The weather called for rain all day, so we decided to take a trip to two notable shopping areas of Shanghai. Our first stop was the fabric markets. With promises that you can get anything made for you in China, our expectations were pretty high.
What we found were four floors of stores that offered to make you any garment from any kind of fabric you could imagine.
We weren't ready to make any deals that day, but we learned some valuable information for future trips. It takes a week for them to make your garment and then you can return for final alterations to be completed onsite. For some price comparisons, some other guys from the trip were able to get a custom tailored suit with two tailored dress shirts for about $150 American. The current currency conversion is approximately 6 Chinese to 1 American. We deffinately plan to make a return trip to get some garments ordered.
Right across the street from the fabric markets was a semi-familiar sight. We had to stop in to find out what a Chinese Walmart was like.
In the entrance way we found a number of small bakeries not affiliated with the Walmart. Pictured above is a cream puff that had been freshly filled with cream after we ordered it. It was delicious. So much so that Catriona kept talking about it all day. This experience kept true to the trend that the Chinese can cook anything and anything they cook, they cook well.
We didn't take many pictures inside the Walmart because it was exactly as you would expect... on the top floor at least. When we finished looking through the consumer goods section, we headed downstairs to find the check out isles to find a full grocery store with a Chinese twist. There were tanks with live fish and eels, tubs of frogs and toads, and racks full of de-feathered chickens waiting for purchase. The smells of China are truly unique and a constant assault on your senses. Everywhere you go smells like some kind of food. Sometimes good, sometimes not.
While walking from the Walmart to the subway line we needed to reach out next shopping destination, we walked under a set of highways stacked 3 high. Pictured above is a huge suspension bridge with part of a gigantic highway loop just a little in front. The highway system in China is built on an entirely different scale than anything you would see in America.
Our second stop was the so called, "fake market" located in an underground shopping area connected to the subway station underneath a children's science and technology museum. We were not sure why this location was chosen for a shopping center filled with nock off goods, but we really weren't expecting to find a series of hallways close to the size of a football field
This sign was located pretty deep in the "fake market," but it fit the spirit so well that it inspired a picture and this post's title. We didn't take may pictures while there because it is frowned upon to take pictures and not buy anything. These people would do anything to make a sale. As you walked down the isles, people would constantly be yelling at you to buy watches, bags, wallets, and scarfs, and especially a brand of popular headphones called "Beats by Dre."
The stores really came in about 4 flavors. There were scarf stores, bag stores, technology stores, and shoe stores. Everywhere you go in China there are shops that sell hundreds of varieties of scarfs. They sell silk, cashmere, and cotton in every quality ranging from about $2 to hundreds.
Catriona bought a nock off folding bag to help with future shopping trips. It cost about $5.
We bought an oil painting of the Shanghai skyline for about $20. Some other people in our group negotiated sets of mid-grade headphones and speakers for $35, and a nock off of a $2400 hand bag for about $50. We may still go back to search through racks of fake professional sports jerseys if we can decide what we want. Oddly enough we tried to ask about jerseys from the local Chinese Basketball league team, the Shanghai Sharks, but everyone just laughed when we asked.
As the country gears up for the upcoming Chinese new years celebration, we've bought a few things to spruce up our room. Red and gold are super popular colors in China, especially around the new year. As we get closer to February, just about every business will be decked out in red and gold kind of like how America decorates for Christmas.
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