Dor Cheow Chen (How much)

Bargaining can be quite the sport. It can be very liberating knowing that you just set the price that you wanted to pay for an item. However, in China you must be willing to resolve that you probably never get the lowest price. The fact is if you are a foreigner they are going to hike the price up on general principal. No matter what you off a merchant just know that it probably cost 1 cent to make whatever it is that you want to purchase. My only advice to you is to know how much you are willing to pay. Also it is important to not become married to an item.

First things first when bargaining in China. Always, always underbid. The thing to know is how much should you underbid. When seeking out a souvenir that you've seen at a hundred different booths, go really low. If the merchant shuns you away, you can go to the next booth and start bidding at another price point. On more expensive rare items it is best not to go to low, because there might not be another chance to get that item. Unlike the markets with the everyday souvenirs, you don't want to offend the merchants for the reason just stated. When you approach a booth for some reason they always hold up an item that they think a typical tourist would want. In China, that typical item is going to be some fake jade beads. Here's quick lesson in jade authenticating. First look at the color. Real jade is a cloudy green or beige. Then take a coin and hit it. Plastic sounds like plastic and real jade sounds like how real crystal is supposed to sound. I must warn you that fake glass jade sounds a lot like real jade, but look at the color, if it is somewhat translucent then that's a dead give away that you're being had. That was the cliff notes version of "Jade 101". Nevertheless if you are touring China and reading this blog you're probably going to visit a jade shop especially if you take the Great Wall tour.

It is important also to know that merchants no matter where you go are hustlers by nature, so they're number one goal is to make money. So keep in mind they are always going to profit more than they will let you know. That is to say, don't fall for their guilt trips that they will try to run on you. They will make hand gestures and karate flick sounds, but it is merely part of their routine. That's why you should develop your routine before you go. Some routines can be more dramatic than others, but the basic routine works. Mind you, they all have the big out dated calculator that they will pull out. So when you pick up and item, know that they are going to push in the highest price. They do this to see if they are dealing with a sucker. Now the important thing to counter with something rediculously low.(Not if it's a rare antique) This sets the bidding stage. They wave their hand an mutter some profanities that you can't understand, but know they are profane just by tone and body language. If they don't walk off then you're still in the game. Now it's time to come up to something more reasonable, but not your maximum. They rattle off more profanities, and that's when you walk away. The walk away always works. They expect, but it's part of the game. You may begin to draw a crowd of other merchants, but don't let that get you nerved up. They are all in it together. If anything, it's the last 12 seconds to the game and you are the clutch player, so step up and name your price. They are always going to up the ante. Now it's time for the final walk away. Then they will come back with, Hello! Ok! Ok! Ok! How much? or Last price last price. That's when you get your cheesy little fan and walk off into the sunset or alleyway.

The Confucius Temple market also known as Fuzimiao in Nanjing is where I tested my bargaining skills, but these rules hold true wherever you go in China, weather it be Nanjing Road in Shanghai or the souvenir stand at the Great Wall. However, if you're in Nanjing and you want a more non-cheesy souvenir the Chaotian Gong Market is a good place to purchase more unique items. This is where the real bidders come to bid. I must admit, I just visited there and I don't know if I was ready. I say that only because, in order to know if you're getting a good price, you must be quite knowledgeable of Chinese art and antiques. One thing I had going for me was... O.k. the two things that I had going for me were, that I knew my financial limits and and I knew what I liked and didn't like. The challenge is always across the board the language barrier unless you can speak Chinese. Also setting apart real antiques from replicas is somewhat of a feat. If you don't care one way or the other then, you'll be fine just start the bidding. If you are non-Asian, keep in mind that they see sucker written on your forehead. Prove them wrong, but don't insult them. start about 30% lower than what they offer. If they come up go down a little more, then say no. They understand no, but refuse to hear it. They will follow you a bit muttering stuff to you, but say "no." Then they'll either pull out paper and hand you a pin, or a cell phone, and of course the "Big Calculator." Put in your off and keep it moving. It is important not to get frustrated and never let them see you sweat. At the end of the day, if you leave an item behind then it wasn't yours to begin with. If they chase after with a price you can live with then you win. They win because they make a profit, and you get to take home whatever it was they were selling.

