Shanghai Surprise

I have been to China before but not to Shanghai, when I visited Beijing last year I was told that Shanghai is more modern and busier.  They were right.  But after initially thinking Beijing was my favourite Chinese city Shanghai has won my heart.

The shopping here is an experience, if you want to go to Shopping Mall’s they are everywhere, the pricing is pretty much on par with Australia perhaps a little cheaper, their style however especially for women is not my style, its what we are referring to as baby doll.  Girls clothing for women, it’s pretty and frilly and soft and short and always skirts and dresses.  They love their short shorts here and their high heels.  They love colour and they love sparkle.  That’s ok because again my size is not Chinese size so clothing is not a priority for me.

However if you want to do some ‘underground’ shopping this is when the experience begins, I have never been to Bali but I am told it is exactly like Bali.  You walk into these little shop fronts with the usual knick knacks and get asked ‘You want Prada bag’ and when you show you’re slightly interested you are whisked out of view behind secret panels in the wall and up staircases into rooms filled with Prada, Gucci, LV, Polo, Jimmy Choo and Chanel, brand names everywhere, you want it they have it.

The quality of most is exceptional, I have myself fell in love with the colour yellow while here and got myself the most gawjus yellow Jimmy Choo handbag yesterday, latest style for around $40.  You cannot ask for better than that!

Once you pick out the styles you want, and then comes the rest of their stock, they have wallets, watches, clothing, suitcases, the list is endless.

You choose what you want then the bartering begins, they start high you go low and the dance of the dollar takes over.  Eventually you meet in the middle.  You can offend them if you continue to keep your price ridiculously low so be careful.  I witnessed a German girl try to buy two Abercrombie and Finch t-shirts for $2 Australian and she would not budge, in the end the Chinese girl said get out, and the deal was over, once you insult them there is no going back, so she left empty handed, which I thought was good, she was a moll.

It can be overwhelming as they take you usually into second and third floor rooms with small or no windows and usually no air-conditioning, don’t know if this is a tactic to make you light headed but after experiencing a whole day of it yesterday we never felt unsafe at all Jo or I.

Bartering is fun but it takes time to learn, when they look at you with their big eyes saying oh Misses I not make a profit I usually crumble, this is when my husband comes in as he knows they will not sell without a profit and usually gets a much better price than I am capable of.

The food so far has been unbelievable; we have eaten the most flavoursome food ever, and cheap as chips!  I will post more later on the food.