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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.
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.
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I need to read the rest of your post.
OKAY I have read the rest of your post! I don't have the RMB conversions approximated in my head so I had to actually go find a calculator. I AM ASSUMING THIS formerly expensive not so expensive anymore mystery gift is something very lovely. Don't forget to take pictures of it after you have gifted it!! ♥
Man, your experiences kind of make me want to go to China. Kind of.
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RMB conversions: 1RMB = $0.158. So, like, 16 cents on the Yuan. Pretty good, for a tourist. And the thing is SO COOL. I've decided to make a souvenir post when I get back, just pictures of what I got and where and stuff.
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