shanghai in a day

i just spent 2 1/2 weeks in china, and most of my stay was in the jinjiang/quanzhou/huian area of china, but i really spent the bulk of my time at our factory. there was so much to do, which provided very little free time and very late nights at the factory. so unfortunately, there's nothing i can write about jinjiang, except it seems like an amazing untouched city: it bustles without being crowded with tourism. i would like to go back again with someone who speaks mandarin and actually spend some time there.

that said, i did get to spend one full day (plus a few hours) in shanghai on the tail-end of my trip. this is my 4th trip to shanghai, and i was able to have my ideal day:

1pm: checked into cute motel 268 on yan'an lu near panyu lu - checked work email, followed-up (in a perfect world, i would just be able to relax and not deal with, ugh, work)

walked over to my favorite massage place, yili (shirley) massage center at 3 xuan hua lu near jiangsu lu. 1.5 hour massage = 75rmb ($10.40) - no tipping in china!

hopped on #2 subway (3rmb = $0.42) at jiangsu lu and yuyuan lu and go to nanjing lu west. walked through wujiang lu, a small pedestrian-only street parallel to nanjing lu between maoming lu and shimen lu (#1). there are tons of little food stalls and restaurants with everything from preserved dofu to grilled octopus to my favorite on the block: Yang's Fry Dumpling (2 stalls with seating inside), where they have delicious pan-fried shengjian.

i wasn't hungry at this point, so i walked through wujiang lu just for memories' sake, and walked to shimen lu, where i headed south to dagu lu to my next stop: movie star (#407), the home of the best DVDs. for only 12rmb ($1.66), you can get practically any movie on china's DVD-9, their version of HD. even somewhat new movies are available on regular DVD. i purchased 'i am legend', which i believe is out in the theatres now, and the friendly staff assured me the quality was good.

stocked with movies, i walked down chengdu lu to my favorite fashion mall on the SE corner of huaihai lu and chengdu lu, down the escalator. there are lots of little booths that sell jewelry, clothing and services, but my trip would not be complete without a visit to 57 where i get eyelashes! you lay down, they tape your eyes shut, and they spend 45 minutes delicately attaching individual eyelashes to your lash line so they blend in with your natural eyelashes. i ALWAYS get the longest lashes, and they usually stay on 3-5 weeks, depending on how careful i am when washing my face. and the best part: it costs only 99rmb ($13.73). in nyc, the cheapest i've found is J Sisters, and most salons charge upwards of $250.

my next stop is xintiandi, a very westernized (and expensive) section of shanghai, where they do have my favorite upscale restaurant: din tai fung, located on the 2nd floor of that mall in xintiandi. it's a chain, started in Taiwan, spread mostly thoughout Asia, but also with a branch in Los Angeles. everything i've had is good: i love the hot & sour soup (they told me last time it contains duck blood), and i love the chopped tofu and pea shoots. but this time i came only for the steamed xiaolongbao with pork and crab. i ordered 10 with a pot of oolong tea, and i savored and enjoyed every one. here i always get the one with crab, because at other delicious xiaolongbao spots in shanghai, they never put as much care into deshelling the crab, so you'll see chinese folk eating their crab and pork xiaolongbao, but spitting out the crab shell remnants, which i feel takes away from the transporting experience of the soup dumpling. yes, they're expensive, for china, but sometimes it's nice to just sit and relax and be served.

after a completely satisfying dinner, i walked along huaihai lu in the direction of my hotel and enjoyed the fervent atmosphere of well-to-do youth walking the streets, bridal stores advising young brides, workers stopping at food stalls to pick up dinner... the whole thing is so shanghai. i stopped in H&M at sinan lu to check out shanghai's newest fashions, but since nothing fits me properly in china, i left disappointed. i grabbed a taxi back to the hotel.

i watched DVDs, spoke to my S.O. and slept and woke up to repack (to distribute the weight of my bags more evenly). i checked out, but asked the hotel to hold my luggage while i spent my remaining few hours in shanghai.

i got another massage, and today, my favorite masseur, #111, was in, so i had the best massage ever. he knows me and knows my aches and pains.
refreshed, i walked to Fuchon Xiaolong Shop at 650 yuyuan lu, a few blocks east of jiangsu lu (a recommendation from shanghaiist). this place is no DTF, but everything smelled and looked heavenly. no one spoke english, so i just asked for an order of xiaolongbao with pork. for 8rmb ($1.11), i received 12 delicious dumplings, each with thin skin, tasty soup (that i happily slurped), and tender pork filling. i hope to go back with a mandarin-speaker and either a group or a heartier appetite - noodles looked yummy too.

with that happy meal, i walked back to the hotel, grabbed my luggage and jumped in one of the cabs waiting for an airport fare to leave for pudong airport. my stay in shanghai was short, but it was a perfect 26 hours.

a plumpjack christmas!

i spent christmas week at squaw valley in lake tahoe, and it was a real adventure. we stayed at plumpjack, and this is what happened:

since we were celebrating Christmas in tahoe, my S.O.'s mom ordered the centerpieces of our Christmas Eve dinner from Smithfield Hams. Smithfield sends their perishable orders via UPS 2-day air in disposable styrofoam coolers, and his mom sent the order to Plumpjack. she had called Plumpjack prior to ordering to ensure a smooth delivery and she was informed it was no problem.

