to be more precise, I am $5 ahead and Sarah got a free ride.

So I only bought a few discs and then we tackled the market which used to be one of the best places for, uh, alternative merchandise. These days most everything was junk, the sales people were beyond aggressive and the only thing amusing aobut this as a shopping adventure is that I have seemingly graduated from being called "missy, missy' to the title of 'auntie' or even 'dear auntie'. Take that, Mame.

For the msot part, the quality of all items surveyed was so bad that you wouldnt even want these things as a joke gift...and the maount of time spent negotiating and waiting for merchanidse to be brought out from under stairwells or ceiling tiles or a 'cousin' upstairs is annoying.

The most exciting object I bought was something I do not know how to name or explain very well. It is an LCD digital plague that comes in belt buckle, jewelry lavalier or brooch format and can be programed to say whatever you want. Asking price was close to $50 USD (400 yuan), but I got it for $15. It's my theory that most everything can be had for 100 yuan...about $15. This is a totally stupid novelty item, but I fell hard for it and know I will wake up one day soon, so very sorry I didn't buy more.

The jetlag was getting us down, so we took a taxi over to The Pearl Market, across town-- we hoped the energy and good buys here would revive us. The taxi gave us the Beijing Run-Around and while I know my way around fairly well, the city has so many new roads and Olympics Clean Up Schemes that old landmarks and roadways are hard to find. And like what was I going to tell the bastard, anyway?

The Pearl Market is so cleaned-up that you could almost mistake it for the Temple of Heaven across the street. And to a serious shopper, well, need I say more? More shocking, there is a brand new one, almost identical to the original, next door. So this is now a trio of fun shopping-- the two makrets wth the Toy Market triangulated in the rear.

Business must be very bad as the phsyical assaults were more dramtic than ever and in two cases, I feared bruising where my arms were gripped and stretched. Even for me, it was very unpleasant. Nonetheless, I was able to beat back the jetlag enough to buy my niece a Chanel lipstick ($5), two MAC eyeshadows for myself ($1.50 each), a NARS blusher and a few beauty supplies.

Sarah did far more adventurous work, scoring some Chanel J-12 ceramic watches for her team at home. I bought the $15, enamel version as a gift for a friend in London. Sarah reminded me that this format chips within a month and that I will have a hell of a time getting it into the UK for my girlfriend. Sheesh, every good deed has a price.

We ended our day at the Small Big Duck-- this the Wangfujing brand of the Ti'annamen Square famous roast duck restaurant. It wasn't as charming (this means it was fairly clean) nor was the duck as flavorful. We will confirm this by eating at our regular, much beloved Big Duck later in the week.

The highlight of the experience was the introduction of a plate of freshly sliced duck fat from our boy's back which was laid out on a platter to which the hostess sprinked heaps of white granulated sugar. I have never seen this done, nor tasted it. Sarah was disgusted with one bite. This meant I got to eat the rest of it.

Just don't tell Dr. Salzman as I promised her I was watching my cholesterol.

Total purchases for the day:
* 10 DVD's at $1.50 each; one already discarded. (And then there were none.)
* 4 'antique' calligraphy paint brushes, $10 each-- this down fromt he $30-50 I have been paying for similar brushes in Hong Kong.
* makeup items as described above.
* 2 'silk' scarves to hold hair out of face, $10 each -- one in the Ferragamo style.
* 1 blinking LCD medallion that says I Love You.

And I do.

Toothpaste To Go

The Born to Shop team -- that's Sarah Lahey & I-- is off to China in a few days to update our Born to Shop China book. Old fashioned publishing being what it is (slow), I thought it would be fun to blog from Beijing. We'll be there in a few days, when I will officially begin publsihing-- right now I am doing the last minute packing and shopping. Today's newspaper had a small article about the lawsuit involving a US distributor of poisoned Chinese toothpaste getting off by paying a $33,000 fine. I guess I can't even say this is criminal since the lawyers agreed that it wasn't, but my attitude about being able to buy whatever I may need on a trip has certainly be modified. If I'm cold, yeah sure, I can buy a cashmere sweater. I don't want to run out of toothpaste though!