It's just a few days away from March, and I'm filled with a sense of urgency. I feel like I have so much left to do both in the Beijing office and in Beijing itself, and I can't believe how little time I have to do it all. This quarter has flew by, and now I'm wondering where the time has gone! In January, it took a few weeks to get adjusted and then it was off to Sanya, the South of China, for a company conference. Then, at the beginning of February, I had nearly two weeks off thanks to Chinese New Year! Then, in just about a week from now, I'm off to Hong Kong for a few days. The weekend after I come back from Hong Kong, I fly to Sydney, Australia for another company conference, where I'll stay for about a week. I'll arrive back to Beijing on the 23rd of March, and then six days later, I leave China for the U.S. What a crazy quarter...
Due to this crazy upcoming schedule of mine, where I'll be flying every weekend in March starting on the 8th, I'm starting to try to plan out my few remaining weekends in China. This upcoming weekend is my last full weekend in Beijing. I think I may go to the famous English Corner at Renmin Da Xue (People's University) tomorrow night, where historically Chinese students have gone to practice their English. Now, it's evolved into a meeting place where strangers go to discuss all topics -- everything from pop culture to cultural differences and religious views. It's also gotten notorious for being a place where men try to meet female students. I'm curious and excited to see and experience this all in person. I've not had the chance to really interact with Chinese non-Googlers, and so I think this will be an excellent and substantial opportunity to do so. I would love to learn about these students' take on the US, their own country, and their opinions on everything from the Olympics to China's recent rapid rise.
Besides the English Corner, other "musts" in Beijing before I leave include:
-a few more trips to Long Island Spa for a full-body massage. I can't get enough of this place. For less than $20 USD, I get a soothing, healing 1-hour massage in a serene, beautiful, classy environment. The environs and design of this spa are on par with one of the best spas in San Francisco, Burke Williams. Too bad B.W. charges $100 more for the same service. And, at Beijing's Long Island Spa, I get my choice of limitless free drinks and snacks before and after my massage -- this totally puts B.W. to shame...
-trips to the Silk Market, Panjiayuan Market, or Wangfujing for souvenirs
-another trip to the enormous Forbidden City, as once is not enough. And I definitely wouldn't mind going back to other touristy sites such as the Summer Palace.
-a few more trips to Din Tai Fung -- a.k.a. Food Heaven, and the place that puts all other xiao long bao (soup dumpling) restaurants to shame
-gorging on the delicious bubble milk tea and egg tarts
-picking up CDs of Chinese pop singers
-checking out Bed Bar, which is located in a hutong (historic Beijing alleyway) and decorated with imperial-like beds
-eating, eating, and more eating
And that's just the short list -- there's a bunch that I haven't mentioned. Sigh, so much to do...so little time!
Showing posts with label shopping. Show all posts
Showing posts with label shopping. Show all posts
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Bargaining in China: Such a must!!
Sunday, Elisa (a native Beijinger) and I went to Yashou Market in Chaoyang, which is where both Beijingers and tourists go for fake goods. I wanted to buy a fake designer bag, but after looking and looking, that didn't work out. But, I did get a pair of adorable ballet flats, which if real, would cost $325 USD! I got it for just $20 USD...and the reason why I couldn't get it for half that price was because the shoes were made of real leather. Also, to most everyone but the shoe owner, it looks real. Besides just getting a beautiful pair of shoes for cheap, though, the highlight of the Yashou shopping trip was definitely bargaining with the merchants. It's quite a comical process and one that's quite entertaining (for others, sometimes it's stressful). It went like this (in Chinese):
(When looking at the shoes that I liked)
Merchant #1: Do you like it?
Me: It's okay
Merchant #1: It's very nice, right? All leather! Do you see the quality of this shoe?
Me: (Nods) How much?
Merchant #1: 300 RMB
Me: (Feigning shock and disbelief) What?! That much? You must be kidding!
Merchant #1: 300 RMB, 300 RMB. All leather! Don't you see, the quality of the shoe?
Me: (Laughing) That's way too much for that shoe.
Merchant #1: How much do you want to pay?
Me: 50 RMB
Merchant #1: (Laughing) Now that's ridiculous!
Elisa, my friend: How much is the bottom line for you?
