Silk Market

Today I got a taste of China outside the manicured lawns of the Village. Some of the saber girls wanted to go shopping at the silk market (while they do sell silk there it is really a crazy mall). The silk market sells many things. Mostly clothes, shoes, silk, a few electronics, toys, and pearls.

The ride to the market was interesting. The building here all seem to differintiate themselves with architecture. There is almost always something interesting. It is nice to see so many different buildings. The streets were busy but there still wasnt the throngs of people I expected to see.

Entering the market you hear the buzz. Each of the 7 floors are packed with 8x8 stalls. Just trying to walk down the first aisle the sales people call to you. On the more aggresive bag section they would actually grab your arm to make you look at what they had. Nothing has a price on it. A friend wanted to buy a north face jacket. The initial price offered was 1500 RMB (currency of china). 220 dollars for jacket is outrageous. Before he even said anything though she dropped to 600 RMB. After 10 minutes he finally got her down to 100 RMB. Most things you needed to get 1/10th of the asking price otherwise you were getting ripped off. However for silk there wasnt much bargaining. I think due to its commodity nature the price varies very little.

This store was pretty commericial and popular. There werent any pirated dvds or video games. The nintendo ds were the same price as in the US and the vendors were unwilling to bargain. Cody and I eventually felt overwelmed and went for a walk. We walked down a random street that turned out to be the embassy section of the city. At one point we found a park and had a beer. It was nice to find a little oasis.

In one part of the park we saw people fishing in a what would genorously be called a pond. Emerald and cloudy green the fished. Simple poles with a bobber that looked exactly like it was taken from the Zelda game for the Wii. We saw one person with a guppie. While fishing is fun it would be nice to catch something weighing more than my cell phone.

Overall a great day. I didnt get back and in bed till ten. As soon as my head hit the people I was out and 8 hours of restful sleep went by. More practice today and hopefully we will get to see the zoo.