Christmas Day Odyssey in Shanghai: A Quest for Doug’s Destiny

So remember how I said my next post was going to be all about the Christmas Party at the tea house, and how it would contain all my much-better camera photos rather than my crappy, grainy phone photos?

Yeah. I lied. My bad.

Unfortunately, we went out today. And when I go out, I tend to see stuff. And I take more pictures. Mobile phone pictures. So, rather than presenting with you a delightful photo essay featuring clear, sharp pictures and a focused narrative, I’m going to tell you all about what we did today in our quest for Christmas breakfast, lunch and a particular PlayStation3 game for Doug (part of his Christmas Joy ensemble).

I should preface all of this by saying it was awfully cold today. And we walk. We walk a lot. You know how a lot of people in most countries, like, drive cars or take a ton of taxis or tuktuks or scooters or whatever? Yeah, no, we walk a lot.

We walked up to Jing’an after our breakfast pide and coffee at the Donghu Lu Wagas (who make the best scrambled egg/gouda pide ever), breath visible and thighs numbing through too-thin jeans. Apparently there was a Famous Video Game place up on Beijing Lu that was all the rage with foreigners who appreciated a fine smuggled PS3 game. Doug had grand Christmas Day plans for a particular game that he had failed to track down before and had high hopes that these folks would have it.

On the way, we saw a few things worth noting.

First of all, it seems to be Hanging Dried Fish Season on our street.

This was just before the Yan’an overhead expressway, just a few blocks north of Wagas.

And this was somewhere on Fumin Lu, between Nanjing and Beijing Lu.  I won.

It turned out that the Famed Game Shop didn’t have anything of use so Doug suggested we go to the shop on FuxingLu, where he had found good things before. He had gone past there yesterday, looking for his game, but had failed to re-find the shop. In this household, I’m the one with the acute tracking abilities and absurd orientation abilities so he suggested we try again, but with me leading the way.

I found it. I also found out why he missed it yesterday. The acute sense of perception that has brought you such wonders as this overly detailed blog also spotted the faint hint of video game sleeves taped to the window behind a closed shutter.

So, let’s say you were in China and you saw this on the closed shopfront, what would you do? Walk away, disappointed? Obviously you aren’t us.

We called the number at the top.

“You are where!” I shouted into the phone in appalling Chinese, cars and trucks rushing past on the busy road.

“Dapu Lu *word word tone tone*!” they replied

I looked at the spray paint on the shuttered shop and chose a random key number that looked like it was in the right location, lexically.

“You are Dapu lu 118 number?” I asked.

“*word word tone tone word* no, no, Dapu lu 8 number! *word tone tone word*!”

“Um, listen no understand. Dapu lu 8 number, 118 room?”

“*chortle,* Yes.”

“I go Dapu Lu 8 number, 118 room, thank you, ok!” I said politely, then added, “Byebye!”

We got a taxi to 8 Dapu lu, which turned out to be not too far from our neighbourhood, in a dark, mostly shuttered little mall full of cheap, tiny shops full of fakes, electronics, trinkets and, yes, video games.

As we walked in to the small shop, the middle-aged woman who owned the shop with her husband ran up to me and grabbed my arm, squeezed it affectionately, giggling and congratulating me for actually finding the way there.

Alas, the game was not to be had. They tried. They went through every box and called all of their contacts but it wasn’t available. Tomorrow afternoon, they would call me, they said. They would see what they could do.

Backtracking slightly, I want to note a few things we encountered on our way to the video game shop.

After we failed to find him a Christmas game, Doug took me out for lunch at Kommune in Tian Zi Fang to thank me for putting up with his quest on such a cold day. In case you were wondering, this is Kommune.

They serve lattes in jam jars and tea in retro thermoses. Did I ever mention that half of my BA involved deconstructing these posters? Yeah.

While we were in the warren of gentrified boutiquey alleys, I treated myself to a second pair of shoes that fit. THese ones are super festive, and, in case you were wondering, there were even bigger sizes.

They had a holiday lottery going for all purchases and I drew 3 fifth prizes from the box. Fifth prize is a set of two tiny scented candles in tiny ceramic holders in a wooden box. Since Doug had bought my Christmas presents in the same shop earlier in the week, he had also won approximately 9 fifth prizes and one 3rd prize, which he included in my overall gift. I now have 12 sets of mini candles and a bar of Thai soap. The mini candles each come wrapped in a cellophane bag, tied up with a cloth flower. I have started putting those flowers to good use.

And finally, from one of the warrens in Tian Zi Fang, the Panda Furry-Fetish shop. I think.