Last slow day

Not too much to report today. It's been a quiet, relaxing day.

Headed down to the Silk Market, where I successfully negotiated for a few souvenirs, including a couple of traditional Chinese dresses for Kiyomi. I've decided that bartering here is part business, part performance art. I found myself saying things, like "Come on, 5 yuan difference, I'm on a budget." My favourite was the woman who I had come to a price with yesterday, but walked away from the deal. I went back today, and said I'd take it for the original 200 yuan we'd agreed on the day before. She said: "Can't do it for that price today. Be nice. I hungry!" So, I offered her 200 yuan and a granola bar. I got my price in the end, although she didn't want the granola bar. Go figure!

Kohji considered a knock-off Ipod for awhile, but eventually decided against it when the vendor refused to put songs on it from her computer to see if it actually worked. It was an interesting conversation with her trying to argue that the one in teh box (which was identitical to the one in Kohji's hand) was in fact, a real Ipod, but the one he was holding was a fake. Man, foreigners must have a reputation for being stupid! In the end, it wasn't worth it, even if he could have walked away having paid $30 Cdn for it.

For those of you who may be heading here in the next little while, I've discovered a few tricks. Know whether you want it before you start bartering and make sure you know how much you're willing to pay for it in yuan before you start the back-and-forth. Trying to do the exchange in your head on the fly is a challenge, and the vendors know that. Once you know what you'd be prepared to pay, offer something well below that. Don't worry about insulting the vendors - they won't sell unless they can make a profit and they are very good at the game. And be ready to walk away if they don't come down low enough - it's almost guranteed that they will grab you, and offer a better price. Oh, of course, they'll be tell you "you killing me", "this is a very special price, just for you", and there will be hand wringing and theatrics, but it's part of the show!

After a couple hours in there, we had had enough. With the bartering, each transaction can take 20 minutes, so you're exhausted afterwards. On the way back to the hotel, we stopped in at a restaurant for our first real Chinese meal. It was excellent - and cheap. Enough food to feed 4 people easily, and with drinks it cost us less than $10 Cdn.

The rest of the families come in today, so our whole group is scheduled to meet the guide at 5 this afternoon to get our instructions for the trip to Nanchang tomorrow and make sure we have all the needed paperwork. This time tomorrow, we should be with Kiyomi! Send your thoughts to her, she's in for a rough day tomorrow. She has a 3 and a half hour bus ride, and then gets thrust into our hands. Poor little monkey.