lady, lady

After several cups of coffee and a huge breakfast in the hotel, we headed by taxi to our first shopping destination, the Shanghai FengXiang Clothing Gift Plaza. I felt like Mama, Shannon and I used to feel when we would walk into the Dallas Market Center on the first day of the gift show (which was excited). I was armed with a little notebook that I had taped pictures of purses and such to show them what I was looking for. This is partly because Bailey had emailed me a wish list (that ended in saying "I don't have to have any of these" and "I will pay you back"!) and because I really didn't know what to look for in fake designer handbags.

The night before, we had been approached by people with little laminated pieces of paper with pictures of watches, purses, etc. on it. We just said no thanks and they would go for someone else. I was not prepared for the bombardment we received when we went into this place. It didn't help that we were one of the first ones to probably walk in that morning. The place was basically 3 stories high with a maze of stalls that opened onto the aisles. Except for the 2nd floor (which was mainly pearl jewelry), they carried everything from jeans, CDs & DVDs, sunglasses, shoes, scarfs, belts, clothing, coats, etc. You get the picture. Since I really didn't know what to look for with the pearls (I will next time), we mainly honed in on the fake stuff. It took me awhile to get into the swing of things. The constant "laydee, laydee, watch, laydee, Rolex, Louis Vuitton, laydee" was quite distracting. And I also found that if you actually picked something up to look at it, or even point at it, they were trying to put it in a bag like you were going to buy it. And if you didn't act like you were looking at something in particular, they were continually pointing stuff out for you to look at.

My saving grace through all of this was Ken. It took me a couple of hours, but we turned into a well oiled machine. I would pick something out and then hand it over to Ken. He does alot of negotiating with his job and I decided that he is the world's best bargain negotiator. I didn't have to do a thing. Since their English isn't perfect and probably because they don't want to miss out on a cent, they all are armed with big calculators that you and they can type prices on. Which makes it easier on everyone. Speaking of prices, it also took me awhile to get used to the Chinese money. But I finally got into the swing of just dividing a price by 8 to get dollars, which was kind of nice after dealing with all the zeros you have with Korean money, i.e. 10,000 Korean won is approximately 10 USD. After 4 hours (yes, but I could have gone longer)we left with handbags, jewelry, wallets, sunglasses, golf shoes and an overcoat for Ken.

Since we had a large breakfast, we really weren't too hungry until we went by a place called Taco Bell Grande. It really isn't Taco Bell, but a Mexican restaurant of sorts. We decided to pop in for something to drink and something small to eat. I am sure everyone now thinks that we only eat at fast food joints. We did the same thing when we lived in Europe. I just think that when you actually live in a foreign country (not just visit), a little taste of home when you can find it is tasty at times. We do have a new Quizno's, a Domino's and a Dunkin Donuts in Okpo but no hamburgers or Mexican food as we know it. Anyway, we split some quesidillas and rested our feet. When we first walked in, we were greeted with "hola" by young girls in Mexican attire. I couldn't resist when we left to take a picture of them with Ken.
We said adios and headed back to the hotel for a little regrouping for the rest of the evening. I also need to say goodbye for now, since Ken and I have to go out to dinner with some people from Houston.