January 25, 2012, etc, etc

January 25, 2012
Beijing Downtown Backpackers Hostel, Beijing (big surprise)

Today was a good day. Mostly in terms of buying lots of things. You know that satisfaction you get after you ponder over something for a long while, and then finally buy it and love it forever? That feeling, quite a lot of it.

Of course, that all happened much, much later in the day. The morning was spent wandering around Ditan Park in the downtown Beijing area. Ditan Park is a huge, huge New Year’s festival thing. And it was, essentially, a street fair. Loads of vendors selling more or less the same five things (plastic weapons, hats and ears, apples on sticks, whirlimajig thingies, and various other trinket things that I don’t understand why people buy them), carnival games with big stuffed animal prizes and few wins, and food vendors.

The food vendors were interesting. Lots and lots of food on sticks. By ‘food’ I pretty much mean ‘meat.’ Pork, beef, chicken, fish, squid, other things with tentacles, other stuff that we weren’t sure how to identify…very interesting. I also learned that I am not a fan of the smell of stinky tofu, and that the food most definitely deserves it’s name. No joke, this was the conversation that happened:

Brittany: I really don’t understand why people eat stinky tofu.
Me: That’s what that smell is? I thought it was a horse.

We bought a…drink while there as well. A, uh, thing. Fruit or vegetable thing. That the vendor punched a hole in, stuck in a straw, and handed to us. We still can’t figure out just what it was. Pictures (and hopefully video) to come.

After our fingers froze and we subsequently noticed we’d been walking around for three hours, we stopped for a quick bite and then headed back to the hostel to regroup before going out for an actual late-lunch-meal.

It was walking around after lunch that the magic really started. We stopped in this Tibet-Buddhist-Hindu themed shop and after some looking around, I found an item I really liked that I thought would make a great present for my parents. The woman who worked in the shop came up to us and showed us how to use the thing properly and…I really, really liked it. It was a good quality piece, obviously handcrafted, and yeah, just. Wanted. Knew it would be a perfect gift too. It was fairly expensive though (260RMB), so I spent a while deliberating.

The woman came up to us again and saw me just not wanting to let go of the thing and turned it over to show the price. We nodded, because yeah, we’d seen it, but then she shook her head. “No, no,” and took out her calculator (a lot of shopkeepers communicate price with them) and put down 180RMB. I hadn’t even planned to haggle (it’s common-to-expected, but I don’t know, I felt sort of weird, in this case). Then she hands me the calculator, very clearly telling me to make an offer. So I just sort of type out 160RMB, not really sure what I’m doing (I had no idea how to price this thing). She makes the “oh what are you doing to me” face, but it was very clearly as a joke, and I’m just, yes, okay, I’m buying it, seriously, I want it and it’s 100RMB less now, wrap it up, let’s go.

So. She wraps the piece, and then, uh, begins a ritual. She starts chanting what I assume was a prayer, and moves the package over my head and my hands, then turns to a display with various god statutes and ‘offerings’ (apples, money), continuing to chant, holds the piece over different parts of the statues, bows, chants more, turns to another display with offerings for luck and health and wealth and chants to that and waves the item over that—the process probably took a good several minutes. I just. Mostly stood there awkwardly and looked interested. I have no idea if she did that every single time someone made a purchase, or she liked me, or, uh, maybe it was because I was buying what I’m fairly certain is a Hindu holy object.

When it was over, she turned back to me and handed me the piece, I bowed and thanked her and gave her the 160RMB. She smiled again (she really didn’t stop smiling between the time we came in and this point, except for the ritual) and handed back 10RMB, saying (Brittany told me later), “We’re both foreigners here, so we’re friends,” which was apparently something she’d said repeatedly while we were in the shop. According to Brittany, her accent was very different; probably she was either a minority or not Chinese at all, and, well, it’s a xenophobic culture. Maybe she just liked that a very obvious non-Chinese made a big purchase of something she thought was important. Not sure, but wonderful experience. I kind of want to go back and buy more things from her.

