June 16; packing requirements? Check. Party ready? double check

Day 132

Kristie and I went across town early in the morning to pick up some essentials at Yashow Market: a backpackers bag and a suitcase. After just under 2 hours of searching for the best deal and quality good, we walked away with the second largest suitcase we could find (the first was called the hippo and probably...no definitely exceeded regulation size) for 140 RMB and a "North Face" backpackers bag for 125 RMB. It was a bit over the budget but at least we could finally start packing. On our way back to the dorm, we took a black taxi (not licensed taxi) back to the dorm. That dirty old bastard tried to scam us for double on what we agreed on. At that point, I was fed up with bargaining and people trying to take advantage of us so I went off in English. I was pretty sure the man did understand a word I was saying, but he still got the message. 

We went to a couchsurfing event with Aunty Tom in the afternoon. As some of us were planning to be future surfer of couches, it was be a good way to meet people and learn more about the CS community. Everyone was really nice and easy to talk to. The ones who had been surfing had only good things to say about their experiences. I can't wait to start surfing! 

After the meeting we headed off to meet the gang for some delicious Korean food at the restaurant that started it all: Salangbang.

celebrities have been here

the gang
Photo Cred: Cat

no more makeoli
Photo Cred: Cat

Things we did that night: post-dinner/pre-party at Wu

The Canadians (un)
Photo Cred: Cat

The Canadians (deux)
Photo Cred: Cat

Club hopping! Dancing on platforms and stages! Having a fantastic time-ing! mmm, but all good things come to an end.To end off the night/starting off the new day at 4:00, we had an impossibly close encounter with a truck moving too fast for its own good. I thank the taxi man for swiveling over to the wrong lane and avoiding something I would have imagined to be something that looked like smithereen.

Things I'll miss about BJ: partying all night

Things I won't miss about BJ: dangerous driving

April 24; The Silk Market

Day 79
Catherine and I headed off to the Silk Market today in the early morning. We heard stories about the market being screamy, aggressive, and generally unpleasant. We thought it would be harder to bargain with the shopkeepers today because it was a rainy morning and the start of tourist season. Our reality was pretty different from what we imagined.
Basically, the market is split into 6 main levels plus a basement. The floors are divided by the type of merchandise being sold, which makes it pretty convenient.

 

6th floor was full of expensive stuff

Knowing what I needed to get, I wasted no time and headed off to the electronics floor and braced myself for the worse. I wanted to get Beats for the little bro and I read on the internet the best price is 120 RMB but they’ll start you off with a ridiculous price like 600 or something. I was surprised by the opening offer from the lady: 220 Y. Damn, I know a lot of tourists would have went with that offer, but I asked for 50 RMB as the starting price. After a bit of bargaining and walking away, she finally gave the price of 120, but before saying okay I pressed my luck and asked for 100. She agreed, and that was that. Not bad.

We walked over to the Friendship Store, which was nothing impressive. It was a small department store like place with expensive things that were useless to me.

                           

We headed back into the silk market to get to the subway station and on route, a hat store caught my attention. I asked the lady how much the snapbacks were and she said 445, but since I could speak Chinese she gave me a discount to 380. I said I would only pay 10 RMB for it, with no real intentions of buying it. At the end of doing nothing but stating my price, she lowered it down to 30. Damn, I didn’t really want it, but I was pretty satisfied with the price I could have gotton it for.

Bargaining tips:

-         Starting prices are not as arbitrary as you think. Some factors that affect the starting price include: how you look, who you’re shopping with.

-         Stand firm so you get the price you want. The price you state is always lower than what you’d actually pay for it.  It’s not the end of the world if you don’t get it. There’s bound to be another shop with the same merchandise.

March 4; Shopping Therapy: The Zoo Market

Day 28
Tanjn and I taught our first class together. All I can say is I like team teaching.

The girlies made our way to the zoo market - a multistory building full of clothes, accessories, cosmetics, and handbags. It was sooo overwhelming. I was not planning to buy anything until much later in the trip/after we visited all the markets. After seeing the cheap starting prices and the less aggressive shopkeepers, I had to buy something. After going down one lane, I started to make a wish list (of product, store number, and price) of what I wanted. The reason I made a list was because many stores were selling the same things so I just took note of the store with the cheapest prices. As we went up and down each lane, my list grew and grew until we had an hour more until closing time.

At the end of my trip, I came back with this:

Stripped navy cardigan

Asking price: 39 RMB

Final price: 35 RMB

...

Black and gray light coat = 39 RMB

Blue shirt with belt

Asking price: 29 RMB

Final Price: 25 RMB

Pink lacy cardigan

Asking price: 39 RMB

Final price: 35 RMB

Nail Polish = 5 RMB

Random purchase of the day: socks = 1 RMB

We met up with the others for dinner at a Japanese curry restaurant in WDK.

Tanjin loves her fried chicken.

Croquettes and veggie curry = 42 RMB

Can't wait to head back to the market after class next Friday!!

Feb 24; one more reason to love WDK

Day 19

So the gang headed to WDK again – but this time it wasn’t just for food (although we ended up getting food). The goal was to get to the Wudaokou Shopping Centre, which is described to be two stories of clothes inspired by Korean and Japanese fashion. The goal was eventually reached, but with a few hindrances along the way.

