Bargain guide

This post I would like dedicate to all tourists visiting China;) I want to let you know that when buying anything there one pays at least from triple up to ten times more than one should! That is the truth but it doesn't mean that we have to pay so much. When I came to China I was transferring every price to Euro and I thought how cheap it is here but of course it doesn't work that way. The thing is tourists don't bargain so actually it is our fault that we pay more;) That is why I really want to emphasize on this topic here. So don't let people to rip you of even on little things as food!
First of all don't let sales people see that you really like the product. They will use that information against you. The best thing is to have calm face while buying on the market.
Secondly let them know that the product you want to buy is not perfect. For example it is in wrong colour or threads are coming out etc. In this case sales people usually will give some discount. Another thing is Chinese sellers always give higher price to foreigners so it is better for us to ask for 'onest' price at the beginning.
Finally I want to give you the most important advice. Never ever believe sales people! They will tell you anything you want to hear (including lies) just to sell the product. Salespeople can shout and even curse at you but don't give up:) Even if you will not be able to buy the thing you like at one stand you can always buy it in the next one...

At the end there is a story from the souvenir shop nearby the Shenyang Forbidden City. I was there with my husband just to have a look. I wasn't planning to buy anything but I noticed small paper fan which I liked very much. Sales people at the stand were very excited about it and they were telling me the price of it. It was 45 Yuen. I new back then that it is too much even though it is about 4.50 Euro. By the way I could buy 2 lunches for it:) Anyway I said no to that and I wanted to walk away. But the sales people didn't give up and start giving me lower prices. My husband joined me then telling them I don't want it because they don't give me the normal price but much higher. They got a little angry but at the end while we were almost walking out from the market they called us back that we can have the fan for 15 Yuen...

Hangzhou

Hangzhou (杭州) is the capital of Zhejiang province and is famous for its beautiful natural scenery, with the West Lake (Xī Hú, 西湖) as the most well-known location in China.

The city was a capital of the Southern Song Dynasty in 12th century.

The Venetian Marco Polo visited Hangzhou in the late 13th century and in his book he refers to the city as "beyond dispute the finest and the noblest in the world."

We stayed there for few days in November 2008 and we definitely are going back there again maybe sometime during summer. The city is so beautiful with its all historic relics and of course eye-catching nature.

Hangzhou is a great mystic place for holidays and people there are so honest and friendly. Both my husband and I were very pleased to stay there.

One of Hangzhou's most popular sights is West Lake which we saw on the first day. The lake covers an area of 6 square kilometers and includes some of Hangzhou's most famous historic and scenic places. We climbed hills around the lake but probably we should visit famous Buddhist temples instead like everyone else was doing. Anyway I didn’t regret that decision as we had great time.

West Lake in Hangzhou

Somewhere around the lake...

We of course went to Old China Street on He Fang Street where there are a lot of old style shops offering various kinds of souvenirs including silk and famous Longjing Tea. We bought some tea there as a gift for our relatives but later on some local people told us that we can buy better longjing tea in a local market from farmers as the one we bought already is only for tourists. Well, it is typical but at least we found out soon enough to buy good tea :)

Tea shop in Hangzhou

On He Fang Street in Hangzhou

The other place worth to see in Hangzhou is Xixi National Wetland Park located at the west part of the city. XiXi Wetland has a history of more than 1,800 years.

The park is densely crisscrossed with many watercourses, among which there are various ponds and lakes. We spent there whole day and we also took a boat there which was very interesting experience for us. The park itself is divided into few parts which most of them are for free. It is worth to take binoculars as there are many birds to see!

In a bamboo forest

View on the park

On the boat

Shanghai

I always wanted to go to Shanghai (上海), the largest city in China but unfortunately we have been there only for 2 nights and have seen only the Bund by the bank of the Huangpu River and the 'Yuyuan Garden', a traditional garden in the Jiangnan style.
First city atraction we saw after landing in Shanghai airport was 'Yuyuan Garden'. It is really a nice place with all those small shops, little streets around and tea house in the middle, created only for tourists. There was a lot of people from all around the world and for the first time I felt relief because nobody was looking at me! I know this is silly observation but after Shenyang and Jilin where people stop talking when I am entering the restaurant;) it was a good feeling.
Shanghai is huge, fast and of course living in here is very expensive, especially for tourists. All prices are doubled or tripled for foreigners and usualy there is no option for barganing. Good I had support of my chinese husband who could get some presents cheaper;)

Yuyuan Garden in Shanghai

Yuyuan Garden by night

On the second day we went to see 'The Oriental Pearl Tower' which is located in modern Pudong district. We took a boat on Huangpu River to have better look at the Tower and other modern skyscrapers. We had great time even though the weather wasn't good.

By boat on Huangpu River

Pudong district in Shanghai

Chinese market

Shopping is the most adventurous thing here particularly for foreigners.

For me shopping in a food market was the most interesting thing of all! You can find here anything including alive silkworms, frogs and frozen sharks, and other stuff which I don’t even know names of in my mother language.

Buying clothes and shoes is a totally different thing. I was trying to buy nice shoes for winter and it was really hard to get my size (39) in women’s section. Also I had to buy some clothes in size XL which in Europe would be too big for me as I wear size M. But I must say that in China there are so many choices in shops and different cities that I think it will be very hard for me to go back to small Dublin :)

Dawei in a fruit market

Silkworms

There is one catch in here money wise. Be aware of that sellers will charge you double or even triple times for products if you are a foreigner. Thank God you can always bargain and if you are good in that you can get a fair price. Of course I am in very good position as my Chinese husband always can help me out with bargaining. We bought many little presents for my family for much cheaper price and I know that if I was alone I would pay much more for them.

Although when we visited Beijing I was shocked that they wanted me to take a taxi for 100 Yuen from the train station to the hotel that we booked when it should costs only less than 20 Yuen! I guess that a lot of rich tourists from US would pay for it but come on it is like cheating!!! People just don’t realize that. Maybe because of that I hate Beijing. It happened many times there that they wanted me to pay more for things even in a fruit stalls on the street!!! Mentality of Beijiners is so sick in this matter. In Shanghai I didn’t feel as annoyed about this thing as in Beijing.