Skype is turning out to be a great tool and friend. Skype is an internet based system which allows for international calling for about $0.02 cents per minute. All that is needed is a relatively fast internet connection and a computer with a microphone. My laptop has an embedded camera and microphone so in the future it should be possible to videoconference. The other beauty of Skype is that if a friend is also registered and on-line then videoconferencing or simply calling is free. Mom, Kristen, and I enjoyed a long conversation prior to my boarding the Air China flight for Beijing. The world has become a well-connected smaller place.
Japan and Korea must have been a solid indoctrination to Asia because the transition to China feels relatively smooth. The one exception is falling prey to the typical airport cab scam where one gets snagged by someone posing as a state approved transportation provider and then charges upwards of four times the going rate. (Note: never get into a vehicle or put your bags in the trunk without agreeing to a metered rate or fare first.) I refused his offered rate and stated the usual price. He started to drive which I thought was acceptance but was really upping the ante by removing my other options. So I said, “When we get to the hotel we will ask the staff what the fair price is and I will pay you that amount.” What these imposter cabs also do is park across the street from your hotel, effectively putting a barrier between you and the assistance of the staff. Fortunately, I had received a previous tip as to a typical fare so grabbed my pack from the trunk prior to paying him half his demanded price (roughly twice the normal rate) then headed quickly across traffic and into the hotel lobby.
My room is basically nothing like what was advertised on Expedia. Just like trademarks and patents, truth in advertising is a flexible concept in China. The room had no windows; came complete with mold stained ceilings and the industrial plastic grid shower mat, and a plumbing system devoid of p-traps. What this basically means is that any gases running through the sewer system are free to rise in the path of least resistance, a.k.a. my bathroom. I am determined to be undeterred but will need to find a solution.
The afternoon was spent shopping at the silk market, which really is home to five floors of packed booths providing “knock-off” branded goods or if you are lucky “Saturday/Sunday” first quality production which makes its way to the grey-market. I was after a North Face down parka for the Everest climb in January. There were none to be found on display but “magically” when you ask they appear from the back.
Haggling is an art form in Asia. First, throw any Western considerations for fair pricing or honest emotion out the window. The initial price is easily four to five or even twenty times the market value. For perceived higher demand items the price tends towards the upper end. In my case the price started at approximately fifteen times market value at $600 USD. This would be a crazy price to pay, even at home. Now the game of chicken begins. Who will make the first move? After carefully inspecting every inch of the jacket, I state that I want to check all the booths then make a decision. Leaving the booth is your leverage because many vendors carry the same items. Also, my Uncle Don told me once, “Never negotiate for something you can’t walk away from or else you will pay too much.” Moving towards the booth entrance forces the vendor to make the first move and use the most overstated phrase in Chinese retail, “Because you are my friend, I have special price just for you.” This is usually one third off the list price. Some tourists will fall for this. If you don’t then the vendor will put the ball in your court and ask you what you will pay. Go ahead and be incredibly low if you don’t have a sense for the actual market value. In spite of any protests the vendor will not sell an item to you for a loss. Everything in between is pure retail bargaining smoke. Since a family friend Ken had purchased North Face parkas in the same location for $25 USD a piece I had a benchmark. This jacket was down so I explained this and moved the price up to $40. Vendor counter $60, reply $40. Vendor counter $50, reply $40. Vendor counter $40 (witnessed by my drive), reply acceptance. She packed up the coat and I gave her the $40 USD. Now begins the high stakes negotiations. You agreed to $50 USD she screamed over the shuffle of hundreds of people. Calmly, “No we agreed to $40 USD.” “No fifty”. Turning to the driver, “Did you not hear us agree to $40 dollars?” His head nods. “I’m sorry but we agreed to $40.” Still projecting, “No fifty.” Grabbing the forty dollars held loosely in her hands and handing the coat back, “Not a problem, I just buy it somewhere else.” (By this point I meant it.) Leaving and walking down the crowded aisle she came chasing after me, “Ok forty.” “Thank you.” Never get flustered or angry, even if the other party feigns offense. This is a documented natural part of tourist negotiations, ref. Lonely Planet China. In the end, everyone was happy.
After these efforts it was time for lunch and Peking duck. This was served with the equivalent of flour taco shells and plum sauce. Everything was delicious, even the delicacy of eating the muscle that operates the bill. When the driver balked at eating the brain I followed suite. That would have been a stretch, even for my adventurous palette.
My culinary openness was challenged while venturing out into the evening for a two-hour stretching of the legs. Right outside the doorstep of the hotel was a nighttime lighted food bazaar of extraordinary proportions and variety. There was everything from the tame octopus and squid to the more adventurous scorpions and various crustaceans on a stick. Everything can be readily grilled to your liking. No thanks… but I appreciate the offer, really.
As a change of scene I was off for the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square, but first there was the prostitute evasion game. There must have been a big red “X” on my forehead, being a lone male western traveler with a map. I was taken aback by the first offer and gently refused. As I continued down the busy “tourist shopping” street by the hotel it started to rain proposals. Confused by this attention I stepped aside to get my bearings on the map.
Yep, there were the upscale stores and McDonald’s right where they were supposed to be. What I came to find later was that the traditional tourist shopping areas are the prime pick-up locations and not the stereotypical imagined “dark passageways”. With my directions and an increased pace the more traditional nighttime sites were now a clear target.
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