Rocking Armani

So Kamala and I went to the silk market.  It's an indoor market filled with traditional Chinese vendors.  The market is very convenient, and even has it's own subway stop.  The market has about 6 floors, each crammed with different vendors selling polo shirts, silk robes, tennis shoes, watches, luggage, sun glasses, to tailored suits.  We walked every floor, checking out every shop before deciding to buy anything.  When we got to the top floor, and had seen everything, I decided I wanted a pair of sunglasses.  We walk into a place filled with Oakley Rayban and dozens of other name-brands.  None of which are real of course.   I found a pair of Foakley's and began haggling.  She started at 1,000 RMB ($150) and I countered with 100 RMB ($15).  We went back and forth for about 20 minutes.  She kept telling me they were very good quality, and that she was making me a special deal.  I kept telling her no, and pulling the price low.  We finally settled on 150RMB.  The second stop was a store selling polo shirts.  I wanted a couple of button down long-sleeves and ended up getting three shirts, a Polo, an Armani, and a Paul Smith.  Of course none of these were real.  Haggling for these was a little more interesting.  The trick is to walk away.  If you start to walk away, they will drastically lower the price.  This lady had found a way around this though.  She literally hung on my arm.  Like a young teenage girl on her boyfriend.  Kamala was not a big fan of this.  I would try and walk away, and she would grab my arm, and pull me  back in.  We did end up getting a pretty good price on the shirts though.  By the third haggle, I decided to try a different approach.  We had found a suitcase that I wanted for travelling back and forth to Shanghai.  We found a small carry-on size that would hold laptops.  Instead of asking "how much", like the other instances.  This time, in Chinese I told her I would give her 100 RMB.  She was not very happy with this, but the method worked.  I ended up getting a great deal on the suit-case.  Lessons well-learned.  The moral of this story, is that all of my family will be rocking Polo and Armani for Christmas.  Just a heads up...

-JASON