At breakfast I met my fellow-countrymen. Funny that in China and when I travel, I’m normally unmistakably ethnically Chinese. But for other Malaysians on the road, I’m usually of Malayo-Polynesian extract … being Iban, Bidayuh or even Malay.
As I’ve been in Beijing a couple of times, I had done most of the sights before (some of them twice). Combined with a bad hip and a funny tummy, I didn’t feel like doing much. The food has been so oily … most things swim in oil, even soups have a layer of oil on top. It has upset my tummy a little but not to the extent that I’d suspect it is food poisoning.
So instead of sightseeing, I did a bit of shopping. And what an achievement! I’m a big boy now. I don’t need Kim to buy clothes for me (and bill me afterwards) anymore.
I started off going to the Pearl/Silk market (metro Yonganli) which turned out to be mistake. I wanted to buy a polar fleece jacket but what they had was largely thick heavy stuff for the Russian market. I did buy a pair of sandals but found them cheaper at the next place.
The next place was Yashow Clothing Market (next to Sanlitun Village; metro Tuanjiehu). It was more what I was after with plenty of fake international branded stuff and cheaper starting prices (for the sandals anyway). You still have to bargain down to perhaps one-fifth of one-sixth of the opening price. So I’d definitely recommend Yashow in preference to the former. In previous trips, I patronised the street markets but this time I haven’t found them yet.
It’s interesting to note that fake international branded stuff is far cheaper than the respectable local brands. The latter may be as expensive as international brands when sold in western countries!
In the evening I had a very nice evening of chats with other travellers in the hostel. Nice long chats over two large Tsingtaos. It always amazes me that everyone is so different with why we travel (eg. one guy was here to learn kungfu) but we still have so much in common with our desires and so much to share with our experiences.
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- As it has been so hot, I’ve found myself wearing one shirt a day … and I had underestimated the number of shirts I had needed. So I bought one to top up; it says “I love Beijing” 🙂
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- Where I got my bargains.
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- I got ripped off a little but realised it too late. I guess The true price was around CNY100 (NZD20) I guess … there was one guy who offered it for CNY50 (NZD10) but I think that was just to reel me in as I was walking off.
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- Fuming at having paid a tad too much for the sandals, I decided not to get upset but get even. I got this jacket for CNY120 (NZD24). I even ran a spellcheck on all sides.