We headed back down the alley after that, ducking into the occasional shop, looking at various street vendor wares. I bought candy floss because I wanted some, and then we had the very interesting experience of watching the “THE POLICE ARE COMING” signal followed immediately by every single vendor throwing their wares together and scurrying away. They trickled back in about fifteen minutes later.

More street vendor food was then bought (something known as tanghulu pictures to come) and we returned to our hostel room to eat that, make a video of the experience, and relax our have-been-on-them-for-almost-six-hours feet. We went back out again at about 7-ish, intending to get a small, very unhealthy (but delicious and not sweet) dinner, but.

On the way over to the café, we passed this shop that we had stopped in the day before. Lots of awesome, handmade clay pieces; everything from phone charms to framed wall art. Both Brittany and I really liked the pieces and spent a while in deliberation, deciding to eventually come back later. We passed it that morning only to be disappointed in finding it closed, so that it was open at night was a nice surprise. We made a beeline inside and…again spent a long time just looking at everything and wanting everything and this stuff was so cool, it really was. Finally, after eons and picking things up and putting things back and repeat, repeat, repeat, I decide on three charms to get; one for me, and two for my mother and sister. Brittany, meanwhile, buys a charm as well as a hanging decoration.

I’m about to make my purchase, when I look back over at the larger pieces again. There was this one piece—a Chinese knot in yellow cord, with a clay dragon curled up below it. It was very cool, and just nice, a great looking piece and I looked at it and looked at it and looked at it and finally went, “okay, you do this every time but you are in China, you love it, it’s handmade, and just buy the thing you won’t have this chance again.” So. I bought it. And I’m very, very happy with it. It’s a beautiful little piece, transportable, and I like that I’m sort of by-accident building up a collection of interesting art from the places I’ve visited around the world. It’s even nicer since I’d been looking for a dragon something for myself, it being the Year of the Dragon New Year and all. Plus, the shop owner told me how it’s a good thing for wisdom and studying, which is great; I need all that I can get.

When Brittany saw me buy the dragon, she started having thoughts about a framed piece of wall art –also a clay dragon- that she wanted, and after much deliberation, mostly consisting of “yes, we can transport it, you love it, it’s handmade, how often will this opportunity come along,” she bought it too. I think we confused the shop owner, silly Westerners making multiple purchases. But he boxed up the dragon for her, and then told her to pick another charm off the wall, which was cool.

We went to eat feeling very accomplished and proud of ourselves, and on the way back from the café (it was pretty late; about 9pm), we noticed that another store was still open that Brittany had hoped would be. In we went, she bought another thing for a gift that she is also very pleased with, and then back to the hostel we went.

All around, very good day.

Now we're in Xian, for all of a day.

Yesterday was an up-early-and-go-do-things before jumping on a sleeper train. Nine hours and very little sleep later, we arrived in Xian and, subsequently, our hostel, at about 8am. Dropped our things and proceeded to go right back out again. Why?

Well, we're only in Xian for a day, and this happens to be the home of the Terracotta Soldiers.

After a minor incident figuring out how the heck to pay for a ticket get on the bus to that area (answer: get on bus, sit down, pay person as she comes down the aisle), we were on our way and, about an hour later, there we were.

The ticket office.

Bought the tickets, and then started the long, long trek up many slopes and steps and paths to the pits and museums. Later on we figured that the reason the entrance is so far away from the actual area is because, since they have no idea how much more is buried, they're hedging their bets.

