2009 08-09 – Beijing
I'm not a big fan of shopping, but it has to be done at times and curiosity is a good enough reason, so thank goodness for the concept of window shopping!
Wangfujing street, one of the trendiest places to shop in Beijing these days, is so well known that Chinese tour groups visit in little golf-cart trains. Sadly I didn't have my camera ready when I passed one, so don't have the photo evidence... you'll no doubt be able to imagine it though.
Just behind the mega-malls is a network of small lanes packed with small stall holders selling all kinds of stuff.
Window shopping here can be a bit testing – almost before you've even thought of having a closer look at the thing that caught your eye on the way by, there's a stall owner at your side, dizzying you with their incessant buzzing presentation of their goods and desperation to not let you go without a purchase. At this point comes the true power of a window shopper – with genuinely no need to buy, it's wonderfully easy to walk away after a price enquiry and listen to the price come tumbling down as you leave.
A shoe stall in the infamous Silk Market – the stall owners here have no compunction over grabbing a would-be customer and man-handling them to consider their wares!
Panjiayuan Market is a vast weekend antique flea market, selling pretty much every Chinese cultural item you could imagine.
I'm not sure that everything sold under these parasols were genuine antiques... to my untrained eye, some items looked like they'd been recently buried and dug up!
The parking lot for the retailers:
I loved the sight of these tricycle wagons and the various uses they were put to.
