We had to get up early to meet Phil at the electronics components mall. It was chilly and smoggy and we did not have time for breakfast, so we got a red bean and soy drink, hopped on a cab and went on our way.
Once again, this is a 6-stories-tall building packed with shit. This time, the shit is any kind of electronics component you can imagine: there is one store selling only heat shrink tubes. Another store sells only stepper motors. Most of the stands in the first two floor, however, sell a variety of stuff.
Phil got the stuff he came for, we said our goodbyes, and Julia and I were left alone surrounded by electronics components. What was intended to be a one hour visit became a three hour frenzy, leaving with a loot of tools, motors, ribbon cable, LED strips, and big ass emergancy switches. Great success.
We took a taxi to the fabric district to pick up Julia’s new jacket and had a late lunch in an adjacent Muslim restaurant. Next, we found a post office and sent the SIM card we’ve been using in Julia’s phone back to her grandmother in Hainan.
We went back to the hotel to rest, and then took a cab to meet Michael at Cheng Long Hang Crab Palace. This is a fancy place, where they serve you mostly, emm, crab. The flagship dish is the hairy crab.
The muddy-looking spots on its claws are actually hair. It’s a delicious creature, however, hard to manage. For this reason, a young waiter is usually present in the room to come to your rescue whenever you and your crab don’t get along. The waiter will then shake his head, roll his eyes, and smile to himself. Promptly after, he will approach you and show you, for instance, how to get the meat out of a leg using another leg, and generally make you feel completely incompetant.
We walked towards People’s square, which turned out to be where we walked on our first night in China. We passed by some street karaoke:
And an indoor food market:
And some stands that sold clothes. We were looking for a scarf to get as a present for Julia’s mom, so I took my new haggling skills on a final test. Julia started by asking how much a scarf costs.
- “Jiu shi jiu” (“ninty nine”) the lady responded.
- “pfffff”, I said. “wu shi!” (“fifty!”)
She said something to Julia, who was distracted, and started mumbling. I waved in front of the lady’s face to attract her attention back to me, then pointed at Julia and told the lady: “Ta de zhongwen bu hao…” (“her Chinese is not good…”)
She looked at julia and getrured, as if writing on her own hand the figure nine. I cut her off.
- “Wo zhidao jiu shi jiu. Wu shi!” (“I know <what you mean by> ninety nine. Fifty!”
- “Jiu shi jiu!” (“ninty nine!”)
- “Liu shi!” (“Sixty!”) and I added my signature pat on the back and “good price for you!”
- “Ba shi!” (“Eighty!”)
- “Qi shi!” (“Seventy!”)
- “Qi shi wu!” (“Seventy five!”)
and we had ourselves a deal.
We took a taxi to Tian Zi Fang, a maze of tiny alleys that is home to craft stores, coffee shops, and bars. We sat at Kaiba, yet another ex-pat bar, had a last drink in China, and went to the hotel to pack.
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