When we are at home, Judy is
Not
A Shopper. The caps are intentional. She simply dislikes shopping and everything associated with it (except for the farmers markets, as I talked about earlier). But when we travel, things are exactly reversed -- she loves to shop, though she shops for friends and for gifts more often than for herself or for me. Me -- I like to putter around some markets, but not all.
Anyway, while here in Hangzhou we've shopped in
three markets. The first was the Hefang Street market (called "History Street" on our map), where there are traditional shops and fixed kiosks, the wares are traditional and varied, and the prices usually non-negotiable (at least to westerners). The second was the Jiankang Road silk market, a long, long street of silk shops with clothes and scarves, and where the prices were negotiable but not too much, because the quality was generally very good. Our friend Yang Ke was with us and helped us greatly with questions of prices and quality -- he gave up time working on his dissertation to be with us, and we appreciate it very much The third market was the Wushan Road Night Market, a very, very crowded set of temporary tables with widely varying quality and very negotiable (read: VERY negotiable) prices and a crush of people walking up and down the street. We come to the Night Market every time we're in Hangzhou and, while its wares have changed and the growing prosperity of China means that the omigosh-it-can't be-that-inexpensive-can-it prices have changed, it remains a real treat. We bought something at each, and enjoyed each of them in its own way.
Shopping -- is there a more dreaded word in the English language? Especially -- ESPECIALLY -- as in "Holiday Shopping"? But sometimes one must bite the bullet and take one for the economy, so we went out shopping at 5:15 this morning to get something that had a limited number of items at the store. Even at a technology store the line was long, but we did manage to get what we were looking for.
