My Busy Sunday: A Day of Many Firsts

As I said in a previous post, Sunday was a very busy day. Besides practicing for my three Beijing Night acts (I'll write about these after our performances on Saturday), I went to the Silk Market, an indoor marketplace famous for its very cheap clothes and souvenirs. I also went to a traditional Chinese massage parlor with some friends.

Silk Market
One of the Silk Market's distinguishing features is that the clothes there, although of good quality (for the most part), are all bootleg. The rub is that the price that the shop owners quote first is always sky-high compared to the products' actual value here in China. So, while the initial price might seem like a steal, you'd be a fool to accept the first offer. The shop owners want to get as much out of you as they can.

For example, I found some "Ralph Lauren" polo shirts that I thought were pretty nice. As is customary, the shop owner punched in her price on a calculator and showed me the screen: 140 kuai a piece. Luckily, I was with some friends, so haggling was a lot easier. I told her that I often visited the Silk Market and that I knew other stands where I could get the same shirt for much less. I told her I would pay no more than 35 kuai each. Of course, she acted shocked and said that was absolutely unacceptable. This went on for a little while, with her lowering the price little by little. The key to good haggling is being playful and sometimes flirty (playing the "cute foreigner" card), but also very insistent. They are also playful, and we were kidding around the whole time.

They also loved that we spoke Chinese. We got many, many compliments that day. (Actually, we got compliments on more than just our Chinese... it was impossible to walk through the marketplace without hearing "Spend your money here! I give you good price for being so handsome!" and "You are so handsome - buy Louis Vuitton purse!" every five seconds.) Anyway, our haggling worked. I only payed 35 kuai for each polo, which is equal to about $5.25 US.

At the end of the day, I had bought three "Ralph Lauren" polos, a "Burberry" button-down shirt, a tie, and a set of nice chopsticks for a grand total of $28 US.

If I hadn't bargained, I would have spent about $98 US.

Massage Parlor
My lower back has been bothering me on and off ever since my friends and I made a pyramid back in January. So I thought going to a Chinese massage parlor would cure me, and also relieve me of the stress of my studies.

One thing you should know is that Chinese massages aren't soothing, candle-lit affairs with classical music playing in the background. They hurt. My masseusse lady was pounding my back really hard and digging her fingers deep into my muscles. She even did weird things like pulling my ears and punching the bottom of my foot. Some parts felt really good, like the head massage (similar to using those wire things you can find at the mall). Other parts had me close to tears. Overall, it was a cool experience.

Afterward my friend Yasi and I tried "cupping" for the first time. This is a traditional form of Chinese medicine during which a masseusse uses a flame to suck the air out of small glasses. Then she puts the cups down onto your back, where they stick thanks to a vacuum effect. The masseusse covers your entire back with these cups. The suction created by the cups hurts a little, and you can't really move while this is happening because your muscles are too busy being sucked up by a glass vacuum. The whole idea behind this procedure is that it brings up the "bad blood" in your system and rearranges your "qi" or "energy" or something like that. It takes about ten minutes.

When the cups are removed, you have a large, dark circular bruise wherever there was a cup. The darker the bruise, the more problematic that area was. My bruises were a lot darker than my friends. My back actually looks really weird right now, like a mutant's or a reptile's or something. I was going to post a picture but decided against it because my mom might freak out if she sees it. But I'm fine, and I'll let everyone now in a few days if I feel a difference or not!