Red Envelope Adventures

‘LADY!!! LADY!! I FINE YOU MAC JACOB!!’ The tiny Chinese lady’s shrill voice echoed down the corridors lined with shoe shops, tailors, and electrical goods.
‘Oh no…’ Keen to avoid harassment, my partner and I wound our way through the maze of shops and ducked around a corner, taking refuge in a shop selling various Apple Mac accessories.

Shanghai has a huge variety of markets, from antiques, food, and fashion, to flower, bird and insect markets. The Xinyang Fashion Market in Pudong can be found at the Science and Technology Museum tube station, and houses a fabric market as well as counterfeit clothing, accessories, and electronics. I was hoping to pick up a few gifts for home, as well as looking for a knock off Marc Jacobs handbag for myself.

So, a silk scarf, two ‘Abercrombie’ hoodies, and a ‘Diesel’ belt later, it has been a successful shopping day, and our bartering - a vital skill in the market place - had improved vastly.

Several hours and many handbag shops later, I still hadn’t secured the last items on my list- a Mulberry clutch and my Marc Jacobs bag. We were on the verge of giving up when we came across another bag shop. ‘Mulberry?’ I tried. The owner, a tiny Chinese woman, produced a range of Mulberry bags. ‘And Marc Jacobs..?’
‘No. No Mac Jacob’
‘Oh. Sorry, we want Marc Jacobs too.’
We left, and carried on. We were just admiring some fake Uggs when we heard someone running behind us.
‘LADY!! LADY! I FINE YOU MAC JACOB!!’
We tried to lose her, but she spotted us as we emerged from our hiding place at the Apple shop.
‘You come. It very close,’ she demanded, leading us to a different handbag shop, where she had the exact bags I wanted. She produced a calculator from nowhere, and named her price- two bags for Y1200. We suggested Y200. She turned to me, ‘Hahahaha! You very funny. OK, you my fren, I give you special price; Y900.’
This promise of friendship did not fool us,‘Y300,’ we hit back.
‘Noooo, tooooo cheap!’ she moaned, looking as though we had caused her a gross offence. ‘This real leatha,’ she continued, pulling out a lighter and holding it to the Marc Jacobs to prove her point. ‘Finish. Final price.’ She demanded, thrusting the calculator at us.
We aimed low, and typed our final bid into the calculator, Y350.
‘No. Too cheap.’ She turned frosty.
I pulled Y350 out of my purse, and she eyed the money. ‘No?’ I said. We turned to leave.
‘OK OK, Y350’ she said. Our best friend again, she took the money and beamed, ‘You want watch?’