Beijing Trip

We have not written about our Beijing trip yet. James is getting pictures ready to follow but I will give you my side of the story first: We took the bullet train to Beijing last Saturday with Julie and her mom, Sun Li Mein. James went off to get more pictures of the Temple of Heaven and the girls went to the Pearl Market for some Real shopping! I wanted to buy some gifts to bring back to my family but needed a local to assist with the bargaining. Well, Sun Li was amazing. It looked like work to me but Julia said she enjoyed it. The sales clerk would give the price and Sun Li would get her down to less than half the amount. When the smoke cleared and I paid the price the clerk would look at me and say "You really got a good price, you didn't pay enough for this. Your Chinese friend really likes you!" And we would walk off to the next place. I almost felt sorry for the next unknowing victim as we entered a store! The first 2 floors were clothes, silk scarves, purses, etc, but the last 2 floors were pearls and jewelry. It was amazing the size of the place. I regret that I didn't get a picture of it. There were counters with a different saleswoman about every 10-15 feet. I actually didn't buy much jewelry, there was too much to pick from and too much stimulation from the sales clerks. You don't just window shop there, if you show any interest at all they pull out the velvet covered board, put the jewelry on it, bring out several different colors of it and ask you which one you like and how many you want. Also is it for you or a gift? Too much input for me. I would rather look and have to look for the salesperson. Definitely a different culture. The day after we got home I heard people from Beijing come to Tianjin to shop because it is cheaper!
Bargaining is one thing I will not miss when we come home! Julia's mom has worked in exports and knows the prices of the goods so can not be fooled. She used this tactic and it worked everytime. She is a fast talker, too, and not afraid to raise her voice a little and walk away if they will not come down.
We met James at the Noodle Restuarant for lunch and then went back for more and James went back to take more pictures. I found out today that when you go out to eat with Chinese people the person who pays does the ordering of food. You consult about it but the buyer makes the final choices. We ordered ours and told Julia and her mom that we did not order for them and handed them the menu. Knowing that we were paying they ordered very little. Next time we will do better. It is fun to order lots and share but easier to just order what you want to eat and let them order what they want and each pay. We are always learning new things about our cultural differences and sometimes not soon enough!