Merchant #1: 300 RMB, not one RMB less. These shoes are special! Real leather all around! Can't accept any less! I promise that you will not find these shoes for less than 300 RMB. Worth too much.
Elisa and me: That's crazy! Let's go look elsewhere...
We walk off and are half expecting the merchant to come running after us (a common tactic used when they decide they still want your business), offering to slash the price down. But alas, he didn't and we were a little surprised. I definitely did not want to pay 300 RMB. After walking around almost the entire floor of the shoe stalls in Yashou Market, I was a little sad b/c I didn't see the shoes again at other stalls. But, as we were about to hop onto the escalator, we passed by one last shoe stall where I saw the same pair of shoes again! This time, it went something like this:
Merchant #2: Beautiful shoes, eh?
Me: It's okay. How much?
Merchant #2: 560 RMB
Me: 560 RMB?!!! That's crazy! How can you charge so much?
Merchant #2: How much do you want to pay?
Me: 100 RMB.
Merchant #2: (Feigning shock and being quite dramatic) You're killing me here! Do you realize my livelihood is on selling these items? 100 RMB? These shoes are real leather here!
Me: They're still fake! Not worth that much.
Merchant #2: How about this, I give you a 200 RMB discount. 360 RMB.
Elisa and I: (smiling) No, 100 RMB.
Merchant #2: Come on! I gave you a huge discount, now come meet me halfway! Up your price!
Elisa: We were originally going to offer you just 60 RMB! We went all the way up to 100 RMB!
Merchant #2: (half joking) 60 RMB!! If you had said 60 RMB, I would have taken this shoe to hit you on the head with it! You crazy girl...60 RMB?!
Elisa: Come on now, 100 RMB
Merchant #2: No, 260 RMB.
Elisa and I: No, we are not in a department store. You can't charge these prices! Let's look elsewhere.
We leave...and then lo and behold, the merchant comes running after us, yelling, "Come back, you two girls! Come back!" We go back, and enter another round of bargaining. The price is lowered to 160 RMB, and then the merchant is unwilling to go any lower. Elisa is quite annoyed with them and says, "Look, we're willing to do 140 RMB since it is real leather. But that's it. You can't lower it by 20 RMB? How ridiculous!" So then, Elisa and I leave again. Then, the merchant comes chasing after us and other merchants in other stalls say to us, "Go back, go back...she is giving in!" We go back, and the merchant says, "150 RMB." We say, "Come on, you can't match us by just lowering 10 RMB?" Finally, the merchant gives in and mutters to us how we stole a deal from her.
After that, I see a pair of winter boots that I like at the stall and ask the same merchant how much it is. She names a ridiculously high price and Elisa and I both feign shock. We plead with the merchant to lower the price by five-fold and she insists that the shoes are of superior sheepskin. She continues to refuse to agree to haggle with us, and then says, "Look! Earlier with your ballet flats I will admit -- I was lying to you guys about the beginning price! But you guys were smart and got me. So I let you haggle. But I'm telling you -- with these boots, they really are this much!" Hahahaha. I love how she even admitted that she was trying to trick us. After all this, I was really happy to get my shoes for still a very considerable bargain. I even considered going back to the first stall where the guy refused to let me haggle and say, "See, you told me I couldn't get it for less than 300 RMB...but look what I got and for how much!" Oh, bargaining. It can be so much fun!
(When looking at the shoes that I liked)
Merchant #1: Do you like it?
Me: It's okay
Merchant #1: It's very nice, right? All leather! Do you see the quality of this shoe?
Me: (Nods) How much?
Merchant #1: 300 RMB
Me: (Feigning shock and disbelief) What?! That much? You must be kidding!
Merchant #1: 300 RMB, 300 RMB. All leather! Don't you see, the quality of the shoe?
Me: (Laughing) That's way too much for that shoe.
Merchant #1: How much do you want to pay?
Me: 50 RMB
Merchant #1: (Laughing) Now that's ridiculous!
Elisa, my friend: How much is the bottom line for you?
Merchant #1: 300 RMB, not one RMB less. These shoes are special! Real leather all around! Can't accept any less! I promise that you will not find these shoes for less than 300 RMB. Worth too much.
Elisa and me: That's crazy! Let's go look elsewhere...
