Bull frog with rice in bamboo. Herb and lotus with crapfish. Stewed softshell turtle with yama and chinese wolfberry.
Funny old day. Very warm and sunny outside - perfect for a wander down Shanghai Old Town and my first trip to the markets.
I stopped off at a ridiculously cheap Chinese restaurant for lunch were I paid £1.70 for a bowl of rice with pork in a honey sauce with cabbage. "Cheap as chips" as we say in Glasgow.
On the other hand I might have been better off with chips, but my pork dish seemed one of the safer items on a menu that offered Bull frog with rice in bamboo, Herb and lotus flower with crapfish. (Think it was a misprint for crab fish) and Stewed softshell turtle with yama and chinese wolfberry - whatever that is.
Had fun haggling at the markets, we had been told to offer a fifth of the original asking price and never to pay more than half of it. Another good tip was - walk away when you have made your final offer. If it's a good one, the sales people will come after you. If it's not, they will leave you alone. Great tips they worked a treat. My Christmas shopping is almost done!
No match for Andy today after his 6-4,6-2 win v Gilles Simon which takes him into the semi-finals at the weekend. He's still got to play Federer tomorrow to complete the group though.
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Fed beat Radek Stepanek 7-6, 6-4 yesterday night after Roddick pulled out with an ankle injury sustained in practice. Stepanek is one of 2 singles reserves here along with Nicholas Kiefer. A lot of the higher ranked players turned down the opportunity to come as reserve. Probably because it's the end of a very long season and Shanghai is at the other side of the world.
Stepanek and Kiefer were on holiday in Thailand when the call came through and they agreed to pitch up at short notice. Stepanek came into the event totally unprepared arriving without kit, rackets or even his contact lenses.
His rackets got held up at customs so he borrowed from Djokovic and he even pinched socks from Andy! Quite amazing that he managed to play so well with no practice and borrowed bats! Good story though.
More tomorrow