Today was an exciting day as we started the morning with a new hot cereal, this one from the Nestle Company. It has less sweet flavor and it has the mouth feel of cream of wheat. After our new try for breakfast we went in search of another Wanda Plaza this one located near Da Xue Zhong Lu 大学中路. Before we left I picked up Chuck’s man bag and compared its weight to my purse and only after I had removed enough weight to make mine the lighter bag was I ready to leave. I decided that I would spend this blog entry writing on something that we have found over here…the MAN BAG. We found this new Wanda Plaza to be another Mecca of American stores and food options like the first Wanda and 360 Mall. Just like the first Wanda this is anchored by a large super store in it, this time it is Vanguard. A Chinese chain that is very much like Wal-Mart in that you can find pretty much anything that you want there. We saw lots of stores that we are familiar with from the states, some Chinese stores that we have grown used to seeing and some stores that we think maybe European.
While walking the mall we saw guys carrying their bags, those of the female with them or just walking around with everything in their pockets. For today I focused on guys carrying their own bags. We discovered rather soon after landing in Beijing last year that often men will need a way to carry tissues, cell phone(s), keys, bottled water and shopping bags in comes the Man Bag. Not like a woman’s purse that will have something frilly or feminine on it Man Bags are usually in brown or black and often look like a messenger bag only smaller in profile. At our school we have seen almost none of the male foreign teachers carrying a bag but if you know my husband you know that he tends to color outside the lines and do his own thing, he is a man’s man who carries a Man Bag. I’d say that less than half of the men here carry, but those that do opt for this option aren’t looked at weird. In the mall out shopping you can see a wide variety of Man Bag’s and men with stuffed full pockets. We also see a lot of men carrying the purse of their girlfriend or wife as they follow in the mall. This isn’t as odd since my own grandfather would carry the purse of his wife when they would go out. I know he wasn’t alone in that either.
We opted to have lunch out but not in the mall as food prices in Wanda tend to be pricey. We found a food vendor on a side street near the mall and had a delicious meal for only 12 RMB.
After lunch we stopped by our favorite DVD place on our way home and right now Chuck and Nate are watching the latest Superman movie. I don’t care for super heroes so I opted to down load pictures and write my blog.
On our way past Zhengzhou University 郑州大学, I was tickled by the responses of the students who had lined the street and were offering things in tents. Chuck led our cycling group followed by Nate with me bringing up the rear. Students would point at Chuck and Nate and just as they were about to say there go two foreigners I would come rolling by. The looks were only rivaled by the odd stares we get when I ride on the back of Chuck’s scooter.
I have taken lots of pictures so please check them out. I don’t have names of all the stores and got pics of those that are familiar from the states, do enjoy!
While walking the mall we saw guys carrying their bags, those of the female with them or just walking around with everything in their pockets. For today I focused on guys carrying their own bags. We discovered rather soon after landing in Beijing last year that often men will need a way to carry tissues, cell phone(s), keys, bottled water and shopping bags in comes the Man Bag. Not like a woman’s purse that will have something frilly or feminine on it Man Bags are usually in brown or black and often look like a messenger bag only smaller in profile. At our school we have seen almost none of the male foreign teachers carrying a bag but if you know my husband you know that he tends to color outside the lines and do his own thing, he is a man’s man who carries a Man Bag. I’d say that less than half of the men here carry, but those that do opt for this option aren’t looked at weird. In the mall out shopping you can see a wide variety of Man Bag’s and men with stuffed full pockets. We also see a lot of men carrying the purse of their girlfriend or wife as they follow in the mall. This isn’t as odd since my own grandfather would carry the purse of his wife when they would go out. I know he wasn’t alone in that either.
We opted to have lunch out but not in the mall as food prices in Wanda tend to be pricey. We found a food vendor on a side street near the mall and had a delicious meal for only 12 RMB.
After lunch we stopped by our favorite DVD place on our way home and right now Chuck and Nate are watching the latest Superman movie. I don’t care for super heroes so I opted to down load pictures and write my blog.
On our way past Zhengzhou University 郑州大学, I was tickled by the responses of the students who had lined the street and were offering things in tents. Chuck led our cycling group followed by Nate with me bringing up the rear. Students would point at Chuck and Nate and just as they were about to say there go two foreigners I would come rolling by. The looks were only rivaled by the odd stares we get when I ride on the back of Chuck’s scooter.
I have taken lots of pictures so please check them out. I don’t have names of all the stores and got pics of those that are familiar from the states, do enjoy!