Back in the US
Well I am back in the US and have been hassled to post the remainder of my trip. So here we go...
I posted my China pics to webshots
Some additoinal food items eaten over the last week not mentioned in earlier blogs
Duck Tongue
Pigs Ears
Chicken feet
Shanghai is an interesting city with lots of character. There are older chinese buildings and neighborhoods, tourist areas, extremely modern areas, and european type areas. After the opium wars, the French, English, and Europeans all had concessions in Shanghai. These concessions still have the architecture of the western settlers.
We took the bus to shanghai from Suzhou, about 2 hours. After arriving, Smarda's mom and cousin asked me to stay outside the store while they went in so they don't get ripped off because a foreigner is in their company. Making purchases at stores are similar negotiations to those in India. The listed price is just the starting price for the negotiation. When you walk up, they drop 20% of the listed price with just a smile. A non chinese person can still get another 20% to 30% dropped off the price. A chinese person can get at least another 50%. Over the course of the trip, Smarda and I developed a system. If we were both in the store together and I wanted something I would use the code phrase and walk out allowing Smarda to negotiate. More often then not though, I would walk in to the store, case the joint and walk out. I would tell Smarda what I wanted and where it in the store it was located. Smarda would then go in and begin the negotiations. On several occassions she would walk out of the store 3, 4, and 5 times as part of the negotiating.
One of our days in Suzhou we went shopping in the department stores. I was looking for dress shirts and suits. Virtually every shirt I tried on was too small. The sleeves would barely come down to my wrists. The saleswoman would look at me and say yeah we have big and tall sizes. Let me go get them. After an hour or two of this, I gave up looking for clothers. So instead, I would wander through the stores on my own. Now in Shanghai and Beijing, there are many tourists. Suzhou is starting to get more tourists but only day trippers on bus tours from Shangai. So the probability of seeing a white person in a department store in Suzhou is pretty slim. When Smarda was done shopping she would wander the department store asking the salespeople where the foreigner is. They would point her in the direction of where I went until she found me.
Suzhou has many canals and gardens. The gardens are pretty amazing. A sign of status they were houses that wealthy Chinese used to retire to. Usually built around a pond or ponds, the gardens are very tranquil (when not overrun with tourists).
My favorite one was lions garden. It has many distressed rocks which are arranged in a maze. We spent 20 minutes wandering up, over, around, through, and under the rocks.
One of the best experiences in Suzhou was going to the hair salon. On our next to last day there, we went to the hair salon to get our hair washed. I paid approximately $2 for a 40 minute hair wash which included washing, shampoo, and conditioner. There was also plenty of scratching my head, massaging my head as well as massaging my shoulders, back, and arms. I think the hair washers were shocked when I showed up the very next day for another hair wash.
Some things I learned while in China...
if you are staying with locals and will be visiting houses, make sure to wear shoes that have no laces. All of my shoes had laces so everytime I entered a house I had to take the time to untie my laces. And when I left the houses, I had to tie my laces. Everyone else just slipped their shoes on and off.
The concept of napkins and paper towels have not made it to Chinese homes yet. Everyone uses tissues instead. Not sure the fascination but every house uses tissues with their meals.
There is red, yellow, and white watermellon. And watermellon is served at every meal in the summer. Every roadside fruit stand sells at least 2 red and yellow watermellon. For many of the stands watermellon is the only fruit they are selling.
Not only is tipping not required it is often unacceptable. I tried to tip the bell hop at our hotel for taking our luggage and they flat out refused it saying they were not allowed to accept tips.
Everything is truly negotiable. You just have to be able to communicate.
I posted my China pics to webshots
Some additoinal food items eaten over the last week not mentioned in earlier blogs
Duck Tongue
Pigs Ears
Chicken feet
Shanghai is an interesting city with lots of character. There are older chinese buildings and neighborhoods, tourist areas, extremely modern areas, and european type areas. After the opium wars, the French, English, and Europeans all had concessions in Shanghai. These concessions still have the architecture of the western settlers.
We took the bus to shanghai from Suzhou, about 2 hours. After arriving, Smarda's mom and cousin asked me to stay outside the store while they went in so they don't get ripped off because a foreigner is in their company. Making purchases at stores are similar negotiations to those in India. The listed price is just the starting price for the negotiation. When you walk up, they drop 20% of the listed price with just a smile. A non chinese person can still get another 20% to 30% dropped off the price. A chinese person can get at least another 50%. Over the course of the trip, Smarda and I developed a system. If we were both in the store together and I wanted something I would use the code phrase and walk out allowing Smarda to negotiate. More often then not though, I would walk in to the store, case the joint and walk out. I would tell Smarda what I wanted and where it in the store it was located. Smarda would then go in and begin the negotiations. On several occassions she would walk out of the store 3, 4, and 5 times as part of the negotiating.
One of our days in Suzhou we went shopping in the department stores. I was looking for dress shirts and suits. Virtually every shirt I tried on was too small. The sleeves would barely come down to my wrists. The saleswoman would look at me and say yeah we have big and tall sizes. Let me go get them. After an hour or two of this, I gave up looking for clothers. So instead, I would wander through the stores on my own. Now in Shanghai and Beijing, there are many tourists. Suzhou is starting to get more tourists but only day trippers on bus tours from Shangai. So the probability of seeing a white person in a department store in Suzhou is pretty slim. When Smarda was done shopping she would wander the department store asking the salespeople where the foreigner is. They would point her in the direction of where I went until she found me.
Suzhou has many canals and gardens. The gardens are pretty amazing. A sign of status they were houses that wealthy Chinese used to retire to. Usually built around a pond or ponds, the gardens are very tranquil (when not overrun with tourists).
My favorite one was lions garden. It has many distressed rocks which are arranged in a maze. We spent 20 minutes wandering up, over, around, through, and under the rocks.
One of the best experiences in Suzhou was going to the hair salon. On our next to last day there, we went to the hair salon to get our hair washed. I paid approximately $2 for a 40 minute hair wash which included washing, shampoo, and conditioner. There was also plenty of scratching my head, massaging my head as well as massaging my shoulders, back, and arms. I think the hair washers were shocked when I showed up the very next day for another hair wash.
Some things I learned while in China...
if you are staying with locals and will be visiting houses, make sure to wear shoes that have no laces. All of my shoes had laces so everytime I entered a house I had to take the time to untie my laces. And when I left the houses, I had to tie my laces. Everyone else just slipped their shoes on and off.
The concept of napkins and paper towels have not made it to Chinese homes yet. Everyone uses tissues instead. Not sure the fascination but every house uses tissues with their meals.
There is red, yellow, and white watermellon. And watermellon is served at every meal in the summer. Every roadside fruit stand sells at least 2 red and yellow watermellon. For many of the stands watermellon is the only fruit they are selling.
Not only is tipping not required it is often unacceptable. I tried to tip the bell hop at our hotel for taking our luggage and they flat out refused it saying they were not allowed to accept tips.
Everything is truly negotiable. You just have to be able to communicate.
posted by Robert @ 9:14 PM
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