on Friday afternoon, they checked on the delivery, and according to the front desk, it had not arrived.

on Saturday morning, there was still no delivery, so they called Smithfield, who confirmed that the order had been delivered and provided some delivery details, but not the tracking number. when we arrived in tahoe around noon, my S.O.'s mom was agitated and nervous since the package was nowhere to be found.

i'm pretty determined so i returned to my room at Plumpjack, tried to call Smithfield again (with no luck) as well as trying a number of other hotels in the area. i also tried UPS' main 800 #, but they claim that they couldn't help me without a tracking number.

i really wanted to find the number for the closest UPS distribution center (the place where you have to pick up the package if you arent there for delivery), but i couldn't find the number and UPS would not give that out. So I called the UPS Store in Carson City, NV, and Brad, the manager, gave me the number for the UPS distribution center in Sparks, NV, where I spoke to Brooks who tried to track the package from there, but after doing some research, gave me the number to call the UPS distribution center in Tahoe.

at 255pm, Helmut answered my call, and I explained my predicament. He was the nicest guy EVER. He did some research and told me that there had been 233 packages delivered in that area, and that he'd have to check every one to figure out which one it was.

We got the call at 545pm from Helmut - he found the package by looking up Smithfield's account number, and looking at all of their shipments to zip code 96146 (how smart!). The order was from Smithfield Mail Order, and had been delivered on Thursday, 12/20, to my S.O.'s mother's husband at PLUMPJACK, 1920 Squaw Valley Road! So with Helmut on the phone, I went to the front desk, where Helmut gave me the 3 tracking numbers (the order came in 3 large styrofoam coolers), and Audrey at Plumpjack's front desk began to assist me. They looked everywhere, but couldn't find it. When I explained to them that it was coolers, they told me that it may have gone to the kitchen refrigerators, since the items were perishable. She then tried to blame ME for the problem (she tried to claim the package was addressed to the hotel and not to us). I was appalled.

On our way to dinner, I stopped at the front desk to speak to Audrey again, and she told me they had not found it, and she AGAIN tried to place the responsibility of this on us by telling me that it was only addressed to Plumpjack, and there was no guest name on it, which is why it went straight to the kitchen.

The General Manager, Mike Murphy, called me at 615pm. the items had been delivered to Plumpjack, but they had been "opened and dispersed", and they weren't sure where the items were. I thought it was ridiculous that they'd OPENED A PACKAGE ADDRESSED TO A HOTEL GUEST. He said they would monetarily replace or have their baker replace any items that were missing

To be helpful, I called Audrey and told her the contents of our order (2lb Smithfield ham, 1 whole smoked turkey, 2 orders of cream cheese biscuits (48), 1 order of sweet potato biscuits (24), and 1-2 Paula Deen gooey cakes so it would be easier for them to find.

Mike Murphy called me back at 709pm to tell me that EVERYTHING was gone except the Smithfield ham. After discussing with the family, we asked Mike at Plumpjack for a replacement meal as well as a bottle of wine or 2 for our trouble. We also told him we were having dinner at Plumpjack the next night, and that we hoped to meet him. Mike said it was his day off, but he would make sure we were treated well.

When my S.O.'s mom went to Plumpjack to pick up the ham the next day, Audrey accused her of lying about the contents of our order; she had spoken to Smithfield that morning to check our order with them. she also brought up the address issue and said that OUR ORDER was addressed to their chef at Plumpjack. This was the 3rd or 4th time she tried to bounce the responsibility of this onto us, and her behaviour of accusing us of overpadding our order as well as misaddressing the package when UPS had already clarified that it was properly addressed was absolutely outrageous and just adding insult to injury.

the dinner at Plumpjack that night was a debacle, and instead of comping our meal, they offered us complimentary desserts.

to make matters worse, the "replacement" items they provided for our holiday dinner were completely inadequate (instead of a whole smoked turkey, they sent us an $8.75 turkey roll from honey baked hams - no offense to HBH, but it was disgusting), but fortunately my story made its way to hilary newsom (sf mayor gavin newsom's sister!), as well as some of the investors in plumpjack, and i received an extremely kind email from hilary:

"I am deeply sorry to hear that the situation was not resolved. We pride ourselves in exceptional customer service and clearly we have not succeeded in this instance. I have taken the liberty of reversing the charges for three nights of your stay. Squaw Valley Central Reservations has credited 3 nights ($309.00), ($309.00), ($389.00) total: $1007.00 with tax: $1117.70. This should appear on your next credit card statement.

Again I am deeply sorry and assure you that we have addressed this situation internally in order to ensure that it never occurs again. We apologize that this affected your holidays in any way. We wish you a very happy New Year and hope that you will have the opportunity to return to our hotel so we can work harder to ensure that you have an exceptional stay. Should that opportunity arise, let me know and I will personally handle the reservation.

Sincerely,

Hilary Newsom

THE VERDICT: if you're going to squaw, definitely stay at plumpjack (the bedding is plush, the toiletries smell amazing!), but keep away from audrey (if she still works at plumpjack) - she's the rudest person in the entirety of lake tahoe (everyone else is friendly and kind). and request a room on the 2nd floor; i felt the windows on the first floor caused a security and privacy issue. plus you can hear every creak and step above you.

and i'm all for UPS after the awesome customer service i received from every place i contacted!