Evil Nemesis. And, a New Love.

I have found an evil nemesis in China, but also a new love.  So, which do you want to hear about first?

Let's go with EVIL.

Yep, that's it.  Know what it is?  It's a drain that exists in each of the bathrooms near the toilet.  Seems pretty innocent enough, only it's not.

EVIL.

It smells.  Horribly.  And, it's an unidentifiable smell.  If you know me well, you know that I don't do well with smells - I can smell garbage that needs to be taken out a good 2 days before Jeff can...I just don't do well with smells.  Not only does it smell horribly, but the smell travels - the one in our master bath - is good...no complaints.  The one in the hall bath and the little bathroom off the kitchen - off the charts with bad smell. 

The issue is that it's not only our apartment that does this, it's every bathroom that I've been in here.  Work, hotel, and there are comments after comments on the expat sites about this horrible smell.  I do know that it's worse when it's rainy, so I look forward to drier days.

My new love.  And, actually, it's not just my new love...it's Jeff's, too.

LOVE.

We have had a difficult time finding good coffee, and know that we were completely spoiled in Melbourne.  We broke down and bought a Nespresso machine.  Jeff initially bulked at the idea because they are a bit pricey here...but, once we were in the store, I thought he was going to spring for the mac-daddy of all Nespresso machines (but he didn't).  It was very cute - and a great example of how they bring their brand to life in their stores.  He got all starry-eyed, sat down, had a cup of coffee, then went all in and qualified for their Chinese New Year promotion.

Happy Australia Day...A bit Late!

The good ol' Aussie's celebrated Australia Day over the last weekend in January.

Last year, we were at the Australian Open Tennis Tournament.

2012 - It was so hot this day - we were so glad we were in the shade.

2012 - Love the photo-bomber behind us.

This year, we were in a bar in Shanghai watching the final match.  Just a little different ambiance.

There were guys two tables over that were chain-smoking, and I'm not exaggerating (two guys in the top-center of the photo - jerks).  Lighting one cigarette from the last.  It was gross.  Restaurant #2 that we left early because of how much people around us were smoking.  Not sure we'll ever get used to this.

Our first attempt at ordering salsa in China...it was
okay, but not anywhere near as good as Ericka's!

Delivery: Laundry

Since we were living in a hotel for the first three weeks that we were in Shanghai, we didn't have a washer and dryer that we could conveniently use.  We asked around, and there are several services that will do all of your dry cleaning and laundry...some even deliver.  Sign me up.

I emailed the service, they dropped off two laundry bags one day, picked-up dirty clothes the next day, and dropped off sparkly fresh clothes the day after.  And, they really do the whole experience quite well.  As an added bonus, they even combed my cashmere sweaters - for free!

Clean and tidy laundry - no folding to do!

The folding of dress shirts is better than
when we bought them.

It's all about the presentation, isn't it!  Nicely
done with a ribbon and bow.

While I don't believe that Jeff will let me continue to send our laundry out every week, it's a great service to know about.  If the dryers here are anything like they are in Melbourne, half of my clothes have to hang dry, which means that laundry takes a long time...if we're in a pinch, I know where we'll be going!

Shanghai Museum

Last weekend, we checked out the Shanghai Museum.  It is a museum of ancient Chinese art.  Emphasis on ancient.  There is stuff from 18th century B.C in this place.  That's .... a REALLY long time ago.  And I'm not sure how these things still look so pristine.  Particularly with seemingly a majority of the items dating to B.C.  Though fascinating, I couldn't help but feel I lacked adequate appreciation for it.  It was a lot to take in.  The museum is free and should perhaps be consumed in smaller bites.  Here are some things we thought were interesting:

The Shanghai Museum

Bronze Gallery:

Impressive detail on a bronze pot

Drums

Bells

11th-13th century B.C. bronze "wine vessel"

Bronze and jade axe

Ceramics Gallery:

The first garden gnome?  Who knew he rode a camel?

LT does not like him...

There are dragons all over this place

This is a pillow.  Looks comfortable.

Calligraphy Gallery:

Not much in this gallery that we understood...

Seals Gallery:

Turn-bull?

Currency Gallery:

Minority Nationalities' Gallery:

Who let that fourth minority out of her case?

LT does not like this one, either.

Jade Gallery:

Jade axe

Furniture Gallery:

Sculpture Gallery:

Wonder if this guy's head is bigger or one of our friend's who shall
remain nameless?!  ;)