Indoor Shopping Extravaganza
Silk Market – Beijing, China
Local Time: December 24, 2008 – 8:00PM
After the Summer Palace and dinner – we decided to skip the acrobatics show and venture out on our own to the Silk Market – which is like an indoor flea market. Many people go here to purchase knock off items or just have some fun with the bartering culture.
There are about 5 floors of just both after booth, many of which carry the same items so you could have a lot of fun trying to negotiate some deals because the vendor next door may carry the same exact thing. A tip for those of you considering visiting any of these vendor like areas in China – more often than not, these vendors mark up the cost by about 100 to 200 percent – so when you bargain with them… a general rule that I have been told is to start by giving them a price that is half of what they are trying to ask of you. Then negotiate to a price that you are comfortable with. Half the fun of it is in bargaining for the items – and even if you don’t come out with the upper hand (because these folks are totally trained in how to barter with you and make you feel good about what you purchased), you’ve helped the local community and you probably haven’t lost all that much to begin with in the first place. I came out with 4 scroll paintings (each for the 4 different seasons) and a fake Burberry wallet to carry all the money from this trip (because their currency is much larger than the US dollar and wouldn’t fit in my wallet).
We took a cab home – and cabs are easy to come by so getting around can be convenient. The only thing is that you don’t know whether or not the driver is trying to rip you off or not by taking a longer route, BUT for the most part it is relatively safe. Just make sure you take your key card with you with the hotel’s logo or better yet, ask the concierge for a business card for the hotel because the phone number is also included. If it’s a newer hotel that you are staying at, you may want to ask them to provide directions for you in the local language on a sheet of paper before you leave. This way, you’ll always make it back to your hotel room safe and sound. Another tip is prior to jumping into the cab, you may want to ask the driver if he knows where the hotel is rather than jump in and already having clocked time on the meter before they tell you no. That was a lesson learned the hard way for us, but it all managed to work out just fine.