1) Paris Baguette – here we are again!

Strawberry Pie
(strawberry festival at Paris Baguette)

Vegetable Pizza

Time lost: 1.5 hours.

 2)Getting lost – we went one way, then another, asked some girls, walked for 30 minutes, and finally got there.

Time lost: 1 hour

It was definitely worth the adventure. The clothes, accessories, stationery, hair, and whatever random things that were being sold there were of nice quality and decent prices. Actually, decent prices for Chinese looking people. Tanjin asked the lady how much a dress was and the lady said 200. Later, Catherine asked the lady how much the dress was and the lady said 100.

Bargain tip #3: Look Chinese.

Feb 18; Sanlitan Village and Yashaw Market – Our first taste of bargaining

Day 13

Sanlitan Village is a gorgeous shopping complex full of brand name stores like Uniqlo, Puma, Lens Crafters, Fossil, and (my personal favourite) Paul Frank. On the other side of Sanlitan Village, there is the Yashow Market which is a huge building with floors upon floors of shoes, handbags, electronics, accessories, clothes, souvenirs, etc. Together, Sanlitan Village and Yashow Market make a shopping paradise.

Sanlitan Village

Sanlitan Village at night

Yashow Market

We found a DVD/CD store with a fantastic variety of music, movies, and tv shows! The only thing was everything was fake. In the movies section, there were fake things that looked real (the spelling errors of “edetion” gave it away) and then there was fake-fake where the DVDs were in those cheap paper sleeves.  Foreigners unite: As I was half examining The Killer's Day & Age and half ranting about the fake CDs, a fellow Englishman smiled and said "hello" to me.

Lady Gaga is clearly not banned in China.

At the market, the shop keepers ranged from friendly-aggressive to threatening-aggressive. It was my brother’s birthday today so I thought I’d buy him something even though he won't get it until late August. After spotting a shirt I thought he'd like, I switched my Chinese-switch on and started talking to the shopkeeper in my limited putonghua (Mandarin). He gave me the price of 180 yuan and I told him I wanted it for 50. As my putonghua was burning out,  he asked me if I spoke English: Cover blown BUT I still got the price I wanted thanks to my friends. He was a friendly-aggressive shopkeeper though.

Asking price: 180 RMB

My starting price: 50 RMB

Bought the shirt for: 50 RMB

As we continued walking around the market, I realized how well the shopkeepers spoke English. In the back of my mind, I thought they would be really good English teachers since they could actually speak English and were all so energetic. 

On our way out of the market, we heard a lady shopkeeper yell at to a foreign guy,“250! Don’t come back or l'll kill you!” So much anger and hate! She was definitely a threatening-aggressive shopkeeper. We don't want to mess around with them.

We had dinner at the food court where I opted for some bi bim bap – a comfort food in a sense that it was: a)Korean, b) vegetarian friendly, c) a yummy meal after a full day of crazy shopkeepers. 

I now leave you with 2 tips on bargaining (more to come!).

Bargaining tip #1: If you want to state your price, state something at least 1/3 of the asking price. If you start really low, you can always reach 1/3 of the asking price.

Bargaining tip #2: Shop with friends. Have your friends meet you when the shopkeeper is close to reaching your desired price. Example: You want 50 and the shopkeeper says 60. Let your friends convince you that you can get the same product for cheaper elsewhere. If the price keeper still does not budge, walk away.

Good luck! 

Jan 26; Dongdaemun: finding thrifty treasures in expensive trash

Day 16
Today was Australia Day. To help celebrate, Tanya gave cute little koala keychains to the non-natives. (How sweet of her to do so!!)

so cute =)

Catherine, Kristie and I decided to head out to Dongdaemun today after classes. From what I heard from some of the others who went to Dongdaemun, this market was dirty, smelly, full of junk, unorganized, and awful. I still wanted to check it out anyways and I'm so glad I did.

I got to see the Cheonggyecheon River again. 

 
There were buildings and buildings with lots of levels full of stuff! There was even a building full of sewing goods, cloth, lace, and all that other material goods. There were a few buildings and we spent most of our time in the more affordable building (one less than major department store prices). I bought two shirts and a bag, and I must say it was well worth it. The streets were not smelly nor dirty. The floors were separated into men's wear, women's wear (multiple floors), accessories, etc...Also, you could try to bargain at the places where the prices aren't already written in stone but I found it a hell of a lot difficult to bargain here.

This building was a little more high class.

When we were on our way to get some dinner, we heard Jason Mraz's I'm Yours and a big crowd of people at the stage. Although we didn't understand what was going on.... we interpreted it as selling dates.
Here is one of the eligible bachelors:

For dinner, we originally went to a noodle restaurant, but when they said they couldn't take out the pork from the noodles (probably because the sauce was pre-made) we headed out to find another one.

The greatest friends that cope with my pescetarian ways.

absolutely delicious but so spicy!
It was the most spiciest thing i ate in Korea to date.

When we were heading out back to the dorm, we saw this wacky carnival ride outside. So basically you take a seat at the edge of the circle and it spins you round and round....without a seat belt. There were people tumbling over to the other side and holding on to their friends for their dear life. It was quite a hilarious scene.

And I now leave you with a night time view of the Cheonggyecheon River.