The soldiers were...indescribable, really. The details, the intricacies, the differences--it's true that these really were of people. The faces were different from statue to statue, the clothing varied, the types of people varied; heights, sloping shoulders, bowed knees--all of that. It was crazy. I took...many, many pictures, thought none of them really do any justice to seeing it it person. People made these things. Thousands of them. And though we've found an army, a few stables, and a bird menagerie, we didn't find other things that an emperor would most certainly have, such as harem quarters, eating areas, larger menageries, and libraries. This man had his entire kingdom recreated in a tomb below ground. If he went so far as to have his stable boys (and it was clear from those statues' heights and faces that they were children) recreated, he definitely would have done the rest of his kingdom. Chances are that there are hundreds or thousands of pieces we haven't even found yet. Forget chance--it's assured; the site was only discovered in 1974. They've only been excavating for a few decades. Parts of Pit No. 1 (the biggest one, with the over 6,000 soldiers in it) were curtained off because they're in the middle of working through it. That's incredible.

The emperor was totally looney tunes, by the way.

Anyway, yes. Pictures to come soon.

After arriving back at the first bus stop, we decided to walk around, since we'd hoped to get to this antique market that is supposed to be in a particular area. After a while of walking around and not finding anything though, we just started back to the hostel instead.

On the way, we noticed a bunch of food vendors all around this one particular ally and decided to take a look. Turns out that alley was one of the places for Xian's new year celebration. Lots of vendors (food and otherwise), music, even a Hindu prayer area. I had been wanting a calculator, so after some looking around, we ducked into a vendor's booth that sold things like office supplies and the like.

Ended up finding two calculators, both small (pocket-size; the one I'd brought with me that broke was a keychain, but pocket size wasn't to big to travel with). The one I liked and decided I wanted to get had a fold-over cover, so it was a bit less likely to get battered so quickly. When we asked how much it was though, the woman at the shop said 45RMB.

Pft, no, that's. No. So I shook my head and started to walk away, and she dashes after us waving her calculator, telling me to make an offer. A-hah! The haggling has begun. Now, I have no idea how much this sort of calculator would go for in China, and neither did Brittany. I mean, I could pick up a regular-ish one at a dollar store, but this did fold over and was nicer? Still, 45RMB was way, way too much. So I offered 8. She offered 40. I offered 12. 38 from her, 18 from me, 33 from her, 20 from me, she makes the "oish what are you doing to me" face and calls over to her boss to make her next offer (a signal you're getting a good deal, when they have to ask their 'supervisor' for permission to go lower), which is 30. I offer 25, she has another word with her boss and ends at 26. That's good enough for me. Pay her the 26RMB and get a smile and a thumbs up from her, which was amusing. I think that maybe they aren't really used to Westerners actually haggling with them, at least not to driving real bargains? And yeah, even with the conversion I probably would have paid less for it in the US, but I had a lot of fun with it, which made the experience (and the calculator) worth it for me.

And I saved 19RMB (which I later spent on a delicious drink), so. Good fun all around. I'm really pleased with the experience. It's cool to think back on. And yay haggling! Getting the hang of it, I am. I think. I hope?

In another booth, Brittany found a mahjong set that she really liked, and got it. She asked for a break too, and paid 90RMB from 98RMB. Considering she was willing to pay the 98RMB from the start...heh. Not bad. So we each ended the day with something cool, that we enjoyed. I think it's experiences like this, places and meetings like this, that make people say that they love China and Chinese culture. I can see why people love the country and culture, if this is all of what they know about it. It isn't what most of modern day China is, however, and I don't think that without either living here or being here for a long enough time to really see the behind what-China-makes-sure-people-see, one can really understand that.

Anyway, back to the day, we went back to the hostel and got delicious veggie burgers for dinner, and had hot expensive coffee drinks while I typed this up and Brittany taught me to play Mahjong. And so was our time in Xian. We catch a plane for Nanning at 12:30pm tomorrow, so we won't have a lot more time here, but for experiencing a city, this was a good way to do it. Not bad, not bad at all.

Edit: After a little more thought, and attempting to look stuff up(, and the use of my new calculator!) I realized that I essentially bargained the saleslady from $7-and-change to $4.15. And that this is a pretty nice calculator; clamshell style, both solar-power and battery options, came with a case...it's definitely not a dollar-store calculator. I made a good deal!