Christmas Part1

Well, its that time of year......Christmas, a time of giving and receiving and most importantly being around the people (edit this)........person you love. Note the removal of plural "people" to singular "person" as this Christmas is to be a little different for Alyce and I.

There are a number of individual events which will be reflected on in the one entry. They range from Christmas shopping in a country that does not believe in Christmas, an early Christmas dinner with friends, a cocktail making course and my team Christmas party.

So to shopping......I think Alyce and I had no idea what to expect when it came to Christmas in China. Will there be decorations, could you buy wrapping paper, could we buy a tree if we needed one. The answer to those questions was a massive YES! From early December when Strabucks changed their cups to a Christmas theme I knew we would be in business. over the last month, Shanghai has gone Christmas crazy, the shops are all decked out, people are dressed like Santa, you can buy anything.....and I mean ANYTHING to do with Christmas here. Think about it, everything in the world essentially is made in CHina, that goes for Xmas decorations as well. All this and the people here have no idea what it is haha......thats actually not true, a friend of ours mentioned the younger generation are understanding xmas.

We spend allot of time wandering around the shops looking at things. We went on Huaihai Rd and found a massive tree, see the picture of Alyce next to it. On every corner there are decorations, amazing lights and fake snow. The Raffles Mall actually has a big "thing" (no idea what it is meant to be) that blows bubbles out of it onto the footpath so it feels like its snowing on you.

We actually went to Yu Yuan Bazarre as well which was an experience. It is our little day trip when we have nothing to do.....the place as you will know mum and dad is enormous. And all through it are crazy little markets that sell anything you can imagine and whats more its cheap. We stood outside a little shop which had some decorations, I assumed it was a little shop. Once we walked in it opened up into an amazing Christmas store which sold everything. I have added a picture of the front and again once you are inside.

Leading up to Christmas 7 of us (Myself, Alyce and 5 friends) organised a 'orphans' pre christmas dinner. Basically a chance for us to share the festive spirit a few weeks before Christmas and before people made there way to where ever they were spending Christmas day. So we went to Taikang Rd (again mum and dad you know it) to a place we had not been before. We made our way upstairs and prepared mentally for a 5 course Christmas dinner and wine. I however was not drinking as the football team bus was picking me up at 8am for the game. The food was pretty good, the service was sensational and it was a really nice night, spent with friends we had made while being in Shanghai.

That Sunday (2 days later) we went to a Cocktail making course with the same bunch of friends. It wa focussed on Chocolate cocktails which were actually quite nice. We decided to get a train to the place the course was held but after having no idea where to go once we left the station we got a taxi to take us. The taxi pulled up and pointed into an apartment complex, assuming the taxi guy knew what he was talking about we paid him and wandered into the complex. We followed small signs and arrived at a door which took us 4 levels underground. Through two big doors and we were there, but where is there??? It was actually a bomb shelter. We were reliably told by our very nervous cocktail teacher that in fact it is a class 5 shelter. For those that dont know, this means it can withstan the impact of a nuclear bomb. So here we were, in a bomb shelter, surrounded by wine and spirits which apparently could house 100 people for 100 days. There were about 20 people in there so I figured we had over a year of drinking ahead should it all hit the fan and Shanghai got bombed. We made 5 cocktails in all, 3 normal, 1 shot and 1 hot cocktail which actually tasted like mulled wine....quite tasty actually.

Seemed like a good idea....

The title of this update makes it obvious that something happened that well, at the time sounded fun, exciting, a great opportunity to get involved......but as often happens, the day came and we were greeted with a HUGE sense of, "I really cant be bothered". The activity you ask.......well a fun run, yep a FUN run. Not sure there is a such a thing but mentally unstable people insist on calling them fun. Actually it was the Shanghai Marathon, which is apparently quite a big one globally. So the background is that Nielsen sponsored any employees (and partners) who wanted to get involved. Basically they would pay the entrance fee, each participant would receive a Nielsen Shirt, sweat bands, tattoos, wigs etc..etc. The company also had heaps of flags made, big and small which people managed to run with, the cheer squad also had these flags to keep us motivated as we ran. The events were a 4.5Km Health Run, 22km half marathon and the full marathon for the idiots. Alyce and I signed up for the health run because we are all about health. So anyway, the day came, as usual these things are on a Sunday morning.

Alyce and I got ready and ran to the station because it was so cold. We got on the train at 7am, with allot of other runners and headed to my office where we were meeting the Nielsen people. We had about 100-200 people participating I think.

