Zhong Guo Jon Dodd: Wal-Mart run

My week back in Beijing has been great. The sky's been clear, the weather not-so cold, I've slept in everyday (noon for three days straight even), haven't spent too much money (much-needed after spending the rest of it in Thailand), and I've even been sort-of productive. By productive I mean of course that I finished another book (Alice in Wonderland--bringing the total to 5 since Chinese New Year), watched the entire Band of Brothers series, and made my first Chinese Wal-Mart run.

Wal-Mart isn't all that far from here (still in the NW part of town), but it's not the easiest to get to. My companion and I for the day chose the cheap route (by bus) and it took us about an hour on the 653. It was a clear day so it was actually one of those helpful travel days because you can see where you're going. Have I said much about the smog in Beijing? Seriously, there's days where you can't see the top of a building across the street... I went a month before I realized you could see mountains out my office window.

Anyway, we made it to the Wal-Mart Supercenter off of Ji Chun Lu and though I wasn't expecting a big parking lot and a McDonald's or anything, it still was strange to see good old Wal-Mart tucked in the middle of good old Beijing--sort of a mixing of two worlds, I guess. This particular Wal-Mart is three stories (not all that big inside really, though) and has the usual stuff: electronics, office supplies, groceries, luggage, clothes, etc. And, like all big stores in China, they have the carts with four wheels that turn (rather than fixed back wheels like in the States), so you can do cool stuff with it like turn really fast and push it sideways. It's probably hard to explain, but trust me, it's cool. And to take the carts within the three levels, they have flat escalators (think the people-movers in the Pittsburgh airport on an inclined plane)--pretty cool, I think.

Canada may have milk in a bag, but you have to come to China to find roast duck in a bag. Maybe you actually don't, but here's a look at the inside--pretty much the same, right?

My big purchase of the day was a set of Samsung speakers for my computer. I had said to Sammo the night before that I was sick of only hearing music out of my dinky laptop speakers, so I was primed to give up 150 kuai for something a little bigger and louder. I ended up spending under 200 (about $25) on the speakers, a cable I didn't need for the speakers, some shampoo, a bag of Lay's International potato chips (I chose Classic American flavor over Crab, Seaweed, Spicy Drumstick and something else), and a stapler. The speakers are swish, the chips were good, and though the shampoo and stapler remain unused, I have complete confidence they'll be just fine.