Today was a great day. I had the usual “American Breakfast” at my favorite nearby restaurant, then did some emails for work (OK, that’s not the great part), and then headed out to meet up with my team members for our morale event. We had a stellar week having released our first product as a team and also made a new hire. To add to the quality of the day, Daryl was on a serendipitous visit from Redmond. He had helped us test the product and therefore was naturally planning on coming along to celebrate with us. However, he was taking a factory tour this morning and had to take a taxi to the Sichuan restaurant in the Futian district to meet us.

(l-r) The Software Team enjoying the tasty lunch, Daryl digging into the spicy snails

After that, we headed down to the theater to catch a “Jia La Bi Hai Dao”, literally “Caribbean Sea Thief”, or “Pirates of the Caribbean III”. Well, I certainly enjoyed watching the movie, which was thankfully in English with Chinese subtitles, although I spent a lot of time trying to recognize various Chinese characters on the subtitles. No point in movie commentary here. It suffices to say that I enjoyed it but I was a little confused and dizzy after we came out. It was fun watching Chow Yun Fat (his name in Cantonese) make his appearance and hear the audience get really excited. I’m sure pieces of the movie were cut out too, not sure why. Will have to investigate that when it comes out on DVD (well, I mean the English DVD…the Russian version is already here).

(above) Sea Thieves

After that, we piled into the van and headed back where we’d separate. Daryl and I departed first, opting to get out at Hua Qiang Bei. I wanted to show him around and figured this would be a fun place. Sure enough, it was quite a good time. We got out in the middle of a hoard of people and made our way to one of the colossal electronic shops. On the way there, Daryl got Shanghied by a man selling software.

(l-r) The crowded streets of Hua Qiang Bei, Daryl and the salesman, Vista for 80 cents!

We wandered the numerous corridors of one of the electronic market labirynths. I recalled wanting to look for an English to Chinese program that I saw at my office. Of course, it didn’t take me long to find it. It was about 15 bucks and came in a nice plastic-wrapped box. I’m guessing it was legal? Well, no matter, it’s the most legal looking piece of software I’ve seen yet. Daryl and I went in search of pirated Microsoft hardware. After finding lots of legit stuff, we stumbled upon some stashes. One mouse we found had “MicroAlert” with the exact same Microsoft insignia and a hilarious “Micrart” keyboard and mouse combo that Daryl bought for about 5 bucks to show the folks back home.

(l-r) MicroAlert and Micrart

After some more wandering and finding some really neat electronics (will have to make a return trip for gifts), we went looking for a place to get a drink.   On the way, we spotted another market off the street, not an electronics one though, just typical goods – clothes, shoes, watches, etc.   We landed deal after deal.   Daryl with a few nice running shirts and myself with some new shoestrings and insteps for my shoes (finally), and also an awesome pair of Timberland knock-off sandals.   By the price, they’re knock-offs, but they feel comfortable and sturdy.   It seemed like we just kept finding good buys.   My fake Raybans bit the dust the day before so I picked up a pair of cheap Oakleys here.   The salesman was clever enough to notice my frazzled watch band and said if I bought some glasses from him, he’d give me a new watch band.   40 RMB got me the Oakleys and the band, not to shabby.   After more wandering, it was suddenly 7pm so we decided to head out for food. At first, we had a hankering for some elite Pizza Hut, and I could have sworn there was one in Hua Qiang Bei, but I couldn’t find it. So, we settled on my favorite Hunan restaurant. We ate well. We were unable to finish the food, probably because of the four large bottles of beer. See?

We stayed leisurely talking and drinking before we made our way to the subway station. We caught a subway a train to Huai Qiao Chen where there were a couple of foot massage places that I knew of, though had never been. We popped out of the stop and made the short walk to the pedestrian walkway lined with restaurants on one side and massage joints and salons on the other. A colleague, Paul, told me that this one place should charge about 30 RMB (under 4 bucks) for an hour foot massage. We walked in and asked and I was suprised we got that exact price. Was expecting them to at least double it. It turned out these folks were quite honest – in fact, they told Daryl that a large beer cost 5 RMB. But, when they came back with the beer, they also handed him change – it was only 4. They could have easily kept the money. So, after all the haggling and trickery that one gets used to in China, it’s nice to be reminded from time-to-time that most folks are indeed honest. I’ll definitely be coming back to this spot, not only because of their honest and prices, but also because this was the best foot massage I’ve had yet.

After the foot massage, they asked if we wanted the full body massage (this is all in Chinese, by the way) and so we asked the price. “San shi wu”, they replied..35 RMB. Sign us up! So, we went to a small room with twin tables where we enjoyed an hour long fantastic massage. They wanted us to stay for two hours, but it was getting late. We did leave them a tip (they said the word “tish” a couple of times, as I write this I’m guessing this is “tip” mispronounced). Stumbling out with legs of jelly around midnight, we called the taxi and headed back. I dropped Daryl off at “Wei Ni Si”, the short name for the Crowne Plaza hotel, and I continued on to my place. What a day. Livin’ the dream!

(l-r) Giving the Victory sign during the massage (notice the girls hiding their faces), Daryl endorses “Kingway” beer (brewed in Shenzhen)

By the way, Daryl is an expert traveler. He lived in Indonesia, Vietnam, and other spots in Southeast Asia for about 3-4 years in the mid-90′s as an oil man. So, he fits in well here, is an excellent bargainer, and is a lot of fun to hang out with. Daryl, I hope you can come back very soon!

Well, I should say Daryl is a very good bargainer. The salesman in this photo is excellent. She would not take less than 35 for this piece of clothing. Daryl walked back twice, once with 31, once with 33. Finally, he decided to part with the quarter and paid the 35. Hire her for a sales job!

(above) The shirt looked pretty good on him too!

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