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Pengyou = Friend, and yesterday was a friend-filled day.  First we went to the Dirt Market, Panjiayuan.  This place is only open on weekends and it is packed full of vendors, shoppers, and pretty much any Chinese art, souvenir, antique, etc. you could ever hope to find.  Some people get uncomfortable with the constant shouts of “Look here, I give you good price!” and by the sheer notion of having to haggle.  But these are people who have not yet discovered the pure joy of a truly great bargaining session.  So, here’s a lesson in Chinese Bargaining 101:

1. Learn the numbers.  Yes, the vendors have calculators.  You can use that, as well, for emphasis or to cover up your crappy pronunciation.  But you need to understand what they are saying, and you need to at least attempt to speak.  Always say your offer out loud FIRST, then show them on the calculator.

2. Learn these basic Chinese phrases:  “Tai gui le!”  (Too expensive!)  “Wo bu keyi”  (I can’t!)  “Qing gei wo pianyidianr”  (Please give me cheaper.)  Use these phrases each time they state their price, and be as animated as possible.  But in a lighthearted manner, never serious or angry.  This is supposed to be fun, remember.

3. If you, like me, are blessed with a youthful appearance, you can also use this phrase, which almost always brings the price down about 1/3 more than the vendor would regularly offer: “Wo shi xuesheng, wo meiyou qian!” (I am a student, I don’t have money!)

4. In order to determine how much to offer and how much to settle on, follow these guidelines: the first price they say used to be half as much as what you really should be paying.  But Beijingers have gotten used to foreigners and they are ready for the Olympic Onslaught.  They’re now saying prices as much as 3 and 4 times as high as what you should pay.  So, when they name their first price, depending on how high it is and what you are trying to buy, go low, low, low.  Example: they say 300 kuai for a pocket knife, you offer 25 or 50.  Yes.  Really.  They will act shocked and dismayed, but they will lower the price to around 270. 

You need to up your counter-offer, but just a little.  Employ one of the phrases I mentioned above, and then offer 75.  More shock and dismay, slightly lower price offered.  250.  Use another phrase, be extra-animated, and offer 90.  They will give yet another counter offer, this time even lower…maybe 200 or 190.  This is when you do the WALK AWAY.  You say “Wo bu keyi, tai gui le!” and slowly start to turn away.  They will grab you and give you an even lower price.  175.  You are SO CLOSE now!  Offer 100.  Use hand gestures to say that you really can’t afford more than that.  They will either give it to you for that price, or they will give you one final counter-offer.  Go 10-20 kuai higher than the 100, and they will agree.  Boom!  You have successfully haggled in a Chinese market.

Mao and I are proud of you.

So, yes, yesterday at the market I had a fabulous time and I even made a new friend, Wang Da Wei.  He’s already sent me an e-mail, in fact.  Yay for new friends!  These friend cards Mark ordered are coming in very handy.  So, the next time you are in Beijing and it is a weekend, please go to Panjiayuan and look for Wang Da Wei’s stall.  He sells lovely silk-covered journals, chopstick sets, fans, purses, and a variety of other items.  And if he doesn’t sell it, he will go and find it for you and the best price.  Tell him Leah sent you.  He’ll be a little scared at first of you superior bargaining skills, but he will certainly appreciate the business.

 Shout out to Wang Da Wei: Ni hao, pengyou!  Wo gaosu wo.de Meiguo de pengyou zai Zhongguo lai kan ni!

We also went to the cool artsy 798 area to meet my aunt Jill’s friend Alonzo Davis.  He’s a very nice guy, incredibly well-traveled, and also happens to be a magnificent artist.  We also got to meet his friend and Beijing guide, Claire, who is also an artist and has lived in Beijing for a year.  Hi to you both!  We really enjoyed meeting you yesterday, and checking out all the art galleries!!

Now we must prepare for an almost-28-hour train ride to Guilin/Yangshuo.  I love trains.  Woohoo!  Who knows what new adventures await?  We’ll be out of touch for a day or so, but don’t worry…we’ll be back with more stories and pictures!

