William Reardon’s Blog

B: Oh wow, I just figured out what this number on the display means. I only have 6 pics left. And that’s on a 1 gig card.
R: I bet it’s because of video.
B: Yeah, I took some long ones at the restaurant. Especially of you & your QVC pitch for fake watches.
R: I have a 2 gig card. 1 gig isn’t enough.
B: 2 gigs of photos?
R: Video too, right?
B: 2 gigs sounds excessive.
R: Well, you’re just about out aren’t you?
B: Maybe I should delete the one of you farting.
R: That one’s funny! Keep it.
B: I should change the resolution of the pics. I left it at the default, so that’s 7 megapixels.
R: Just get a new card.
B: A 2 gig card for pictures is ridiculous. 1 gig will keep me from going crazy and actually taking 2 gig of pictures.

I was recalling that conversation with Rick, in a Beijing Taxi on the way to the final dinner of the trip, as I noticed my upload of pictures had crossed the 1 gig mark. Not only had that, but it was just over 50% done. Popping open my digital camera, my suspicion was confirmed — I actually did have a 2 gig card.

I had gone crazy and taken 2 gigs worth of pictures. Enjoy the maddness. (Although I deleted a lot of them after review.)

(One other upside to that conversation with Rick, was earlier that night, a cab driver had decided he liked Rick & made a point of touching him… repeatedly. As James tells the tale.)

Haggling in Beijing is something to be experienced. Part of it is because in the United States, it’s not a big part of lives. The only exception for most of us being when we buy a car. Imagine that experience going something like this:

D: Hello! Hello, Sir! You want to buy car?
B: How much is this one?
D: Ten million.
B: Ten million! No way, it’s a used Nissan Sentra.
D: This good car!
B: Ten million is too much.
D: What price you want to pay?
B: Thirty dollars.
D: Thirty dollars! You not serious! Why you joking?
B: What’s a serious price?
D: For you, I give good price. Eight million.
B: No, no, still too much for me. Walk away…
D: Sir, sir! Come back. Okay, I give you friend price. I give you five million.
B: I need less than that.
D: You give me price. No joking.
B: A hundred dollars.
D: I say be serious! *pinch*
B: Oww! You pinched me!
D: You joking! You not serious!
B: So give me serious price.
D: Okay, how many car you buy?
B: None at that price.
D: If you buy five, I give you better price.
B: How much for five?
D: I give you five for three million.

Of course, it’s not actually a car you’re trying to buy, but a fake rolex, a fake Prada purse, and so on. And thus the amounts you’re haggling over dollars (if that) and not millions. In fact, at one point I realized my argument of 5 yuan translated roughly to 70 cents. Still, you don’t give in, as by & large, that’s the game of it.

Before visiting the Silk Market, lots of people gave us various advice on negotiating: Offer 20% of whatever they say, Walk away three times, and so on. Since there were multiple booths selling the same thing, my approach was basically find the price point at which they would no longer chase after you. You then have a rough idea of what something’s worth & can just head a few booths down to buy the same thing.

Having said all that, visiting the market was one of my favorite parts of the trip. Just be sure you get friend price.

Other random impressions:

* Beijing is far & away the most polluted city I’ve ever seen. On bad days, you couldn’t see past 4 city blocks. The gray in the pictures isn’t because it’s about to rain; It’s smog.

* The Great Wall is a Great Stairmaster.

* At tourist spots, I was a popular exhibit myself. People would come
up to me, gesturing, wanting to take a photo of us together.

* This is the most frightening doll I’ve ever seen.

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 8th, 2007 at 8:06 pm and is filed under nerd-ness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.