We walk off and are half expecting the merchant to come running after us (a common tactic used when they decide they still want your business), offering to slash the price down. But alas, he didn't and we were a little surprised. I definitely did not want to pay 300 RMB. After walking around almost the entire floor of the shoe stalls in Yashou Market, I was a little sad b/c I didn't see the shoes again at other stalls. But, as we were about to hop onto the escalator, we passed by one last shoe stall where I saw the same pair of shoes again! This time, it went something like this:
Merchant #2: Beautiful shoes, eh?
Me: It's okay. How much?
Merchant #2: 560 RMB
Me: 560 RMB?!!! That's crazy! How can you charge so much?
Merchant #2: How much do you want to pay?
Me: 100 RMB.
Merchant #2: (Feigning shock and being quite dramatic) You're killing me here! Do you realize my livelihood is on selling these items? 100 RMB? These shoes are real leather here!
Me: They're still fake! Not worth that much.
Merchant #2: How about this, I give you a 200 RMB discount. 360 RMB.
Elisa and I: (smiling) No, 100 RMB.
Merchant #2: Come on! I gave you a huge discount, now come meet me halfway! Up your price!
Elisa: We were originally going to offer you just 60 RMB! We went all the way up to 100 RMB!
Merchant #2: (half joking) 60 RMB!! If you had said 60 RMB, I would have taken this shoe to hit you on the head with it! You crazy girl...60 RMB?!
Elisa: Come on now, 100 RMB
Merchant #2: No, 260 RMB.
Elisa and I: No, we are not in a department store. You can't charge these prices! Let's look elsewhere.
We leave...and then lo and behold, the merchant comes running after us, yelling, "Come back, you two girls! Come back!" We go back, and enter another round of bargaining. The price is lowered to 160 RMB, and then the merchant is unwilling to go any lower. Elisa is quite annoyed with them and says, "Look, we're willing to do 140 RMB since it is real leather. But that's it. You can't lower it by 20 RMB? How ridiculous!" So then, Elisa and I leave again. Then, the merchant comes chasing after us and other merchants in other stalls say to us, "Go back, go back...she is giving in!" We go back, and the merchant says, "150 RMB." We say, "Come on, you can't match us by just lowering 10 RMB?" Finally, the merchant gives in and mutters to us how we stole a deal from her.
After that, I see a pair of winter boots that I like at the stall and ask the same merchant how much it is. She names a ridiculously high price and Elisa and I both feign shock. We plead with the merchant to lower the price by five-fold and she insists that the shoes are of superior sheepskin. She continues to refuse to agree to haggle with us, and then says, "Look! Earlier with your ballet flats I will admit -- I was lying to you guys about the beginning price! But you guys were smart and got me. So I let you haggle. But I'm telling you -- with these boots, they really are this much!" Hahahaha. I love how she even admitted that she was trying to trick us. After all this, I was really happy to get my shoes for still a very considerable bargain. I even considered going back to the first stall where the guy refused to let me haggle and say, "See, you told me I couldn't get it for less than 300 RMB...but look what I got and for how much!" Oh, bargaining. It can be so much fun!
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Claustrophobic? Avoid Carrefour at all costs...
On Sunday, I decided to make a second trip to Carrefour, the French Walmart. Big mistake. I knew I was in big trouble even before entering the store, as it was utter chaos even trying to get a shopping cart for myself. Even there, people were pushing each other and cutting. Once in the store, the masses of people everywhere and the frantic environment made it feel like Black Friday in the US -- only except that it was a normal weekend in China. In order to get anywhere, I had to copy what the locals were doing -- shoving and pushing their way ahead. After a little while, I started to get a massive headache. It wasn't just the crowds, but the annoying Carrefour employees, too. You know how stores like Target and Costco in the US place sale items in their own section or in a display perpendicular to an aisle? Well, at Carrefour, there's an employee who stands at each single sale display...except, with a microphone in hand. The employee would say things like "Only 50 kuai [Chinese currency]! Regular price 80 kuai! Come and get yours now! High quality! 50 kuai -- so cheap!" Less than 10 feet away, another employee would be shouting another promotion into a mic. And on and on. As Carrefour is a Walmart type store, you can imagine how many sales displays they had. My head started to spin.
