Shopping town

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After work Linda and I headed to the shops. The guys eventually met up with us, but not until after we did loads of damage. Although, truly, on a time/quantity basis, Colin kicked my butt. The deals to be had in Shanghai are like no other. Everyone is selling the same crap which is actually of ok quality. Not great, but really not bad considering you are paying less than $10 for just about everything. I didn't especially enjoy the price negotiations that day. I tend to prefer to shop around and get the best price. But that is not how it works there. Nothing has a price, you ask the price for everything and they give you a ridiculously inflated price. You can expect to get about 75% off. Of course, knowing this, I aimed for closer to 90%. Why not right? So the first day I didn't really buy much. But Linda and I set out early on day 2 of shopping and headed straight for the antiques. I was able to spot some seriously gorgous fabrics that looked authentic. However, I was hopeless with the ceramics. The stuff I thought was cheap was expensive and vice versa. Not a good sign. I was clearly in over my head in ceramic antiques. Amazing to see the streets of antiques. I can only imagine how wild this place was 100 years ago when they were really selling off the true antiques.

We came across some grasshopper fights and shopping. Very interesting past time for old men in Shanghai. Very serious also. A winning grasshopper is truly a prized possession.

Had a great day. Linda convinced me to head out on the town for the evening. The details of that night will forever remain with me 😉 Good thinking Linda!

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