China Day 3: Shopping

After tea, it was time for the Chinese Silk market, and there are very few things that cheer me up like shopping. Entering this colorful piece of retail haven, it was literally minutes that I was back to my old self – well, that is not completely true - I also found a new talent: bargaining!!! Now, I don’t want to blow my own trumpet but when it comes to bargaining, I am a natural!!!! Never did I know that I possessed this talent but apparently it’s there and I’m quite sure that my love for a nice bargain is inherited from lovely granny! I quickly learned that trick to bargaining in China, is to decide what you want to pay for something and then stick to it – don’t budge!!!! Of course the salesperson will try whatever they can to up their price (which they start ridiculously high – sometimes more than 4 times its retail worth) but you must stick with your guns and not budge. Then, when they refuse your original offer, start walking away – if the price is fair, they will call you back (or more severely grab you by the arm and drag you back – very aggressive sales tactics here in China!!!!) and then try to bargain some more. This is where you take the amount of cash that you originally decided on, out of your wallet, hand it over to them and walk away with your purchase!!!!! Works every time! Not that I didn’t get screwed over a few times – my first two purchases I haggled down to half of the original price – but later I learned that I could get it even cheaper and that’s when the claws came out! The market was great though with all the fake designer ware one could dream of! Bags and shoes, lots and lots of clothes, porcelain, silk and lots of great art – there is so much to see that it completely boggles one’s brain. Fortunately for Chris, I got stuck in the menswear section first so he is, of course, the person who will benefit most from my trip to the Chinese market – but oooh, I never knew shopping for boys clothes can be so much fun! I did get myself some awesome goodies too…and my fake Chanel bag I so dreamed about. But before I knew it, our three hours was finished and it was time for a Mongolian dinner and show, followed by a great theatrical Kungfu performance……. (to be continued)