Their employees are also talented at being quite annoying in the aisles themselves. In every aisle, I'd see at least one Carrefour employee, if not two or three at a time. Considering how huge Carrefour is, the number of employees there seems way excessive. Anyway, whenever I'd take an item down from the shelf, an employee would gleefully say things like, "Good choice!!! It used to be 33 kuai! Now down to 18 kuai!" Another time, I was trying to pick which laundry detergent to buy. I wanted to be left alone to look at each different line. But, the Carrefour employee there immediately came to my side and went into a spiel, saying, "You must buy this one. This one won't give you an allergy! See, it's colorless! It's good for all clothes! And, see, you only need to put this much for this amount of clothes! Great buy, right?" What a change from US grocery/household shopping.
Other interesting differences I noticed:
-the yogurt drinks must be way popular in China. The selection of yogurt drinks was twice as large as their milk selection.
-Skin whitening creams, masks, lotions, soaps, serums, etc. were everywhere. Even the masks they were selling for problem skin had whitening agents in them.
-after selecting the produce you would like to buy, you must queue in line and get it weighed by an employee, who will paste a sticker stating the weight and price onto your purchase. Without the sticker, you cannot buy the produce. I liked that one of the employees yelled at a lady who decided that she was too good to wait in line. Maybe the Chinese are really trying to get better about lining up.
-cleaning/sanitary supplies such as rubbing alcohol or sanitizing wipes aren't readily found in Beijing.
-air purifiers are huge in Beijing! The selection of air purifiers was unbelievable. I even saw a Winnie the Pooh air purifier. I guess I shouldn't be so surprised, though, as almost everyone in the Google Beijing office has an air purifier on his/her desk.
I must admit that the whole time I was at Carrefour, I felt like kicking myself for deciding to come on a busy weekend and without a local with me. As everything was labeled entirely in Chinese, and things all start to look the same after awhile, I felt lightheaded trying to decipher what each product was for and how it differentiated from the product next to it. Next time, I should really bring a local who gets Carrefour in all its madness and who can help me figure out what's written on the back label of a product!
Later, while sweating bullets the whole time from the store's excessive heating system (who needs it when there's body heat?), I finally made my way through the crowd, confusing displays, and pushy employees and paid for my stuff. Even though it was cold and polluted outside, I've never been so relieved to leave a store in my life.
Their employees are also talented at being quite annoying in the aisles themselves. In every aisle, I'd see at least one Carrefour employee, if not two or three at a time. Considering how huge Carrefour is, the number of employees there seems way excessive. Anyway, whenever I'd take an item down from the shelf, an employee would gleefully say things like, "Good choice!!! It used to be 33 kuai! Now down to 18 kuai!" Another time, I was trying to pick which laundry detergent to buy. I wanted to be left alone to look at each different line. But, the Carrefour employee there immediately came to my side and went into a spiel, saying, "You must buy this one. This one won't give you an allergy! See, it's colorless! It's good for all clothes! And, see, you only need to put this much for this amount of clothes! Great buy, right?" What a change from US grocery/household shopping.
Other interesting differences I noticed:
-the yogurt drinks must be way popular in China. The selection of yogurt drinks was twice as large as their milk selection.
-Skin whitening creams, masks, lotions, soaps, serums, etc. were everywhere. Even the masks they were selling for problem skin had whitening agents in them.
-after selecting the produce you would like to buy, you must queue in line and get it weighed by an employee, who will paste a sticker stating the weight and price onto your purchase. Without the sticker, you cannot buy the produce. I liked that one of the employees yelled at a lady who decided that she was too good to wait in line. Maybe the Chinese are really trying to get better about lining up.
-cleaning/sanitary supplies such as rubbing alcohol or sanitizing wipes aren't readily found in Beijing.
-air purifiers are huge in Beijing! The selection of air purifiers was unbelievable. I even saw a Winnie the Pooh air purifier. I guess I shouldn't be so surprised, though, as almost everyone in the Google Beijing office has an air purifier on his/her desk.
I must admit that the whole time I was at Carrefour, I felt like kicking myself for deciding to come on a busy weekend and without a local with me. As everything was labeled entirely in Chinese, and things all start to look the same after awhile, I felt lightheaded trying to decipher what each product was for and how it differentiated from the product next to it. Next time, I should really bring a local who gets Carrefour in all its madness and who can help me figure out what's written on the back label of a product!
