The rebeautification continues

Well, now that the buildings are newly painted and sparkling with new lights and turquoise awnings, it appears the actual lane is now going to be replaced. It was looking normal this morning as I took the girls to the bus. A couple of hours later, on my way to meet Julie for lunch and a little market browsing, I came out and found the lane completely torn up with the large jack hammer machine - not a hand held one but a large tractor-ish thing - working away, not caring if I needed to pass. Every man for himself remains the motto. We'll see how long this operation takes.Julie and I met on HuaiHai Road and went to a great little eatery called Wagas. Pumpkin soup was just right for this gorgeous fall day. We hopped on the subway and were very quickly on the other side of the Huang Pu (the river) and landing at the Science and Technology Museum. The subways are so clean, easy and fast. The subway exit at the S & T is in the middle of the biggest market place I have seen yet. It is on both sides of the subway exit, going seeming miles in all directions. Vendor upon vendor of bags, shoes, wallets, shirts, coats, tea shops, Chinese clothing, knick knacks, belts, - "watches, lady. good friend price, come lookee lookee my shop". This place is particularly aggressive, and higher prices from the start. A lot of patience and good humor is required here, and the ability to walk away. It is so important to have a sense of how much something is because they can really be exorbident in their opening bid. At this particular market, I didn't find many vendors willing to come to a place where I was willing to hand over the cash.
Julie in one of the many bags shops. This particular one had been recommended to us. We looked through the first room, went to the back room, and finally the vendor asked if we wanted to see the "really good stuff". Of course we did, so we literally went through one of these walls that you see that opened up to a VERY small back room. We had to duck under a shelf, walk around stairs, the ones you see below, and climb up these very steep, uneven and narrow stairs to an attic that had bags upon bags piled on top of each other.
Julie peeking through the narrow stairs we clamored up to see the goods in the attic. Well, "the good stuff" wasn't in the attic, either. They must have thought we were really rich "tai tai's" (the name for a wife who doesn't work) because they were asking about 4 times the price another vendor would even begin with before the bargaining began! We are really good about smiling, saying "Xie xie" (thank you) and walking out. No purchases today, but a lot of fun walking around and being amazed at the amount of goods being sold. Maybe this global economic meltdown hasn't hit these vendors yet! I'll wait another week or two!