Buddha's Gotta Get Paid

If your goal while vacationing is to see the most sites possible that the town or city has to offer, then a guided tour is the way to go. If you don't mind exploiting the history of the town by taking pictures in front of monuments that you have no clue about, get on the charter bus. As I decided to take a tour of Shanghai, just to say, "hey I've been there," I knew there would be some level of exploitation that we would encounter. Exploitation comes with the territory when you're a tourist. If you've been site seeing anywhere whether it be to the Statue of Liberty or to the Egyptian Pyramids, you've played a part in the commercialization of some historical monument. In Egypt, I paid to walk into a pyramid to see nothing, and then just walk back out. I've been to the Colesseum in Rome where men stand outside in gladiator costumes charging 5 Euros to have your picture taken. My favorite was in Costa Rica on a trek through the rain forest, where we met "indigenous people", who go down in history as the "Copy-Copy people". All of these sightseeing adventures were at a cost of exploiting the cultures for a buck. Are tourist victims of local opportunist who willingly exploit their cultures, or did these entrepreneurs just supply the demand? The top of my list to date is my visit to the Jade Buddha Temple. This temple is a place of solitude and peace, but how can that be? If daily it is disrupted by tourist snapping shots of people praying and honoring the "enlightened one", when do the monks experience their awakening? I'm guilty of taking in my 2 cameras and snapping away. Taking photos with hopes of adding one more Buddha statue to my collection. However, I can't help but feel a since of guilt as I snapped shots while a family was sending off a love one to Nirvana. One of the family members yelled to the tourist who were taking photos as ashes flew wildly, to stop and leave his family to say farewell to their relative. I know that tourism is a huge part of keeping economies flowing, but does it have to be so cheesy and over the top. I mean is nothing sacred? The monks were pushing their own tea.

I swear once, you've been on one guided tour, you've been on them all. Unless I've been choosing the wrong tours, they all lack creativity or originality. The guides speak very fast as if they've memorized the script. Each visit to a site is rushed. They always take you to the typical sites to see in the town, and they always take you to see how something is made. Like in Shanghai, after visiting the Shanghai Museum and the Jade Budda Temple we ended the day at the Shecy Pearl Company, where we learned how to determine a brilliant pearl from a fake. Then comes the handshake, the part where you expected to purchase something cheesy that screams, "I'm a sucker tourist." I admit, I bought some pearls, and I don't even fancy pearls. As matter of fact I think they scream, "I'm a boring chick who wants boring status." No offense to "cool chicks who rock pearls." Whatever the tour entails just know that no one is innocent in preserving the historical value of a site of interest.

Effectively Pointing Your Way To Success

If you're China, and you have no clue how to ask for anything, perhaps you should learn the art of pointing. If your upbringing was anything like mine, you were told that pointing is rude. Never quite understanding that rule, I just followed suit. However, I'm in China and the only thing I can remember from my simple phrase guide is "knee how" which means hello and "sheh sheh" (thank you). So when the hotel "drive me here" card no longer works, it's time to get to pointing your way success. There's all sorts of points. There's the "curious, confused point", "the get the hell away from me point", and my favorite, the "I want that point". It's simple, find what you want, and if you want to know the price, just point to the tag. You'll be so surprised as to how much easier and less frustrated you'll be if you just stop trying to communicate verbally. If you're only going to be in China for two weeks or so, why learn phrases that you won't know how to respond to? If anything, once you ask one of those phrases, the locals are going to assume you speak the language, and they'll start speaking fast. Then you'll end up more confused than you started off. So just start pointing and using bootleg sign language. Example, I went into a cosmetics store looking for hair products, and all I did was pull my hair. The sales associate took me right over to the hair products. Being a mute is healthy sometimes. It's time to use your intuitive survival skills. Throw away your western intelligence for the moment, and pick up "cave man instincts." Life in China will be so much more pleasurable, if you just learn the art of pointing.

