Travel Blog #18: Great Deals

Hello!

I’m readily counting down my days here and still trying to enjoy myself at the same time – what a task!

Day 18: I always like Thursdays because we only have our morning class session, so we usually use that time to explore the city. After our morning session going over basic Chinese greetings and sayings, Veronica, Chelsea, Danielle and I went to the silk market on Silk Street. The silk market is where you can get souvenirs, name brand clothes (real and fake, so be careful), and anything in between.

One of the major keys of going to any market in China – BARGAINING! (Pay attention to signs that say no bargaining though, they’re serious.) When bargaining they will start high, and you go low! There was an item that I wanted, but it was 890 yuan. Of course I’m not paying that. Here’s how the conversation went:

Her: 890

Me: no, no

Her: 700

Me: nooooo

Her: because I like you, 450

Me: I have 100 yuan

Her: no! Too low!

Me: sorry..

Her: 200 because you’re a student

Me: nope, too high. 100

Her: 150

Me: *walking away*

Her: *grabs my arm* okay okay 100!

Annnnnd that’s how you do it! Obviously that was an amazing price, especially because 100 yuan converted back to US dollars is $16. Awesome! Bargaining is and was so fun. So fun that I spent all of the money I brought lol! Luckily, I kept some money back in my room. I got some great stuff for great prices, so we’re definitely going back this weekend or next week before going home. We took the subway back and biked back to campus. It was great exercise and so convenient! All you had to do was scan the QR code on the bike and go! It only costed 3 yuan. Great prices all day!

This was definitely one of my favorite things we’ve done thus far.

再见 (Bye)!

Kyla