☆ Side Quest: Western Chengdu

Objective: Find the West in the East

Once we made our realization in the Subway, we decided to embrace our longing for home and have a totally western afternoon.

Level 1: Grocery shopping

The first thing we needed was supplies. The Pug owners told us about the item shop, Carrefour, that might stock what we were looking for. We got a tip that it was to the southeast of our Inn, aka the Loft, so we took a bus in that direction and then wandered a bit.

I joke sometimes that I don’t just have a bad sense of direction, I have the wrong sense of direction. And sure enough, I was a millisecond away from saying, “Peter, I don’t think this is the right way,” when we spotted the little red, white and blue logo.

Welcome to Carrefour. Here you can buy items that will heal you and your party, and satisfy your desire for western products. What do you want to buy?

• Wasabi
• Dijon mustard
• 100% Tomato juice
• Ground black pepper
• 2 American mustard
• Pickled gherkins
• Tobasco
• Twinings Earl Grey
• Rosemary sliced
• Basil chopped
• Prosciutto
• Red wine (from France!)
• Brie
• Parmesan cheese

You may notice that something is missing from the list; they were out of olives the day we were there!

Level 2: Relax

After hauling our treasures back to the inn, we were in need of some chill time.

Level 3: Impulse shopping

One thing that we missed at Carrefour was a good loaf of bread. They had some, we just thought we could get some closer to home (breaking Rule of Chinese Acquisition No. 5: If you see it, buy it because you may never see its like again). But when we scoured the area near the Loft, we found no good bread. Bright side: I did see a dress that was so cute I had to have it RIGHT NOW.

I have excuses for what happened, but they’re not good, so I’ll skip it and just admit I bought the dress one size too small. I had a bad feeling about it, so I tried it on again back in our room, and, yup, I couldn’t raise my arms above my head.

But! We went back first thing the next day, with 交流 written in my translation notebook. No worries, they gave me the bigger size. They even made me try it on again, and I think the woman said to me something like, “I tried to tell you that you needed the XL last night!” But it was totally no hassle! I’d shop there all the time if I lived in Chengdu.

Level 4: Hors D’oeuvres for dinner in the room

Back in Brooklyn, one of our favorite meals was something we called “party dinner”: veggies, dip, cheese, crackers, pickles, olives, etc. So it was great to re-create it with our supplies from Carrefour. It was as delicious as ever — more so, actually, for its rarity.

The pickles, specifically, were so good that we even considered bringing the brine home in a thermos so that we could pickle more stuff in it. (We didn’t follow through, which I kind of regret.)

But wait! There’s more …