What a wonderful day...just doing my own thing!!! I slept in late today...till about 10am. It's the latest I've slept since I've been here and it's the most sleep I've gotten...felt so good!! :) I started off the day with a workout (yes, I'm trying to lose the extra lbs :) ) and after lunch, I headed off to Yashou Clothing Market to walk around. The market has tons of fake clothing, fake bags, and souvenirs...I read that since there aren't as many tourists there, it'll be easier to get a better price. Wow...the prices are still so outrageous!!! I got a few things and ended up paying only about 15% - 25% of the asking price (which is probably still too much!). I think I actually pissed off some salespeople because I wasn't really playing their game and upping my price...I just stick to what I want to pay for it and make them come down lower. Usually, the conversation goes like this:
Me: How much?
Them: 160 yuan
Me: What?!?! Why so expensive? I'll give you 30 yuan.
Them: Impossible!! I lose money!
Me: Too expensive...I'm leaving...
Them: Wait, wait...what's your best price?
Me: I told you, 30 yuan.
Them: Come on...we make friends. How about 125?
Me: No, still too expensive...35 yuan.
Them: Give me your best price...I lose money...
Me: I told you...35 yuan. Let me look around...
Them: Ok, ok...I give you best price..80...
Me: No, still too expensive...35 yuan.
Them: Ok, 70...good price
Me: No, 35...I'll look around and will come back if I don't see anything better...
Them: Wait...50
Me: I'm sticking to 35
Them: Ok, ok..how about 40...it's just 5 more yuan
Me: No, 35
Them: Ok, ok...you are difficult customer...
And voila...I get it for my price! :) Why can't everyone just be upfront with the cost so we don't have to play these games?!?!
There were so many fake things there and honestly, I was disappointed to not see things that weren't fake. I saw some cute handbags, but they all had the fake logos on it. I didn't want to buy it since I'd rather have the real thing! :) There were some fake Coach bags and it was easy to tell they were fakes since I've got a few real ones...so I'm sure the other brands are poorly made too for anyone that knows them. I'll save my money for the real ones....hehehe...
Afterwards, I took a taxi to the Olympic Green to check out the Bird's Nest and Water Cube. There really wasn't much to do there except walk around the park (maybe there was and I didn't look hard enough?). I hung around until the evening to see the lights and took some pictures, but my pictures didn't turn out too well. :( I had my tiny tripod with me, so it was hard finding something to set it on to keep the camera stable with a slower shutter speed. The lights were really beautiful though...
For the first time since I've been in China, I had two taxi drivers try to rip me off (these were taxi drivers waiting at the Olympic Green). I showed the first taxi driver the card for my hotel and he said it would be 100 yuan. I thought it was ridiculous since I only paid 27 yuan from hotel to Yashou and 31 from Yashou to Olympic Green...so there was no way it was 100 yuan back to the hotel!!! Plus, they have to use the meter to charge per km! I went to the next taxi driver and he said 80 yuan. I got annoyed and just walked away from that taxi area. I walked further down the street and found an honest driver who actually used his meter...and the final cost...37 yuan! I wonder how many tourists actually get ripped off on a daily basis because they don't know any better?!??!
