Sunday, November 20, 2005 Thursday, November 24, 2005 Neva arrived at the hotel, and even she wanted to go to McDonald's. After a few days, you need to eat something. I even stopped picking up my dining hall certificates at the tennis. The food is SO bad. I have to say she was impressed. I walked in and the guy at the counter put in my order without our even speaking. He's my man!!!! She ordered as well, and while we were there, Cynthia came in saying "I'm starved!!!!!" I escorted her to "my guy" and she also joined the McDonald's Vamos brigade (sorry Mac and Carly! *lol*). We admitted we are "ugly Americans" only wanting to eat our own food, but hey, we needed some nourishment. Okay, Neva and I head to the market. We get our "get out of jail card" with the destination and off we go. Felix did not exaggerate the craziness of this market. The minute we got out of the taxi, it was "Lady, watch, watch, DVD, DVD." They grab you, and if you show the remotest interest in any of their wares, they won't let you go. But I was trained by the best. Thank you, Felix!!! First, I had to get some of those magnetic necklace/bracelet things. I saw some and we began haggling. They punch in the RMB number into a calculator, and then give you a chance to reply on the same calculator. Most of them don't speak any English except for key phrases: "What's your best price?" "You are killing me." "This is worth more." "You need watch, DVD?" "You like, you like?" "How many you want?" Well, I immediately spied the Chairman Mao watches and they were everything Felix described and more, but I wanted to look around a bit. I found a place with the magnetic bracelets, and I got 6 or 7 of them, I can't remember. But I managed to get all of them for close to the price he was asking for one of them at the beginning. Neva was amazed, because she wanted to counter much higher. Of course later, Felix scolded me for not getting a better price. He said, "I should have gone with you, I could have gotten a better price." And I'm sure he could have. But I was so proud of myself until then. But basically, When I was quoted 450 RMB, I would come back with 50, and wouldn't go higher than 100 (which is about $8 USD). But as Felix says, all this stuff is made in China, so it's cheap here. And some of the stuff actually is the real deal, but they are "imperfects" that are rejected. So you have to examine it carefully, but for $8 to $10 you can get some stuff that looks pretty nice. I got my husband a "Tommy Bahama" shirt for about $5 USD. Of course I "killed" the saleswoman but she made the deal. But my big score with the genuine fake Rolex diamond watch. It does look nice. This guy saw me and said, "Watch, DVD?" I said watch, as I was thinking of getting one, and he showed me stuff I didn't like. So I started to walk away and then he said "Stay, Stay, I'll be right back.": So then he opened another drawer, and this had a watch that was quite nice. Ooops by flight is about to board. Better go. You'll have to wait for the watch story. Next I was going by a booth, a guy started putting bracelets on my wrist. After he put on about 5 I stopped . . . (Thanks to Jay, for getting rid of those pesky apostrophe codes. More about Jay . . . Actually from his own Uncle Jay's Blog, which is fantastic. Check out his description of our Sunday evening, under Petty Theft. I doubt I could describe it better. It was too bad I couldn't go shopping at the mart with Jay on Monday. But I had a plane to catch. But given my prior experience with him, I bet he would have gotten a good bargain. Thanks, Jay, aka TBG (and he is), who answers these burning questions, and more: "Watch this space, boys and girls, for the following items... Wonder at the behind-the-scenes peek at the epic ending of the Tennis Masters Cup Tournament... The five-set slugfest between Roger "FedEx" Federer and David "Don't cry for me Argentina" Nalbandian. Read the sordid details from the impromptu wrap party at the Junction Bar in the Mayfair Hotel, where we answer the age-old question: Who did the Mayfair's resident hooker sink her talons into on the final night? Revel in the amazing tale of the Red Taxi and the Angry Driver, the 4AM trip to Ruijin Guesthouse to help Cynthia Lum move to her new digs. Be moved by the unfortunate saga "The Quest For Rafa", a danger-filled sojourn along Huaihua Road into the heart of Changde Lu to find a Rafael Nadal street poster. Read with amazement of the Yours Truly's last trip to Xiangyang Market to do battle with the vendors within. Read the blow-by-blow account of haggling over every single RMB of a souvenier t-shirt. And of course, no event wrap-up post is complete without some amount of complaining of the actual travel back to Florida. 26 hours of hell in a 12 ounce can. Saty tuned, genties and ladlemen - these stories and more, coming up soon..." It's all there, in Jay's Blog, so check it out, and until next time, Jay . . . :D posted by Susan @ 7:28 PM