Earlier I published a somewhat tetchy list of things I'd be hauling back to Shanghai after a trip to the US. Here are two more big ones:
5) Aspirin. Weirdly unavailable.
6) Ground coffee, Starbucks or Peets-style. Available, but so out-of-scale expensive, compared with other local comestibles, that it's hard to enjoy. Same principle that applies to wine.
And, an idiosyncratic #7:
7) The cheapo, reliable, minimalist chic Timex watches I have loved and worn for years. Of course they're made here, and of course you can't find them even in the heaps of fake Patek Philippes, Rolexes, etc being hawked on every street corner. I love these watches because you don't have to worry if you lose one (as I just did); you never have to look twice at the dial to know what time it is; their "Indiglo" dials work great at night; and they're very accurate.
Shipments of #s 5 and 7 already on the way to us here, via friends serving as mules. Anyone visting an expat in China, keep #6 in mind.
