My colleague Bill, an American, invited me to go with his wife, Tien Tien, and him to the famouse Luohu market where all the counterfeit goods are haggled over and sold. This place has quite a reputation and, sure enough, it was unbridled capitalism – the latest pirated DVDs of movies still in the theaters, rip-offs of Armani, North Face, Ray-Ban, and hundreds others are laid out wall-to-wall in the 6-story mega complex. Having been to South America a few times prepared me for it well. This was more entertaing, I thought, because it wasn’t just homemade goods or souvenirs, but almost anything you could imagine. Westerners, of course, are viewed as pigeons so I just wanted to watch, not participate.

We took the subway there, which is spotless. So, I’ve learned another means of transportation. The subway is actually much simpler than speaking with my driver, but the latter helps me with Mandarin.

As we entered the market, I heard calls of, “Hello hello, Mister! DVDs for you! Cheap for you!!” If I even slightly turned my head, I had them pawing at me, grabbing my arm and beckoning me into their small booth. You just have to keep walking. While Tien Tien was away, Bill and I found a leather jacket that I liked and the salesman told me all about it in memorized words of English. She was intent on showing me it was real leather by putting a lighter right next to it and showing me that it wouldn’t burn. The asking price was quite high for a rip-off leather jacket and super high for a plastic one. We left the store, hands still grasping at us, to get Tien Tien to examine the coat more closely. We returned, she grabbed the jacket, and within 5 seconds proclaimed, “It’s plastic!” The salesman looked away with an apethetic, if not irritated, look.   So, what about the lighter, you ask?   Tien Tien explained it well.   The salesman put the burner so close to the fabric that the flame did not have enough oxygen to be sufficiently hot.   Hold the flame two inches underneath the fabric – different story.   Brilliant!

I did manage to get myself two pairs of Ray-Ban glasses for $8 American. I needed them badly. Tien Tien was away again and I was impressed by Bill’s negotiating ability. They started out wanting $350 RMB…we, or rather he, got them down to $80. Nice glasses too.

(l-r) 1) The famous market at Luohu, 2) Tien Tien and Bill

We hopped the subway back towards home and got off at Mix City along the way. I can’t remember the name of the stop in Chinese. This was a bonafide “mall”, the kind of place that I’ve avoided like smoking bars back in the US. But, this was an experience too: 7 stories, maybe, immaculately clean, with a skating rink on the third floor. There were some insanely expensive shops in here, way beyond my price range, but obviously for a rich local clientelle. I was impressed just with looking through the various levels at all sorts of escalators jutting out and reaching various levels.

(l-r) Inside Mix City, a glass needle outside

After saying goodbye, I wandered home and found another colleauge, Greg (from Poland), having coffee. We sat for a while and chatted and then decided to play tennis that evening. Excellent excercise and a new skilled tennis partner.

(l-r) More high-rise apartments (these are everywhere), a relaxing environment for coffee