We all made the short walk into the city for the start of the race. It was absolute chaos as thousands of people crammed into narrow streets for the start. Apparently starting the race in a nice open area was not given the thumbs up. Before I go on I must mention a hilarious fact, the entry fee for a Chinese person was about 20RMB and the entry fee for a Westerner was 150RMB.....what a bizarre thing to do.....charge westerners more to do the same thing. Can you imagine if that happened in Australia......sorry Mr Wang, that pie is $25 for you.

Anyway, the company paid so who cares. So we were off and running and I must say it was an amazing event. The whole way down the 4.5km course there was music, dancers, tai chi ladies in their outfits waving and banging drums. It really only could happen in China, the people are so passionate about their city and even though it was so early there were 1000,s of people cheering us on which made it fun. For reference, the white wig you see in the photos is actually my real hair, it has gone white from the stress of working in China.

So to the results, I am proud to say that Alyce and I both completed the run in between 20-25 minutes, I could not see the time when I finished and I don't think Alyce saw it when she finished either. Reflecting back it was definitely something worthwhile doing, next year I may be tempted to try the half marathon......or maybe we will just sleep in!

I cant remember.....

So its been a while, seems to be much harder to write stuff on here compared to email but here we go for another update of the crazy adventures of Steve and Alyce in the weird and wonderful world of Chairman Mao.

Winding back the clock to Saturday two weeks ago I found myself in a soccer team playing full outdoor for the first time in 3-4 years. I am in a team called Voodoo Child and I had to meet the team at Big Bamboo at midday for the bus to leave for the ground. Alyce rode with me to the 'Boo' and we said our farewells as I boarded the bus, trekking....and I mean trekking out to the ground which was 50 minutes away (mind you it would be longer but we had Aryton Senna reincarnated as our bus driver. As I was on my way Alyce went to the shops and started preparations for the greatest Cheesecake in history as we also had dinner at friends house after the game.

So back to me!!! I arrived at the ground in one piece......just, remember I nearly died on the way due to Mr. I want to be a F1 driver being a nutcase. Got into my gear (navy and white) and started warm ups for my first game back as a professional player.....haha well a player anyway. We were playing a combined premier league and 1st division team who had a few young boys (3-4 between 14-18 years old) which gave me confidence we could win as some of these boys were half my size. What I didn't realize was that these boys were FAST........clearly a long way to go in the fitness area for old man Steve. So anyway, the game was a good battle, we never really looked like scoring as we didn't have many forwards and in the end we lost 2-0. While the game was happening Alyce was on the train and then in a taxi to come watch as I told her the ground would not be far by taxi from the end of the line 2 train. After half time Alyce still had not arrived and I was beginning to think Alyce was going to miss my big comeback altogether. Alyce finally arrived after a 150RMB taxi ride, fair to say the train line was no where near the ground and actually made the trip longer hehe.....sorry hun!!.
To make up to my lovely lady she came back on the bus with the boys, which im sure was alot of fun.....a few cases of beer, alot of laughs and a trip that took over two hours because of the traffic, how much fun does that sound like!!

The bus dropped us off at the sponsor pub, Alyce and I now had to rush (I was hobbling) back home to get ready for dinner which was again a trek on the other side of town. We took beers and wine and of course the Cheesecake and went to Dale and Jo's house for a BBQ in the cold. Their place is awesome, 3 story townhouse in a MASSIVE compound, I mean MASSSSSSIVE. We met their two boys and had an awesome night. We played poker, a game called SWIM, the boys DJ'd on you tube and basically we drank and played games until 3am when it was time to head home.

On Sunday we woke up a little hungover (not much), very tired and for me I could hardly walk.......I found a downside to playing proper football again, it hurts the next day!! As a result there was no way I was playing 7 a side on Sunday, but being the awesome captain / coach that I am and Alyce the awesome team manager we went along to cheer (just watch actually) the boys on. Unfortunately we lost 1-0 but hey I felt better as my legs could rest hehe......I cant actually remember what we did on Sunday night so lets move along shall we!!

Last week went by at lightning speed, we had mandarin lessons which continue to be a major frustration for me, and for Alyce as I just whine all the time haha. Our teacher is on speed I think as he goes though things soooooo fast that it is hard to keep up with him. Plus his English is not that good so I think im doomed.......my plan however to convert ALL Chinese people to English is working with our guards now often saying hello rather than Ni Hao.....Go Steve and Alyce...YEAH!

