Xian part deux
So Sandra gave a great description of what we did in Xi'an. So I will just ask a couple questions that I have from my experiences in Xi'an.
First question. Why don't stores that sell cell phones also sell IP cards? It is not as if each store is independent of the cell phone service providers. Each store is branded with a certain provider, such as China Mobile or China Communications. Some stores even have service people for those providers, so why don't they have IP cards? Why do you have to go to the headquarters to get the IP cards? Even they don't have them either. They told us to go across the street into a small mall and they finally had some IP cards. The whole experience puzzled me.
Why does crossing the street in Xi'an (or anywhere in China for that matter) remind me of playing frogger? Enough said.
Why do you think that the Terra Cotta Warrior factory you go to on your tour is the only one in Xi'an? They can't possibly make all of the ones you see in the street markets, especially because there are only a few people in the 'factory' at once. Oh wait, they aren't. As you get closer and closer to the Terra Cotta warrior site they are even more of them, all next to each other.
Why do all the people working in the stalls tell you your Chinese is awesome every time you are buying anything. Oh yeah, I remember. I am a walking 钱包 (money bag = wallet). Bargaining has changed since the last time I have been here or I might just be having more bargaining experiences this time. They have been quite varied thus far. Sometimes you need to walk away and sometimes you don't, but every time I feel like I could have payed less even though I am still paying less than half of what they started at. Has this been slowly rising? Do the salespeople quadruple the price because they know you will pay less than half or even less? Sometimes I use the gauge of how quickly they agree or how happy they are when they agree to tell if I have been ripped off or not. No one has been angry at me yet, so maybe I should practice bargaining some more. How far did I walk before they told me to come back. Is far better or is close better? I wish I knew the answers to these questions.
So we went to a hotel restaurant to eat food while we were on our tour with CITS in Xi'an. Note, the tour is pretty decent, but you still go to some places that are not so interesting. If you privately hire a cab and pay for lunch and tickets to attractions you will pay the same price or more, but if you don't want to go to the tourist traps (hua qing pool) it might better. So anyways, the hotel was called Flourishing Hotel, but it didn't seem flourishing as the first and second floors were almost entirely devoted to selling jade, rugs, wall screens, terra cotta warriors and other 'tourist trash'. It didn't have a flourishing feeling to me.
I am writing this as we are waiting for our flight to Yichang. The Xi'an airport is pretty nice. I like it better than the Beijing airport. It is smaller, newer and there are less people. It might be the same as comparing Orange Country airport with Los Angeles international airport. When we were waiting for dinner Sandra and I walked around a little bit to see if we could find some gifts. We didn't, they were all overpriced. We stopped in one shop and started looking at the chess boards. The clerk approached and we started chatting and she asked us how to play international chess, so we explained as best we could. it is amazing how quickly vocabulary becomes specialized. After we explained the rules of international chess she kindly taught us how to play Chinese chess. There are some subtle differences that make us think it would be much harder to play Chinese chess. I would like to learn, so I can go back to Beijing and play with the old men who would play until the late hours of the night.
Loving how everyone looks at Sandra first while speaking. She responds, which I love ever more.
Our plane is boarding soon, gotta go.
First question. Why don't stores that sell cell phones also sell IP cards? It is not as if each store is independent of the cell phone service providers. Each store is branded with a certain provider, such as China Mobile or China Communications. Some stores even have service people for those providers, so why don't they have IP cards? Why do you have to go to the headquarters to get the IP cards? Even they don't have them either. They told us to go across the street into a small mall and they finally had some IP cards. The whole experience puzzled me.
Why does crossing the street in Xi'an (or anywhere in China for that matter) remind me of playing frogger? Enough said.
Why do you think that the Terra Cotta Warrior factory you go to on your tour is the only one in Xi'an? They can't possibly make all of the ones you see in the street markets, especially because there are only a few people in the 'factory' at once. Oh wait, they aren't. As you get closer and closer to the Terra Cotta warrior site they are even more of them, all next to each other.
Why do all the people working in the stalls tell you your Chinese is awesome every time you are buying anything. Oh yeah, I remember. I am a walking 钱包 (money bag = wallet). Bargaining has changed since the last time I have been here or I might just be having more bargaining experiences this time. They have been quite varied thus far. Sometimes you need to walk away and sometimes you don't, but every time I feel like I could have payed less even though I am still paying less than half of what they started at. Has this been slowly rising? Do the salespeople quadruple the price because they know you will pay less than half or even less? Sometimes I use the gauge of how quickly they agree or how happy they are when they agree to tell if I have been ripped off or not. No one has been angry at me yet, so maybe I should practice bargaining some more. How far did I walk before they told me to come back. Is far better or is close better? I wish I knew the answers to these questions.
So we went to a hotel restaurant to eat food while we were on our tour with CITS in Xi'an. Note, the tour is pretty decent, but you still go to some places that are not so interesting. If you privately hire a cab and pay for lunch and tickets to attractions you will pay the same price or more, but if you don't want to go to the tourist traps (hua qing pool) it might better. So anyways, the hotel was called Flourishing Hotel, but it didn't seem flourishing as the first and second floors were almost entirely devoted to selling jade, rugs, wall screens, terra cotta warriors and other 'tourist trash'. It didn't have a flourishing feeling to me.
I am writing this as we are waiting for our flight to Yichang. The Xi'an airport is pretty nice. I like it better than the Beijing airport. It is smaller, newer and there are less people. It might be the same as comparing Orange Country airport with Los Angeles international airport. When we were waiting for dinner Sandra and I walked around a little bit to see if we could find some gifts. We didn't, they were all overpriced. We stopped in one shop and started looking at the chess boards. The clerk approached and we started chatting and she asked us how to play international chess, so we explained as best we could. it is amazing how quickly vocabulary becomes specialized. After we explained the rules of international chess she kindly taught us how to play Chinese chess. There are some subtle differences that make us think it would be much harder to play Chinese chess. I would like to learn, so I can go back to Beijing and play with the old men who would play until the late hours of the night.
Loving how everyone looks at Sandra first while speaking. She responds, which I love ever more.
Our plane is boarding soon, gotta go.
posted by Jon Keto at
8:09 AM
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