Beijing/Thursday contintued...

Okay, so the lesson didn't really happen. It was only a 10 min talk or so because he had an other meeting to attend to. We did however speak briefly about the lilies on his table and how they symbolize 100 years together... very popular at weddings. Then I told him how I have lilies tattooed to my back. Hahahahaha! 100 years together... both the tattoo and me, and mom and me, I guess, since that's part of what it symbolizes.

Okay, back to the market.

The first stop was a silk tie stand just off of the escalator. We probably should have moved in a little deeper, but since it was there, and it was time to shop, why not? Here in Tianjin, you can usually get a price of the item without any problem. At this first place, we couldn't get an answer. It was "how many do you want?" and "you pick out and I give you good price". Riiiiggghhttt... like I believe that. Anna and Samuel picked out 5 ties and asked for the price. 1350 yuan! Yeah right! There's no way anyone of us would spend that much. At this point, I tried entering the conversation between the very intense sales women and Anna and Samuel. She COMPLETELY blew me off. Not a good idea. If someone in the group doesn't like it, and there were ony three of us, chances are that you're not going to get the sale. Next time, try not to be so rude. Instead, I got to deal with the male vendor. "These ties are handmade. 100% Silk. Very good quality." "Yes, but if we can't afford them, we can't afford them. We had a friend get ties for 10 yuan a piece. We don't need anything extremely expensive and nice." The price just wouldn't come down to a reasonable, non-tourist level. We didn't say that we lived here, or had someone who spoke Chinese in our group. This women didn't deserve our business. We tried leaving and they blocked our path. Guess the tactic changed to bullying to get the sale, or maybe if we keep the tourists here long enough they will want to be rid of us and buy something to make us let them out of our tiny little cube of a shoppe.

As we made it passed them (the man wasn't as bad as the women in blocking our exit) the female vendor grabbed on to Anna's jacket and started pulling her back into the kiosk-like shoppe. Anna started freaking out. "Let go". The women continued to hang on. "Please, LET GO!" Still in a very calm voice, but this time it was more like "The Mom Voice" ( I thought it would be appropriate to capitalize it, since it holds a lot of power and all). We were finally free!

As we were walking away the price finally dropped to 200 yuan. 1350 to 200. Ridiculous! Anna said she might have paid 100 for them, but that women no longer deserved our business. We walked away and ended up walking perilously close to that stand again. So what did we do? Quickly turn the corner and duck into another booth. They treated us marginally better, but between the the two vendors, they had two different strategies, and two different offers for the same item. Finally we settled on the lower of the two prices, basically the guy quite throwing out numbers and let the girl do it. Anna walked away with a beautiful black with red embroidered Chinese characters table runner. Don't know what I would do with, but Anna realy liked it. And after that first experience, I'm glad she was able to get something without being grabbed.

We wandered the next isle and I stopped in to barter about something for Alex. I can't actually tell you what it is because he occasionally reads this and I can't ruin a Christmas present!

I was doing a decent job at bartering, by sticking to my price of 100 yuan, but the real kicker was when Anna came back and said she had purchased the exact same thing, just in a different color, in Hong Kong for 100 yuan. That sealed my deal. The vendor finally gave in and sold it at 100. You know you get a good deal when the vendor is upset with you. So far so good!

We moved on and were so overwhelmed by the situation with the first vendor, all of the "Hey girl! You want shoes, this, that or the other thing?" We saw a number of vendors pulling on Westerners clothing, and that coupled with knowing what we wanted, but also being able to get it cheaper and hassle free in Tianjin, plus wanting to do some hassle free browsing, which is impossible at this place, changed our mind about wanting to shop.

When Kyle and Charise had gone to the Silk Market, they made it sound soooo great. It is REALLY cool, but we weren't prepared to have to go in swinging. Kyle and Charise also enjoy flea markets and bargaining much more than the rest of us do... we walked around a little bit, happened to pass a silk worm thing, can't really describe it more than it looking like a thick halloween spiderweb, and decided to call it a day.