Friday came along, which was a massive relief, I was dying for a relaxing night out and with plans for Alyce and I to attend the NZ weekly drinks (I know, why would anyone want to spend time with a kiwi???) we got our wish. Even better was the fact it was free food and drinks for the first 30 minutes after we arrived!! Not long after the free drinks stopped we decided to wander around the corner to Zapatas, a Mexican bar / club. We got a booth for 10 which was a great score and we settled down to some beers and nachos. The night turned into a drunken blur, especially since we thought it would be a good idea to buy a bottle of Tequila and do shots, while smoking a Hookah.........BAD, BAD, BAD idea.
Apparently we got home, neither Alyce or I can remember walking in but we made it, with wallets and phones as well.
Saturday was a HUGE sleep in, followed by a lunch at Commune at Taikang Lu (Mom and Dad you will know that place). We wandered around the shops and then decided to get a cab out to Alyce's work ghetto to do some shopping at HOLA (again mom and dad you know the place). We wanted to buy a few things for home and ended up buying the following in no particular order: A table, a pot with some sticks, place mats, ornaments (including a Buddha head), more balls to go along with the ones mom gave us, a rug and a bunch of other stuff. We actually got the table 600RMB off as it was floor stock, it is being delivered tomorrow between 10am and 6pm, so helpful HOLA thanks for the specific timing. It actually took us longer to tell them we wanted it delivered than it did to buy all the stuff. Not 1 person in HOLA speaks English so there is every chance someone in Shanghai is going to get a nice new table courtesy of Steve and Alyce.

We trotted home and crashed on the couch with some takeaway and chilled for the night. Sunday was again a slow start, I basically woke up and went to soccer, Alyce stayed home as she has had a cold the last few days. Alyce made a cheesecake again, I love it so much. We finally had a win, we played the team in 3rd place and after a tight first half we scored 3 goals in the second half, with one from me to take the victory. This takes my season goals scored to 4 in 5 games played.
The weather was horrible yesterday, rain and cold but we needed to do a grocery shop so we went to Lotus at Superbrands (mom the place you would not look at the frogs!). We smashed trolleys with other shoppers, got hassled by sales attendants, had to pack our own bags but hey we did it with a smile and wondered why we are here haha. Nah kidding its all good fun, except walking home in the rain.

So that brings us to today, weather is cold and overcast and before I go I will give the weekly weather outlook.
Today - H 16, L 8: Tuesday - H 15, L 8: Wednesday - H 15, L 7: Thursday - H 9, L 2: Friday - H 8, L 2: Saturday - H 10, L 3.

I bet you wish you were here....NOT! Come on seriously, a top of 8?? What is wrong with this place, its not even winter yet. We were told it gets cold in Dec, Jan and Feb.....It better not.

The Sporting Weekend

So where to start.........a weekend that seemed to have it all and summed up China in a perfect way.

On Friday a friend of ours from Soccer asked if we would like to see the Shanghai team play in the China Super League, given we are now Shanghai residents we thought we would tag along, after all we were promised some wonderful Chinese Hotpot before the game......more on that later.

Friday night was pretty laid back, involved Sherpas for dinner, I had a Cheeseburger Pizza while Alyce went for an interesting combination of Sausage Rolls with Fries and German Spatzle (noodles). We also popped down to our local wine guy who is now our best friend, we are VIP's with him apparently and often get calls on a Saturday morning to go to his wine tasting events. So a bottle of wine later we settled in for a night of food, wine and Buzz on the Playstation.

On Saturday we were up pretty early (10am, its early for us). Not knowing what to do we headed to Wujiang Lu for some brunch at Wagas, they do pretty good food although Alyce decided to eat her lunch as we walked down the road after leaving the cafe rather than at the cafe where I had mine. We then headed to Honey Drink, a fav place of Alyce's, I think we go there about 6-7 times a week, they now know what Alyce orders without an order even needing to be placed. For those that are wondering Alyce has a Choc Shake with Sago (weird jelly ball things).

Before I go on I need to back track a little to keep the story in context......SO........when we moved to Shanghai I told Alyce that she will need to get herself an English soccer team to follow, after going through the various websites of all the teams a few months ago, after looking at the players photos and their outfits, Alyce decided she would 'support' Chelsea. Not a bad pick given they have been in the top 3 teams for the last however many seasons. Since that date I have been promising Alyce I would get her a Chelsea top to call her very own.
So back to drinking the weird Honey Drink we wandered down to the fake market and got 1 genuine fake Chelsea top. Haggling the store owner from 180RMB to 60RmB although given how fast she accepted the offer I think we could have got it for 40 or 50RMB easily. Any who, Alyce had her own top which for the record looks pretty spunky on her. (Photos attached).

