Ah globalization. I've seen Starbucks, KFC, McDonald's, Dairy Queen, and Orange Julius in Beijing but what American presence would be complete without a Wal-Mart?

Thanks to a passing mention in an email from a friend in Beijing, we realized that we were one subway stop away from the superstore. I needed food and some things for my room and wouldn't mind the convenience of a one-stop-shop, so the Wal-Mart Supercenter in Beijing (the 46th one in China) it is.

For some reason, Wal-Mart makes me think suburban America so it's surreal to see the huge navy sign in Beijing, complete with the chinese name 沃尔玛 (pronounced woh-arr-mah). It's identical in spirit to the stores in America but there are definitely differences. For one thing, the store is built UP over 3 floors and not OUT. No sprawling parking lot either but there is a free shuttle with several routes - one which appears to go by my school.

And of course, all products are in Chinese, not English. Have you ever felt overwhelmed standing in front of a shelf trying to decide between 40 different kinds of shampoo? Imagine that feeling. Now change the packaging into a language you can't read. Yeah, exactly. After watching me stare at a shelf for 10 minutes, Mom finally took pity on me and helped translate. It's also fun seeing a familiar brand on a completely unfamiliar product, like Tide laundry detergent in bar form (like a bar of soap) for handwashing clothes, as well as how brand names translate into chinese: Oreos are 噢利噢 (pronounced ohh-lee-ohh).

Speaking of Oreos, I found the chinese knockoff of the cookie. They are called 黑白黑 (hey-buy-hey) which means Black-White-Black. Check out the packaging:


Real ones on the top. Chinese knockoffs on the bottom


Crazy eh? Only in China. I didn't buy either but I think that next time I'll get both and conduct a blind taste-test.

Other fun things one can buy in Beijing Wal-Mart are bicycles. There are the plain old bicycles and then there are these:


Electric bicycles for sale


Pedalling turns a dynamo inside the bike that charges the internal battery. When you want more speed or power, or are just plain tired, you stop pedalling and switch on the motor. I haven't seen that many in Beijing so far but there were plenty when I was in Hangzhou last Christmas. Probably because bike theft is awful in Beijing so something this shiny is asking to be stolen.

Oh and if Beijing Wal-Mart and USA Wal-Mart had a price-off, Beijing would win hands down: we left with an entire cartful of stuff and only paid 50 USD for the lot.