Much love to all of you, thanks so much for reading and commenting!!

~Leah

We are leaving Beijing today - and coming back at the end of the month. It will be nice because we’re staying at the same hostel when we get back - and the staff is kind of like extended family almost. Just very friendly, helpful, casual, and always up for conversation - language barrier be damned!

We’ve had a great time here, meeting both new people and friends. The Friend Cards we created are a great idea and have really come in handy - plus, everyone really likes them.

Beijing has been everything I could have imagined and obviously so much more since we didn’t just stay in our own area, and we didn’t simply see the normal tourist spots. We walked down every dark alley (hutong) we could find, and ate at every street stand or street grill we felt like eating at.

This is the city - it’s been great but we’re heading out for the countryside now - a region known as the Dragons BackBone - Longsheng, where the rice terraces are.

On this day in Beijing, China we made new friends and everything felt a little less touristy, less foreign, and more like we belonged, or at least could eventually find our groove when we choose to leave the US and make the move not across the pond, but across the ocean that is the Pacific.

This morning we began by going to the ‘dirt market’ – which is like the best sort of flea market imaginable. Considering that so many of the objects you find at flea markets in America were made in China, what better place than to go to the source. And oh did we clean up. Leah is a master at the haggle and brought prices down from as high as 350 yuan to 60. Like anyone who has lived outside of a western nation for any amount of time will tell you, haggling is an art, and it can be fun if you’re up for it. Leah fully enjoys the experience and the vendors always appreciate the game. She literally has them saying, “I’m afraid of you” by the end of the transaction - but they’re always smiling and laughing – showing how much they enjoyed her skills and the whole affair. Here’s a short clip, I didn’t even get the best parts. Of course, there are many other street markets in China and I’m sure I’ll get another chance to capture it.

This is Wang Da Wei – he was great and really helped us out.

I was searching for a pair of these metal claw-like gloves I had seen earlier and when Leah mentioned it to her new friend, he left us at his table to make sure no one stole anything while he went and acquired the requested merchandise from a stall a few rows over – Leah went all out and started selling – yelling out things like, “I give you best price” in her mandarin and with such style that the other vendors actually laughed and cheered her on!

We arrived a bit early so we went off in search of some food. Always looking for the best hole in the wall, dirty, and less english speaking spot we can find, we passed up some clean and obviously safe food for this place which we saw from across the street.

Actually, we saw the steam rising from these baozi (steamed bun) steamers and the appropriate volume of locals clamoring inside to sit down and eat. We did the same and after being sat, bowls of soup were brought out. The stuff was good and warm and it got us ready for our day.

The dirt market is quite awesome. Here’s a short clip of what it’s like to walk down an aisle.

798 Art District

We had arranged to meet up with a the renowned artist, Alonzo Davis. Currently based out of Baltimore, Maryland he is staying at an artist community on the far outskirts of Beijing but made the trek into town to hangout with us and show us an area that regular tourist never visit. The Art District of 798 which was once a government electronics factory until it closed and then later inhabited by artists. The whole area is currently under construction but that doesn’t stop any of the galleries, cafes, and shops from being open.

We had lunch with Alonzo and his handler/guide/interpreter/friend Claire.

We have met some great people so far and we’ve been steadily handing out our friend cards – but it’s always nice to meet people with whom you have some sort of actual connection. Alonzo is a good friend of Leah’s aunt, and that’s how we got in contact. Claire is a talented artist who is from the US, taught in Japan for a while and has been living here in China for the past year. It was good to spend some time with them.

After lunch we walked around the compound with Alonzo, talked about art, history, life, and anything else. There is a pretentiousness that you can find with many young artists, and young people in general. Considering that Alonzo is quite acclaimed, experienced and solidly making a living as an artist, it’s possible to think that there would be some amount of that quality present. Fortunately we found it to be completely opposite – and although he is completely serious about his art, his openness, kindness, and general manner of being was very enjoyable. I am happy that we met up with him an Claire.

So many photos, so little space, so much more ahead of us both.