With a few hours to kill before we needed to meet our friends we got a taxi to Taikang Lu, an area synonymous with art, basically a maze of alleys amongst peoples houses where you can eat, drink, paint, learn kung fu, buy crafts or as we found out from a work friend we bumped into, you can do pottery, which as he told us is "good for picking up chicks." Any who........we popped into a few art stores and chose a photo we are getting mounted next week, they are pretty expensive but will look fantastic in our place. We also had a few frames made so we can frame our own photos we have taken over the last 5 months.

We then scooted home and got ready for the HUGE clash between the Shanghai team and the top of the table Shandong team. Jumping on the train we had to make a few changes to get onto the correct line where the stadium is. One thing we found odd is that when we got off to change trains the Shanghai fans that were on our train stayed on and kept going. Knowing we were doing the right thing.......well so we thought, we continued on our way in search of this amazing hotpot.

We arrived at the stadium and met Cammy our friend who took us into the restaurant which is literally at the stadium. He mentioned as we walked in that we might struggle for a table as it is always busy on game day, again another weird thing happened, the restaurant was empty. Again no big deal, "sometimes only small crowds come to the games" he said. Going into the restaurant Alyce was skeptical about Hotpot, did not sound good to Alyce but we both agreed it was delicious and certainly something to do again. The game was due to kick off at 6.15pm and by 5.30pm the restaurant was still empty so cam called his friend and found out the game was actually being played in another stadium in Pudong (the other side of the river). So off we went again, this time we got a train back to the middle of town, then changed to another one in Pudong that took us to the stadium. Finally in right........wrong!!! Apparently there are no ticket gates in this stadium so how do you get tickets? WHO KNOWS!!! There was security at every gate and from what we could see all you need to do is push past them and RUN.....this tactic was employed by a number of local Chinese and it seemed to work. By now it was 30 minutes into the first half, Cam had a season ticket and another friend of his dropped a ticket over the stand so we could get it. So we had 2 tickets with 4 people......Cam and his mate went in and dropped their 2 tickets to Alyce and I, we tried to get in but because the game stub had already been removed we were denied. So we went to another gate, after a few minutes of 'discussion' they gave in and let us in, probably because it is too hard dealing with non mandarin speaking people haha.

So in the end we watched the second half in the middle of the Shanghai cheer squad, fair to say it was the best half of football I have ever seen (not because of the quality of the skills, moreso the bizarre goings on inside the stadium) and from the translations, Chinese sports fans take opposition fan abuse to a whole new level. End result Shanghai 3 - Shandong 2.

By now Alyce and I were pretty stuffed, we crammed onto the train and headed home for a quick shower. Given Alyce is a "hardcore" soccer fan now we went to an English pub for a late late snack and a few drinks while we watched Liverpool play. At about midnight we headed home and prepared food for the Grand Prix the next day.

We were up at 8am on Sunday as we had a taxi picking us up with our friends Anish and Hima at 9am outside our place. We drove for just over an hour to the Shanghai International Circuit before getting out and seeing the track. Once we got out of the cab there were a number of fine hawkers selling binoculars and ear plugs. We got 2 sets of disposable earplugs and I have the hawker 10RMB. He then told me they were 10RMB each (only about $2 each) but I thought that was a rip off so tried to take my money back. Of course this fine citizen did not want to lose the sale so refused to give it back, telling me that 10RMB is fine for 2 pairs. But I was not happy with this, so I told him I want 5RMB change and I will pay 2.50RMB per pair. Not a big deal but this guy was rude so after a few minutes of "discussing" we paid RMB for 2 pairs......VICTORY was sweet.

We made our way through the gates and to stand C where the four of us were sitting. Stand C was actually 6 stands, Anish and hima were in 2 and we were in 6 so we split up and went to watch the action. When we got there we had pretty good seats, right on a hairpin corner and we had lots of room as it seems people only come for the main event not the pre race stuff.

So we had most of the day to relax although it was pretty hot so the water guys were making lots of money from us. The race was ok, kinda boring as nothing really happened........cars just went round and round haha (for you mum). Still for our first time at the Shanghai Circuit it was fun and Alyce enjoyed her first F1 experience.
The real fun started trying to leave the circuit, a word of warning for those wanting to go to a sporting even in Shanghai that is not in the city. (we experienced this at the tennis centre as well, which is also an hour out of town). Taxi drivers magically turn into a$$holes at the events, they no longer seem to have a meter and will charge whatever they like as a fixed rate. The challenge is you cant say no as we were in the middle of nowhere so what do you do? So taxi after taxi told us it would be 500RMB to take us home (costs us 150RMB to get there by the way), so taxi after taxi we said no! occasionally we could get them down to 400RMB but even this was too high. Finally we had a guy offer us 300RMB so we took it.
By now we were so tired so we got a quick feed at a local Chinese restaurant and headed home for an early night.