In my travels around the world, I've never seen as many smug, pretentious ----s as live in Shanghai. Thus, it is heartwarming when you can find the exception... a nice, down-to-earth person.
Like the oldish woman I bought flowers from on Valentine's Day, for example. And the avocado lady, who I'll laud in a bit.
Lets start with the flower woman. I had just arrived back in Shanghai after a four-week sojourn in Guangxi down south (photos to be posted later) and rushed from Hongqiao airport, dropping my bags off in the apartment on the way, to buy some roses for my wife before closing time at her office.
Finding flowers on Huaihai Road isn't easy... all the available real estate is taken up by perfume and jewelry and designer clothing dealers... and one of the large and growing number of Apple stores.
Luckily, last Monday many an enterprising person had taken up a street corner in the area to sell flowers to office employees and the like. Though China has Qixi Festival, a love day of it's own in the summer, the western Valentine's Day has become increasingly popular here, ala Christmas and Halloween. [Qixi Festival was rather erroniously represented in the Will Smith-minted remake of Karate Kid.]
The first few vendors I passed didn't strike my fancy... the flowers were either too old and wilted or not wrapped in nice bouquets.
Then I saw some roses that would work. The woman selling them was in a mildly heated discussion with an older foreign gentleman, who didn't appear to speak any Chinese. I wasn't there for the beginning of their encounter so I really can't say who was at fault. The man kept handing over another bill of 20 or 50 yuan and the woman kept arguing vehemently that it wasn't enough. Regardless, when it came my turn our exchange was short and sweet. The woman offered me an in-the-ballpark price (assuming some holiday markup) and I bargained with her goodnaturedly but didn't bother to seek anything other than a token reduction.
She gave such a nice smile as she wrapped the 11 roses together. That jolly old lady, selling flowers in the late afternoon as it snowed outside, she really made my day. Then I took the flowers and ran to call up my wife, who accepted me though I had arrived in four-day-old mud-and-soot streaked clothes with blood stains all over my face. She's a good lady that one, too.
But today's appreciation fest was inspired by Jiang Qin, aka the avocado lady.
The avocado lady is one of those characters that are truly wonderful in Shanghai. She is known as such for the 10 RMB avocados she sells out of her small vegetable store at 274 Wulumuqi Road. The vegetable dealer in my apartment complex- who I rely on in a pinch- sells avocados for 15 RMB and at the grocery stores sell them for 20-25 RMB apiece. Makes it tough on a man wanting to make guacamole.
About six months ago, I went to the avocado lady's shop for the first time. I had heard of it but never bothered to hunt it down, thinking it would be some trouble to save only a few kuai. As it turns out, the store is only a few minutes away from where I work and Ms. Jiang doesn't stop at avocados. She's got a whole roomful of goodies.
On my most recent visit, I found two of the items I've been coveting most in Shanghai- but have never been able to find: real maple syrup and tahini sauce (when I made hummus once in the past, I ended up having to mix up my own homemad batch of tahini). The maple syrup was priced rather steep- 75 RMB- but it's one of the items I've had the most trouble finding over the past few years, so I bought it anyway. I was going to bring a bottle from Vermont last summer but only didn't because of the $25 fee I would have to pay to check a bag-with-a-liquid on the airline (corporate executives at U.S. airlines are bunch of lowlife creeps). Honey and jam haven't quite filled in the void.
While in the store, I also picked up some other hard-to-find items... pine nuts (which are usually either in the shell or ridiculously overpriced), cranberry juice and Ambrosia cheese with Sichuan pepper. I also picked up a couple avocados (there have been times when I visited the store and got so taken away by the merchandise that I forgot to buy this most important item).
The avocado lady, in all my dealings with her, has always worn the biggest most cheerful smile. Once I asked her for help getting down a particular bottle of wine... as it happens, it was on an overhead shelf tucked away in a corner above the fruit bins and I didn't see how she was going to get to it. I apologized to her for the trouble. "No problem," she said in Chinese. "Stay and watch a performance." She then called over another of her salesladies who is skilled in the acrobatic arts. Using something that looked like a long hanger, the assistant first separated the bottle and then sent it tumbling down, catching it mid-air before it could hit the grocery bins.
Aside for maple syrup, everything I've bought at the avocado lady's joint has been pretty cheap. I've found sundried tomatoes and pesto sauce there for about half the price they sell at City Shop (sometimes she has them, sometimes she doesn't). She also sells grapefruit juice, cashews, cream cheese, a variety of other cheeses, salami and many other items to warm an expat's heart.
I've noticed that she sells tortillas and I have a feeling they aren't the incredibly stale kind that crumble to dust when you wrap them like I've had to put up with at City Shop (nothing against City Shop, we appreciate them too, but when you pay 60+ yuan for tortilla wrappers, you expect something better). She also stocks a good spread of fresh fruit and vegetables from asparagus on down.
With her unique business acumen- providing customers with what they actually want at bargain prices- the avocady lady has become something of a local celebrity. Her place always seems busy and sometimes when I go in there she's being interviewed by one local publication or another.
Today, with this blog in mind, I asked the avocado lady if I could take a picture with my phone. She immediately agreed but was a bit shy about posing... it took some encouraging to get her to face the camera.
Here is the photo:
Ms. Jiang's shop is awesome.
And if you don't take my word for it, here are a few testimonials:
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