Not in China Town

Learn a little Chinese before you arrive in China, or you feel like Jodie Foster in the movie "Nell". My boyfriend kept telling me that hardly anyone speaks English in China. I thought that he was just exaggerating, because I've been to several countries where there's always someone who speaks English. However, I was in for a rude awakening. After going through customs and getting my luggage, I knew the adventure was about to begin. Since the night before I left, I made the decision to take the bus instead of the train from Shanghai Pudong Airport to where my boyfriend was in Nanjing. The train just seemed like to many steps to take. (Great decision I will say). So as I headed out door because a guy who looked official pointed to across the street when I asked him where the bus for long distance was. Since across the street was just a wall, I listened to my inner guidance, which lead me a little bit down from across the street where I saw a sign that said, "Long Distance Bus". However, as I approached the you could either go up or down. Either way was a nightmare with my 50lb bag, computer and heavy bag full of snacks. My inner guidance said go up. Bingo, there they were buses. So then I decided to ask an American Airline's pilot where might I buy bus tickets. He was useless. Again inner guidance said. go straight to the right. There it was a dirty little building with a nasty little box office. All I knew to say was, "Nanjing," because I neglected to print out a card saying, "I need to buy a bus ticket to Nanjing." The chick at the box office said something in Chinese and said 136 RMB, and 450. so I then assumed that 450 meant 4:50. Then a guy comes over, the one of them that speaks English, "yellow bus". I didn't understand him clearly, so he repeated, "One, two, three fooooooor, yellow bus." I bought the ticket praying that they weren't playing me. Right then and there I realized that this trip was going to be about trust and faith. Trusting my instincts (God) and trusting God's people. Still unsure that I was going on the right bus, I went over to the "one, two, three, foooor yellow bus" and said, "Nanjing?" He then yelled something in Chinese and pointed for me to go to the waiting room. Now for an interruption sponsored by our friends at Procter and Gamble, "Take toilet tissue to China. You'll stay dry."I know that came out of nowhere, but you gotta take it with you. To think, I was going to leave it. My mother told me to pack some since people have to urinate in holes there. Good thing I listened and packed it. Now back to the story. So while waiting the less enlightened part of me was still unsure that they sold me the right ticket to Nanjing. So there was an older couple standing by the "one, two, three, foooor yellow bus." I pointed to the ticket and said, "Nanjing."

The older gentleman said in basic English, "You want to go to Nanjing?" Finally I could breath. Someone gets me. O.k. that's a stretch, but now they could be like my guardian angels. They reminded me of the Asian version of my parents. The man took me under his wing, (get it angels have wings) and lead me to the phone where I could call boyfriend to let him know that arrived in Shanghai, and that I was on my way. He was so nervous about me traveling alone. I was too, but I couldn't let him know, because, I'm a world traveler and world traveler's don't get nervous. So I had a five hour bus ride ahead of me and now I can exhale. Accept in China obviously smoking is still in style. The bus was a "smoke fest." Not to mention a "gross out fest" with all of the clearing the throats and spitting. O.k.nothing grosses me out more than seeing people spit. It this point if this were a film we cut to my friend Camille saying, "Are you freaking kidding me everything grosses you out." Anyway, I always catch people spitting and even if it's not the highest on my list "gross outs," it's up there. At any rate, after not being able to sleep much on the lifetime of a plane ride to China, I managed to fall asleep.

As I drifting into a deep sleep, it was suddenly interrupted by the stopping, and yes more clearing of throat and spitting. We were in some parking lot, where some weird music was blasting and there were bright Vegas lights. I instantly went to "concentration camp." I thought the bus driver had taken me to a World War twoesque camp. The bus driver said something in Chinese that of course I didn't understand, so I went to the old guy. He said that we were taking a 20 minute break. He directed me to the toilet. There I was, half sleep and standing over a toilet in the floor. Music still blasting from outside. Am I alive? Is this for real? The lights were really dim and incense were burning (something public American rest rooms follow). I was done. I mean I was really done emotionall, physical, done with toilet. I went to get back on the bus, but it was locked. So there I was shivering in the foggy and polluted Chinese air. Then out of nowhere the bus do opens and almost knocks me down. As the bus road off I realized that the driver could take me anywhere and I wouldn't know if I was in the right place or not. I was vulnerability personified.

As the bus ride comes to end, meaning I saw a sign in english that said, "Nanjing," I decided since guys were spitting in plastic bags on the bus, that I could brush my teeth. My long journey for the day was now on its last leg. Now all I had to do was get a taxi to take me to the hotel. Simple. Not. So I got my luggage and preceded to the taxis that were sitting on the street. I pulled out my sheet with the hotel address on it, thinking that I had it made. Jokes on me, no one gets it. I'm screwed I thought, until there he was, my guardian angel. He came over to see why I couldn't get a taxi. "Why didn't your boyfriend meet you?" he asked. The truth is he wouldn't have been any good, because he doesn't speak Chinese or know his way around Nanjing. Anyway, while my "guardian angel' was trying to get the drivers to take me to my hotel, I decided to pore out my bag of toothpaste spit. Now that caused a big commotion. No one wanted to drive me because they thought that I threw up. I had to plee to them that I was fine. The older gentleman said, "They want to know if you are O.K." After that big commotion one driver emerged and said that it would be 30 RMB to take me to my hotel. In retrospect, I got got, because the hotel was less than 10 minutes away, and should have cost 10 rmb. Granted 30 Rmb work out to be about $4, it's still the principle. As soon as I got the hotel, I got down on my knees like an "Extreme Homemaker" receiver. Not really, that's not my style. However, I had a big sigh of relief and wanted a glass of wine, but my body clock was still on central standard time, so technically it was just 8 in the morning.