Big Shoes and Fast Talkers

This is the first blog that is out of chronological order.

Replacements:
When we had dinner at Fan's, about 2 weeks ago, Cullen had a blow out. His Columbian shoes had finally given in to the constant walking and repair was impossible. We were going to visit the post office and find Cullen some new shoes. This was the plan for last Saturday... things didn't even come close to working out. On Friday Cullen made plans to take a quick trip to Hidan market and purchase some work supplies. This was supposed to be a quick trip, then he would meet me at Joy City mall in Xidan...

We started out at about 9:00am. I was in Xidan by 9:30am waiting for the markets to open, but Cullen... well... he didn't make it to his destination in Hidan until between 10:30 and 11:00. He rode the bus to Hidan, and I rode the subway to Xidan.

I wandered through Joy City for a while after it opened. I enjoyed peeking into each shop, most still empty due to the early hour. I wandered all the way to the 5th floor, where the restaurants start, until I decided to wander back down and start shopping. There are a few things we still need, so I just poked about, looking for bargains on those items that we lack. I knew that I wouldn't find any bargains here, but you never know. By about 11:30am I was completely shopped out, but waited until noon to find out if Cullen was going to be done with his shopping soon. As I expected from his absolute love for haggling for the best price, he wasn't close to done yet. I went to so find some lunch... when I headed to the 5th floor and saw all the lines for the restaurants, I opted to go to the mall next door. Most of the lines here were just as long, but as I suspected... the Sizzler had no line at all. I'm not even going to comment on the Sizzler. We all know the quality of their food.. though the service was tip top.. as always.

I headed to Xidan Market, across the street next, and by 2pm I was worn out and completely exhausted. I went back to Joy City and waited for Cullen to show up. I sat down in the ice cream shop...

Cullen's shoes were now priority one. We went into every single shoe store in Joy City Mall and asked if they had shoes that would fit his feet. Any shoe he tried was too small. The womens shoes here are very nice, and I thought it would be good to have some decent shoes as well, so I asked if they had my size... they laughed. Every store we went in to with women's shoes, they saw my shoe size that I had written in our notepad and laughed. There wasn't even an attempt to find a shoe.. they just plain didn't have them.

We decided to try the Xidan market since that was where Cullen had bought his dress shoes. They had several shoes in his size, but none that satisfied him. The appeared to all be too uncomfortable or too dressy.

We called it quits. We were worn out. It was only about 4pm but we had too much shopping for one day. We exited the Xidan Market and walked across the street, to find a better location for acquiring a taxi. While we were making our way through the buildings we found a surprise.

Bonus Level:
We walked into a nice hutong (alley way) that had a sun glasses vendor. Cullen recently squashed his sun glasses, and was in the market for a new pair. He found a pair that he would wear, and asked the price. The price was way to high, so Cullen tried to bargain him down, but really was ready to go without. He told the vendor that he didn't want them and started to walk away, when the vendor shoved the calculator (this is the way they communicate with those of us who can't deal in Chinese) into Cullen's hands. Cullen promptly typed in 25 yuan, expecting that the guy would just let him go after such a low-ball figure, but he kept trying to get Cullen up to 50 yuan... Completely done, Cullen walked away and the guy shouted, "OK" at our backs. Cullen is now the proud owner of a pair of sunglasses that he didn't really want, for a price that he still thinks was too high.

We continued down the alley-way into a darker part, and discovered what we affectionately referred to as, "The secret bonus level." There were stalls and stalls of vendors. The sold everything... shoes, bandannas, clothes, toys... This secret level was hidden behind the big blue Olympic painted tin walls that we see everywhere right now. (I am not sure if they are permanent or not.) We have noticed that most of the "real" Beijing is behind these walls. They appear to be a sort of barrier to keep the tourists and Olympic visitors from seeing the real markets and how the normal residents live.

The discovery of this area brought us some renewed energy. We explored for a while, looking for shoes again. The prices in this area were really reasonable like most places that the locals shop. The bargaining was more fun too. It appears that the area shop keepers enjoy it more if you bargain with them.

The renewed energy didn't last long though. We were pooped again in about 20 minutes. Off to resign ourselves to a Sunday attempt at shoe shopping.

Long Hours and Sharp Tongues:
The largest Adidas store in the World is here in Beijing, so we have heard. We went there after lunch on Sunday. We figured it would be impossible to be the largest Adidas store in the world and NOT carry decent sized shoes. Ones that would fit a westerner. After entering the store, we realized our flawed logic. The Adidas store contained floor after floor of clothes. The shoes they had were not to Cullen's taste, and the one pair he found that he would have worn, they didn't have his size. We were disappointed, but not done.

We exited the Adidas store and explored the area a bit. The area was full of stores and we weren't leaving without some replacements for Cullen's worn out shoes. Amazingly, we didn't have to go too far to find a Columbia shoe store, and the shoes he found... they had his size.... He couldn't resist buy the shoes since they were so comfortable.

About 20 feet from that store was a Steve Madden store that had shoes my size. We managed to get some nice dress shoes for me and the perfect replacement for Cullen's blown shoes.

With this success under our belts, we were ready for some dinner. Cullen had picked up a free magazine with listings for restaurants and reviews for them. I went through the magazine and circled several restaurants that I figured we should try. We consulted the magazine and found a restaurant that we wanted to try and hopped into a taxi.

This restaurant happened to be about a block from the silk market. Though we didn't find the Italian Cafe like we wanted, we found a decent Mexican food place and set out to take a peek into the Silk market.

Entering the Silk Market made me feel like a chicken leg thrown into a tank of starving piranhas. I have never heard so many people at one time shouting prices, products, and compliments. Cullen likes to describe this place as a cross between a flea market and a Mall packed into a high-rise building. The density is so thick and the products are exactly alike, they work really hard to sell their tie, and keep their competitor from getting your business.

We wandered up to the floor with tailors and clothes, and were instantly ambushed by a group of about five women all trying to sell us scarfs. Cullen's response was, "I really look like I need a scarf, don't I?" Laughing as he said it. The girls, of course, emphatically insisted that he needed one. Once he expressed to them that he didn't want one and that he wouldn't buy me a scarf, they started insisting that I "change husbands." As we walked away. Through the turmoil, Cullen managed to buy some ties and socks for 1/3 the original asking price. This is good, but not good enough for Cullen. He insists we need more practice. (I insist that he has to do all the bargaining.. He's really good at it.)

After our Silk Market experience, we were ready to head home. I can't even express how worn my feet were after the long weekend. It took me almost 4 days to recover. My muscles and feet were so very sore.