Later, while sweating bullets the whole time from the store's excessive heating system (who needs it when there's body heat?), I finally made my way through the crowd, confusing displays, and pushy employees and paid for my stuff. Even though it was cold and polluted outside, I've never been so relieved to leave a store in my life.
Friday, January 4, 2008
Notorious taxi rides and French Walmarts...
Today was my first full day in Beijing. And while it definitely had some challenging aspects, I'm happy to say that overall, it was a great day. It got off to an iffy start, though, when I was taking the notorious Beijing taxi to work. Not only was the driver driving like a maniac, trying to create lanes where there weren't any, and driving *thisclose* to buses and bicyclists next to him, but the taxi also didn't have any seatbelts in the back! For most of the taxi ride, I was sitting there on edge afraid to look but also feeling compelled to witness his driving style. At least he didn't try to run people down like my driver yesterday. I'm seriously afraid to cross the street in Beijing. I read all about it on the internet, and even watched YouTube videos specifically devoted to 'crossing the street in Beijing.' Basically, drivers go on red and they don't give a thought to a pedestrian/bicyclist in the middle of the road. Crossing the street can be fatal in Beijing, and I will only cross if I can go with a local. I was forced to cross the street tonight, luckily with a local coworker helping me.
Work was good; I got settled in and set up all my stuff and met some coworkers. Everyone in the office is so nice and welcoming! They also kept on telling me how good my Mandarin is, which I'm convinced that they said out of sheer politeness. I tried conversing with everyone I met in Mandarin, so it was a struggle at times coming up with certain words or phrases. But, I'm writing down new phrases and words in a notebook so hopefully, by the end of this 3-month assignment, I'll be able to say them all without a second thought! As for food, the Google Beijing office has great food. The cafe had excellent breakfast and lunch, serving truly authentic Chinese food for both meals. I even had pig liver congee (actually quite delicious). And as for snacks, the office doesn't disappoint! They have chocolate Pocky sticks, gelatin fruit cups, citrus-flavored gum, and various Asian beverages.
After work, my coworker Eustacia offered to go with me to Carrefour, essentially a huge French Wal-Mart selling everything from groceries to clothing to electronics to Chinese New Year decorations. The place is a 2-story madhouse. (Look up YouTube videos on Carrefour Beijing as well!) There are aisles upon aisles stocking who knows what, and things are not placed in a logical order. If one were to go down each aisle to browse, they would literally spend 3 hours+ in Carrefour. Unfortunately, my pictures don't do Carrefour justice as they don't capture all the customer frenzy and the massive size of Carrefour. But, it'll do for now...
The top two pictures are of chicken drumsticks and pig, respectively. I thought it was kinda strange how they lay out all the meat right there, instead of pre-packaging it (they do that for not only chicken, but beef and pork too). It seems kind of unsanitary.
Unfortunately, as I paid for my items at the checkouts, I experienced the discrimination that I've heard so much about. In China, the locals there believe that all Chinese-looking people should speak Chinese flawlessly. If they encounter a Chinese person who cannot speak perfectly, they think it's completely absurd and foolish of the Chinese person to not know his/her own heritage's language. First, the checkout lady took forever to decide whether or not the store could accept my American Visa credit card. Then, she started laughing at me and saying, "Hahahaha, is she Korean? Why does she not speak Chinese well? Too funny! She's not from here! She's not from here!" Then she gestured to another checkout lady to take a look at me, then told that checkout lady, "Hahahaha, funny right?! I thought she was Korean! She's not from here! Not from here! She's quite entertaining!" I was really annoyed and a bit upset at that point, and wish that I knew the kind of Chinese where I could come up with a suitable insult on the spot. Oh well.
As hectic and confusing Carrefour was, I think it's a must for a visitor to Beijing to stop by. The products are all interesting to look at, as they either are completely different from their American counterparts, or there is a very cutesy Asian twist to it. And everything is cheap!!! After our Carrefour shopping trip, Eustacia and I went to have Japanese ramen. It was delicious, much more so than any other ramen I've had in the States! I was so happy to get along well with Eustacia. We talked about our past jobs, what we studied in college, boy/girl relationships and friendships in China, hobbies, where she's from (Shanghai), as well as the education system in China. I am happy to say that today, I almost exclusively spoke Chinese to everyone. Woo hoo!
