Traveling in China - Guilin Part Two

Another day in Guilin and we were treated to a wonderful treat, seniors doing their morning exercises in the center of town. After breakfast we set out to find the local markets.

Buying from Chinese markets can be a challenge. At least for me. All prices are up for negotiation, everywhere, with maybe the exception of Walmart and McDonalds. And many brand name stores are fake, like the Apple store I read about recently. Fake store, fake product. If you find an incredible deal on name brand product, chances are, it's a fake.

I'm not great at the bargaining thing, especially where the sellers are so much poorer than I am, and I can afford their already reasonable prices.

I helped out my traveling companions by teaching them how to say too expensive in Chinese. One of the first Chinese expressions I learned. That and chicken without bones, although the Chinese still don't know what that means.

Sometime though, you will get bombarded with little children trying to sell you things like this one who was selling flutes. They are sure that "round eyes" have more money. And they are probably right. But you can't buy from everyone.

Of course it didn't help that we told the little girl that our friend in the picture had all the money. She followed him around the whole time we were there, whining at him to buy, until he finally broke down and bought one of her flutes. Then she chased after another in our group.

 My traveling companions had a blast. They spent the day seeing how much they could talk down the locals, and feeling like they got great bargains. I had a feeling they were still paying more that another local would.

I think this young man did the best actually. He was so proud of his skill. I'm not sure what the camel was for. It might have been for rides, but the whole time we were there, no one rode it. I'm sure the woman in the picture was explaining, but who knows what she was saying.