More gifts for me

Our free Christmas tree, we sprang for the twinkle lights at 3 bucks a pop.

If you order from Mealbay, a restaurant delivery service, on Christmas tree Saturday you get a free tree with ornaments. A full meter of holiday cheer.

I also got food poisoning, at least that is what the doctor thinks at this point. Yes, I ended up back at the doctor's office for another go-round with the IV treatment and a shot in the hiney. The good news is that bright red blood is better than dark ucky blood. I now have enough medication to start my own store. And a thermometer. They are hard to find here.

I also have a new doctor. My old one must have escaped because the new one did not know who he was. She has only been here 2 weeks so she must be his replacement. She also recommended Gatorade for severe dehydration and a gluten free diet for the IBS. I asked her very politely in non Nola Rice language if she had lost her fucking mind. Where in the hell does she think I can find that stuff in China. She laughed and agreed. She did tell me to lay off the ginger ale. But when you are that sick, there is nothing like ginger ale, just wished it could have been Vernor's.

So momma is having a very quiet week.

Qipu (Cheap) Road Clothing Market

Well, we have directions to this shopping mecca corrected by a high level executive's personal driver. They were corrected as the admin asked him if the directions were good enough to get us to the area. Thank you to the admin, she has done a lot of extra work for Big Daddy. She is the same admin who got me out of the Overstay office and also got my fine covered by the company.

So the information on Cheapo Lu says it is the typical nasty, filthy and loud shopping experience in the Chinese areas of the city. For the best quality you need to shop on the 3rd to 5th floors. You should also be there at 3 to 4 in the morning as that is when all the private shop owners swoop in to get the best items. This explains where all these odd little stores get their stock, they go and get what they can find and afford at Cheapo Lu, mark it up and hope for the best. This also explains why they so frequently go out of business. Gotta have a plan and just a bunch of cheap shit is not a business plan.

I remember one odd little store that had shoes, great shoes, they were all womens size 40. Now I wear a European 38, I have one of the biggest pair of feet in China and this bastard (the owner) was yelling at me a price of almost 150 U.S. dollars. I guess he was stressed out and thought I was a stupid Laowai that would pay way too much money for shoes that were too big. Why would he buy all those shoes that maybe 3 people in China would want? He probably got them for a Cheapo Lu price at 3 in the morning.

So it looks like we are going to Cheapo Lu tomorrow. Not a 3 in the morning. And I think our next stop should be the fabric market, where the tailors are.

By the way, all better now except for a funky headache when I wake up. If that does not clear up soon I may have to dip into the antibiotics. It could just be a sinus irritation from the swell environment we live in. I could go to the doctor, but if that involves an X-ray for a sinus infection, I will take my chances with my own stash of medicine. Because that means another trip to the hospital. You cannot just call your doctor and get a script here, what a pain in the ass.