It’s a “market shopping” day. We head out after a relaxing morning and taxi to the “Silk Market”. It’s 5 floors of small shops partitioned with glass walls. Each floor has it’s own identity and similar shops are grouped together. As you walk down the aisle, shop owners are hawking their wares. Some are really aggressive. We learned early not to seem interested as we walked by. Eye contact seemed to indicate you were ready to buy.
When we did decide to look seriously at an item, the bargaining was fun. Since these people do this everyday for a living, I’m aware I’m not going to “beat them at their own game”. I just want to make purchases for things we want/need at a decent price. We were told by some experienced “Beijingers” not to pay more than 20% of their asking price, and be ready to walk away if they wouldn’t come down. We were working on a cashmere sweater, and politely walked out when they wouldn’t meet our price. They tried to politely block our exit, grabbed my arm, and finally let me leave, hollering at me as we walked down the hallway. We were about 10 stalls down the hall when they caught us and said “OK, we ok you price, you killing us”.
After purchasing a few items, we exited, found a coffee shop with outside tables, and enjoyed the comfortable afternoon, people-watching. With our energy renewed (thank you, caffeine), we jumped in a taxi and headed for the Yashow Market. Enroute, the taxi driver created a stir when he pitched 80y at Judy, before we paid him anything. Since we had agreed upon 20y for the trip (he didn’t turn his meter on when we got in?), I handed him a 100y bill, figuring we were paid up. He looked at the bill and handed it back, muttering under his breath. I wasn’t sure what he was saying. I handed him another bill, he looked at it and handed it back. I kept trying to figure out what was going on. We finally gave him his 80y back, and gave him another 20y for the fare. As we got out, he seemed to be asking if the 20y bill was “good”.
We walked into Yashow Market, looking for some more shopping fun. We found some items, bickered on the price, and paid. As we walked away, they chased us down and said the 100y bills we gave them were not good. Apparently there is a lot of counterfeiting going on in Beijing. Every store I’ve shopped in, the clerks carefully check the bills, or there is a machine they feed the bills into that checks them. The market sales people showed us how to check the bills, and I went through all my bills, finding several problems. I got all the bills out of a Bank of China ATM, so I’ll find out Monday how to deal with it. The counterfeit bills explain the consternation of the taxi driver. I had been handing him those bad bills, and since I had several, I kept swapping one bad bill for another. It also explains Judy’s problem Friday night with her taxi driver. I’m sure it was one of the bad bills she tried to give him.
We finished our shopping excursion, and walked next door to Sanlitun Village. We found a nice place to eat, then headed home. It was a fun day with all the shopping and bargaining. We also learned a valuable lesson about counterfeit bills. I’m curious how the resolution with the Bank of China will go.
If it were Donna and me, we would end up paying 125% of the price. We might as well have “American weak-kneed suckers” branded on our foreheads. Being a band director, Gordon could probably bargain them down and maybe even make them cry. The counterfeit money thing would be troubling, though. We have Bill Richardson on retainer standing by in a private jet in case you get in trouble! Donna’s school year is starting well. She is teaching an AP class, along with her honor English III classes. The schedule is a nightmare. Education is a nightmare. It sure isn’t what it was when I left full-time teaching eight years ago. My one physics class at Mayfield is going well. I have very nice kids. I am also teaching another music class at Good Sam this Fall. We are doing Broadway again–a potpourri of hits next week, followed by Sound of Music, Mary Poppins, West Side Story, Camelot, South Pacific, and Little Shop of Horrors. This summer I did “Songs Without Words”–symphonic tone poems. I did a really neat presentation on Strauss’ “Death and Transfiguration.” I really enjoy this. I bet you two come up with some great lessons that will adapt well to you audience, too. The learning curve is probably pretty steep right now! What an experience! We’ll tell Bill to keep the plane running!