The best part...

Besides seeing Morgan, Tim, Adayla, Tally and Ryann, my favorite part about China was the shopping. Let me explain because it is not typical shopping. We go to what they call a market except it reminds me of a building with a bunch of "boothes" like you would see at a craft show or something. Anyways I will admit I was a little timid at first but eventually I had so much fun and got wrapped up at times. You walk by and the vendors get in your face and say things like "help me start my new business" and "this is all about quality." So of course you begin looking at all their Gucci, Prada, Abercrombie, Billabong, Calvin Klein, and Rolex products. They dont have price tags because you bargain for the price with a calculator although most of them speak enough english I understood. For example, I walked into one place looking at their Rolex and Gucci watches and asked the man how much. Right away he grabbed his calculator and said "because you are my friend, I give you good deal." He typed 1200 (about 175 U.S. Dollars) on his calculator and held it up and showed me. I dropped my jaw to the floor and he begins explaining that they are good quality and that if I wanted another two over here that they are cheaper. I grab the claculator and type 20 (about 3 USD). He of course laughs and says "that is your joking price," and I reply "you gave me your joking price." He waves his hands in the air and says "ok, this is my no joke price," and holds up the calculator with 400 (about 58 USD). I than say "no too much" and reply with 45 (about 6 USD). I tell him that is my final price and he says "that below wholesale and no deal." I begin to walk away and he follows close behind and says "100." I tell him my final price of 45 once again and walk away faster. I get about 20 feet and he yells "ok, ok, ok." Which means he agreed to my price of 45 (6USD) and I smiled as I turned around to pay him. He tells me "lady, you got good deal only because you my friend." Where in the U.S. can you get a Gucci and Rolex for under $7.00? What a bargain!!!!! So that was my China shopping experience and all in all I spent a good 12 hours bargaining my life away. I left China with lots of t-shirts (mostly names like Abercrombie, Quiksilver, and Hollister), 5 watches, about 30 ties, a pair of Nike shox, and a couple pairs of sunglasses. Notice I said I left China because unfortunately at the San Francisco Airport some smarty pants stole some of it out of my bag and not all my bargains made it back to Gillette! Oh well, I had so much fun doing it! Thanks Morgan for all the fun!!!!