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Published: December 2nd 2007
The Difference between Shopping and Haggling
Okay so unlike my other posts so far I already filled you on in what happpened last night, so I will just cut straight to today!
Slept in this morning which was great, although I didn’t get to bed until late again, but it was nice to sleep in. So I casually woke up and had some brekky from the street vendors and took some washing over to a laundromat and dropped that in and hopefully (I say hopefully as I am unsure if she and I understtod each other when I told her that I will need my washing tomorrow morning) I will get it tomorrow morning all nice and washed. It was freezing cold this morning, and unfortunately it stayed that way for the rest of the day. I met up with Ryan and we caught a cab to the Panjiayuan Market which is only open on the weekends from dawn to 6pm (although the Lonely Planet says it is only open until 3pm). It was amazing, everything you can imagine was available. So we wandered around for a few hours just checking it all out and scoping out the ‘best
prices’ for a few selected items and then we decided to attack. In a coordinated series of events we targeted a few select stalls and began our bargaining. I ended up with a few copies of Mao’s little red book and some other bits and pieces and I was happy.
After that we caught a cab to the Silk Market and we both had a few target items that we wanted to get so this time it was much easier to go through as I knew what I wanted and how much I wanted to pay. So it was over in a matter of minutes and even though the girls running the stalls said that I was ‘killing them’ with my bargainning and that I was very tough, I still walked away thinking that I could have got it cheaper. But it was a lot more fun this time and I think I got some good stuff which should (emphasis added) last the whole trip.
From the Silk Market we headed to Wangfujing, to the night market, as Ryan hadn't eaten scorpion and I had only been there during the day. I think the policy of the food
vendors at Wangfujing is, if it can go on a stick you can eat it. There was so much random food skewered and offered for sale. But the most random we came across was centipede, and as has become the catchphrase of the trip, why not (or in Spanish por que no!) So Ryan and I tucked into some centipede skeweres, which I can say were absolutely disgusting. There was definitely a discernable taste, and in no way was it good. We wandered around and had a few other things, beeef, sea snake, squid, octopus balls and other bits and pieces and decided that we had finished.
Back to the hostel for some beers and chatting and now heading to the Muslim restaurant for some snacks.
Great comments, thanks a lot.
Matt Out.
END TRANSMISSION
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Peter Evans
non-member comment
Tastings
We sold Richard on the weekend to a family in Pearcedale [West Gippsland]. While discussing the medical needs for Richard, eg. vacinations and drenching etc, my mind wandered to your dietary adventures and I thought we will have to get you "vet checked" to make sure that all that stuff you are consuming is dead.....just kidding. best regards Peter Evans PS. Once you get out of Beijing, watch out for the water and don't drink any soft drink, stick to beer [which shouldn't be a problem based on your feedback to date] and tea [the bioled hot variety]. Some of the worst cases of tummy bug etc have been caused by soft drink consumption. Most of the Chinese soft drinks in the past have had poor sterilisation procedures, beer is different.