Taobao is probably one of those things that you don't know how you lived without it after you get it Shyam :) You don't really NEED it, but it is convenient, easy to use, easy to pay, delivery to your door etc, once it is all setup.... and the things you can get... I just managed to buy Marmite from my home country... amazing! Plus size 44 shoes, which I would have had to run around half the city to find... fake North Faces (which I suspect are just factory seconds) for 150 kuai, not bad at all...

I find its just not worth my time running around half the city to find something I can get within 30 seconds on Taobao. Agree absolutely with Dan.

Thank Blobbles. But, again...is it easy for a person who doesn't ready Chinese well?

Yep, should be relatively easy. Would advise getting a Chinese friend to set it up for you though, to smooth the process.

Download the cidian.youdao.com/ dictionary which translates English-Chinese and vice verca. The good thing about this one is that you can highlight text on a web page and it comes up with the translation. I use it all the time on Chinese sites because I don't read too good either :)

Thanks, blobbs! I actually threw caution to the wind yesterday and tried it. I registered without too much problem. I had only the Google Translate, which was slow and unpredictable. I try the cidian.youdao tonight.

Damn! You were right! I thought I left any ability to be a Shop-A-Holic behind in the U.S.. Taobao is dangerous! I've already been trawling it over for a convection oven, an external hard drive, and a dozen other things that I could get along without. Even worst, it takes all sorts of payments and delivers it to your door. (I'd better start researching the Kunming Chapter of Taobao Anonymous.)

Thanks for the help, my friend. :)

I might be wrong but nutmeg can be bought at any street market along with the usual spices.
The size of a man's thumb, smells of wood smoke as a result of a light roasting or drying.

In restaurants they use the whole nut in a beef soup.

In canada's grocery stores the nutmeg nuts are quite smaller. not the same vartiety but i'm sure it's nutmeg ...

Not common to the point of not existing. I think though you might try the Paul's grocery sore on Wen Hau Xiang and there is a spice section, with many being sold in little affordable packets. It is your best bet. Good luck.

Thanks Mike/Bill,

The upside to this nutmeg mystery, is that I've been experimenting with all of these mystery spices that I see in the store. I've discovered some incredible spices that I've never seen before.

The thing my friends back home are most fascinated by is this dried red chili that they use on everything. It's very uncommon in the U.S.. My friends are curious about the way it makes you face numb when you eat it.