The Silk Market

It is a well known fact that in order to strike a good deal with a Chinese stall keeper one must essentially forgo all sense of English reticence and social embarrassment and embrace the cutthroat nature of hard bargaining.

The other day I took off with a couple friends to search out the Beijing Silk Market. Although I have  could  been easily distracted by fact that one of them was clearly a young John Lennon....

Pictured: the lovely Luke

.....I wasn't :) and was able to appreciate the Chinese love of impressive steel and glass buildings. The drive through the ring roads of the city was lined with skyscrapers- each one bigger than the next! 

The silk market isn't what you would expect when you first think of a traditional market. Where I was expecting an open outdoor stalls, I found an enormous five storey building with directions to the various goods on large overhead signs.

Brightly lit booths with similar stock held confident stallkeepers who leaned out into the main walkways to call out to their potential customers. As I walked past, they would spot something on your person and try to entice you to purchase something similar from their stall. My converse hi-tops for example lead a few to immediately ask for my size straight away, and some to subsequently laugh as my feet were twice the size of theirs!

I would like to make a deposit....

Upon hitting the fourth floor I fell in love. This is a terrible thing to happen when you are bargaining because you really can't walk away. After 20 minutes and nearly reducing the saleswomen to tears I walked away with my new baby. God help whoever is in the room next to me!

Love at first sight!

As a parting gift I would like to share with you the video that they showed us at our orientation. I found it both hilarious and overwhelmingly informative! Do enjoy :)

Love to all!