On the way to the subway station, we had to pass through the suitcase, shoe and purse section again. Since I needed a suitcase to take all my goodies home, and wanted something bigger than I had seen in Tianjin, I decided to stop at the vendor that call me "friend" instead of "girl" or "lady". I asked the price of a hard case, four wheel swiveling one, and it started at 850 yuan. WAY too much. I started at 75 then went 100 and kept it there. She was very upset because this suitcase was a very quality product, and 100 would be a different, smaller suitcase, a purse or even a wallet, but not this one. She went down to 300, but I wouldn't move. I started to leave and she blocked my path. Didn't touch me, but she did inhibit me from going anywhere for a bit. I kept telling her, I don't need quality, just a suitcase. Not quality. Finally, I said I was going to look at others and I needed to think about it. By this point I had no idea where Samuel and Anna went and wanted to catch up with them. As I was walking away she holds up her calculator and yells in my direction "150! That's my final offer. You won't find better quality or a better deal anywhere!" And she turned away and stormed off.
Thankfully, Samuel popped back from the aisle I had just looked down, and took me down to where Anna was waiting. Now, I had to decide if I really wanted this suitcase, and if we could get it back home.
After a minute and a brief discussion with the others to determine if we could get a suitcase on the subway, in a taxi, and on the bullet train-of which all were yes-I decided to buy it. The only problem now was that I couldn't just go back and buy it. Now I had to wait a few minutes to make it look like I had looked at other goods and other vendors. During this time, Anna had spied a purse she was interested in and she was debating on whether or not she should start bargaining. They finally decided to go for it and I started taking the long way back to the vendor and my soon to be new swively suitcase. To make sure I didn't stick around, or show her that I had more money on me, I had my 150 yuan ready (about $22). With money extended, it was now time to "save face". "You're right." I said when she spotted me walking up to her. "You have the best quality. I'll take it." At that point she got a bit of a smug and satisfied air about her-excellent! "face saved"- and quickly took the smaller suitcase out of the one I had just purchased. The new challenge would be getting it home.
By the time I returned, Samuel was still bargaining with the purse lady for Anna's purse. What an exchange that was! As usual, both participants started at the extremes. The price made its way down much more than it went up, but the funny thing was, Samuel's price went up, and then came back down again. At one point he offered her 111 yuan, which she turned down, only to sell at 100 yuan. Yes, she quickly realized her mistake of not taking the offer sooner, so she took it at 100 before it went any lower.
While this was going on, I was trying to get one of the two-tortoise moving elevators. Not and easy task! Both elevators had been called, and when the first one came there was no space for a suitcase, let alone the three of us! Shortly thereafter, the second one came and was completely empty. Sweet! We hopped in along side one other individual and began our journey homeward.
The subway was full, but not so bad that we weren't able to maneuver the suitcase. When we came topside, we hailed a cab-who preceded to take us a great distance out of our way, only to double back and make extra money-and got to the Beijing South Station. Because we all knew what the driver had done, and because it was my turn to pay, I broke a 100 yuan bill on a 26 yuan cab fare. That's a VERY mean thing to do to a cabby, but the driver didn't object. From the cash she (I think it was a she but she/he looked and sounded quite a bit like a man) was pulling from, I may have taken all of her smaller bills, Samuel offered to pay, but if a cabby wants to take me way out of the way for a drive that was literally down the same street we got picked up at, then they can do me a favor and break my bill. I felt a little bad, but not so much that would lose sleep over it.
The train ride home was uneventful as usual, although Samuel had to move my suitcase to a different part of the because it was too big to be stored overhead. Once we made it back to Tianjin, we successfully avoided the sketchy taxi drivers who try to pick up passengers at the exit gate rather than waiting in the taxi line. Last time I came back from Beijing I had taken one of these guys just so I could get home. At the time I was too worn out to care about paying more, but in retrospect, I won't be doing that again. Didn't pay much more than usual, but the route home was on the outer highways where there weren't many lights or traffic around. I'm not going to lie, I was visibly nervous for my life. I think, at least I hope, that's why he went tearing down the highway!
After successfully avoiding the creepy cabbies that instantly singled me out as the white, suitcase wielding tourist, we had to wait in the taxi line. This was completely new to me! Although we had no troubles on the subway or the train with the suitcase, it was the trunk of the taxi that almost was the problem. The driver had so many bottles of car maintenance things, and it's a decently sized suitcase, that we almost didn't fit it in. With a few minor adjustments, we were on our way!
Let me tell you, this was the smallest taxi I have ever been in! My knees were angled to keep from digging into the driver's back, and Anna played the "lets-move-our-knees-slightly-to-poke-them-into-Samuel's-back" game most of the way home.
Because it was still relatively early, maybe 5:30 p.m. even though it felt like 7:30ish, we decided to go down to the popcorn chicken place and grab some for dinner. Afterward we picked up dinner we stopped at the local fruit and veggie market and got some kiwis and bananas for the week, then headed home to enjoy dinner. I don't remember how much later I stayed up after that, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't much longer. Since I have taken to going to Church with Anna and Samuel on Sundays, I just wanted to get some sleep so I could possibly be productive afterward instead of my usual nap. But, that is for another day!... I hope : )

It is now 5:00 p.m. on Friday, Anna is making a surprise dinner (maybe tacos says Samuel) and I'm outta here!