Taxi ride back to the apt was a little scary at first, as the cabbie didn't know where the apt was, and he kept on asking me where it was -- and I had no idea. In Beijing, cabbies are notorious for taking foreigners on a ride through town in circles so as to charge them a bunch more. Also, there was a seatbelt in the back this time, but it didn't work! Luckily, I made it back fine and the cabbie was honest and didn't take me for a ride in circles. Overall, a very interesting first day in Beijing, and I'm rather excited now to be here! :)
Work was good; I got settled in and set up all my stuff and met some coworkers. Everyone in the office is so nice and welcoming! They also kept on telling me how good my Mandarin is, which I'm convinced that they said out of sheer politeness. I tried conversing with everyone I met in Mandarin, so it was a struggle at times coming up with certain words or phrases. But, I'm writing down new phrases and words in a notebook so hopefully, by the end of this 3-month assignment, I'll be able to say them all without a second thought! As for food, the Google Beijing office has great food. The cafe had excellent breakfast and lunch, serving truly authentic Chinese food for both meals. I even had pig liver congee (actually quite delicious). And as for snacks, the office doesn't disappoint! They have chocolate Pocky sticks, gelatin fruit cups, citrus-flavored gum, and various Asian beverages.
After work, my coworker Eustacia offered to go with me to Carrefour, essentially a huge French Wal-Mart selling everything from groceries to clothing to electronics to Chinese New Year decorations. The place is a 2-story madhouse. (Look up YouTube videos on Carrefour Beijing as well!) There are aisles upon aisles stocking who knows what, and things are not placed in a logical order. If one were to go down each aisle to browse, they would literally spend 3 hours+ in Carrefour. Unfortunately, my pictures don't do Carrefour justice as they don't capture all the customer frenzy and the massive size of Carrefour. But, it'll do for now...
The top two pictures are of chicken drumsticks and pig, respectively. I thought it was kinda strange how they lay out all the meat right there, instead of pre-packaging it (they do that for not only chicken, but beef and pork too). It seems kind of unsanitary.
Unfortunately, as I paid for my items at the checkouts, I experienced the discrimination that I've heard so much about. In China, the locals there believe that all Chinese-looking people should speak Chinese flawlessly. If they encounter a Chinese person who cannot speak perfectly, they think it's completely absurd and foolish of the Chinese person to not know his/her own heritage's language. First, the checkout lady took forever to decide whether or not the store could accept my American Visa credit card. Then, she started laughing at me and saying, "Hahahaha, is she Korean? Why does she not speak Chinese well? Too funny! She's not from here! She's not from here!" Then she gestured to another checkout lady to take a look at me, then told that checkout lady, "Hahahaha, funny right?! I thought she was Korean! She's not from here! Not from here! She's quite entertaining!" I was really annoyed and a bit upset at that point, and wish that I knew the kind of Chinese where I could come up with a suitable insult on the spot. Oh well.
As hectic and confusing Carrefour was, I think it's a must for a visitor to Beijing to stop by. The products are all interesting to look at, as they either are completely different from their American counterparts, or there is a very cutesy Asian twist to it. And everything is cheap!!! After our Carrefour shopping trip, Eustacia and I went to have Japanese ramen. It was delicious, much more so than any other ramen I've had in the States! I was so happy to get along well with Eustacia. We talked about our past jobs, what we studied in college, boy/girl relationships and friendships in China, hobbies, where she's from (Shanghai), as well as the education system in China. I am happy to say that today, I almost exclusively spoke Chinese to everyone. Woo hoo!
Taxi ride back to the apt was a little scary at first, as the cabbie didn't know where the apt was, and he kept on asking me where it was -- and I had no idea. In Beijing, cabbies are notorious for taking foreigners on a ride through town in circles so as to charge them a bunch more. Also, there was a seatbelt in the back this time, but it didn't work! Luckily, I made it back fine and the cabbie was honest and didn't take me for a ride in circles. Overall, a very interesting first day in Beijing, and I'm rather excited now to be here! :)
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