It's not often you get a chance to alliterate Xining.
While it's not uncommon to find Santa Claus and Christmas trees all year round in Xining -- tucked into corners, dusty and forlorn, baubles barely moving in the Qinghai-Plateau breeze, sad remnants of yesteryear -- as the holiday season approaches, upgrades are paraded for discerning shoppers and curious kids.
Here are two recent sightings!
First, the freshest. This little fellow lives in the BHG Mall -- advertised as Xining's Beijing-style shopping mall. There's a modern cinema on the second floor -- only showing Chinese movies I believe -- while on the first floor are many of the chain fashion stores familiar to anyone in tier 1, 2, and 3 cities in China -- Vera Moda, Jack Jones and of course Hong Kong-owned chemist, Watson's. In the basement is a large posh supermarket which happily sells Spanish imported wine for RMB 70, Belgian fruit beer and that delicious brew, Hoegaarden, every monk's favourite tipple.
While it's not uncommon to find Santa Claus and Christmas trees all year round in Xining -- tucked into corners, dusty and forlorn, baubles barely moving in the Qinghai-Plateau breeze, sad remnants of yesteryear -- as the holiday season approaches, upgrades are paraded for discerning shoppers and curious kids.
Here are two recent sightings!
First, the freshest. This little fellow lives in the BHG Mall -- advertised as Xining's Beijing-style shopping mall. There's a modern cinema on the second floor -- only showing Chinese movies I believe -- while on the first floor are many of the chain fashion stores familiar to anyone in tier 1, 2, and 3 cities in China -- Vera Moda, Jack Jones and of course Hong Kong-owned chemist, Watson's. In the basement is a large posh supermarket which happily sells Spanish imported wine for RMB 70, Belgian fruit beer and that delicious brew, Hoegaarden, every monk's favourite tipple.
And as early as November, this festive display popped up in one of Xining's many branches of KFC (McDonald's has yet to flip a burger here).
That's Xmas in Xining for you! (Part One!)
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