Sunday 6 April, 2014
¥9.00 Breakfast¥10.00 Bus
¥200.00 Souvenir (Buddha Beads)
¥8.00 Snack (Bing Tang Wu Low)
¥15.00 Honey Lemon Drink
¥12.50 Chips
¥35.00 Entry into .. gardens
¥18.00 Squid Stick
¥190.00 Ocarinas
¥10.00 Book Rack
¥15.00 Dinner
¥24.00 Hand warmer
Total: ¥546.50 ($98.11)
Weekly Total: ¥2730.55 ($490.22)
Total Spend: ¥20137.25 ($3866.66 AUD)
- - -
On our last full day in Wuxi, we decided to visit Huishan Ancient Town.
Huishan ancient town is this huge neighbourhood that retains its historical feel - so there are pebbled pedestrian roads, 19th century merchant houses and architecture and beautiful stone bridges and canals streaming through this 1 km squared community.
The main street sells a lot of touristy goods and has a lot of small, unique eateries and shops.
 |
| The main entry into the community.. but since it's a real neighbourhood with people actually living here, there are many ways in and out. |
 |
| Huishan is like a huge, real life cultural museum. Even though there are heaps of shops selling goods to tourists, there are also museums and temples inside, just like inside a real neighbourhood. |
 |
| I was playing around with some photography props so I was carrying this mirror on an easel with me everywhere, but in hindsight I realised they were both too small in scale. It was fun watching how other people interacted with the prop though. (A lot of people would stop and look into the mirror.. thinking there was something inside, or they would walk really far around it, like in this photo.) |
 |
| Huishan is definitely worth visiting. If you wander away from the two main tourist streets, you'll come across the real neighbourhood areas, where there are wooden tables and straw seats lining the pathways and locals old and young sitting around drinking tea, snacking on sunflower seeds and chatting. It was a really lovely atmosphere. |
 |
| Also if you are interested in architecture, this area is full of unique buildings. I particularly love this one - so full of character! Definitely one worth sketching. |
In one area there was a courtyard with people setting up stalls selling lots of vintage, jade, and old knick knack items. I love looking at second-hand shops so I was curious and went in to take a look.
 |
| I love these sort of stalls so much! |
I saw this necklace of 18 buddha beads, with a different drawing of a buddha and a poem inscribed on each bead. Everything around it was plain jade or glass beads, but this was something really different. It was really ratty and disgusting to be honest, with lots of dirt stained on the ends of each bead. I was immediately raptured by it.
So I asked for the price.
"1000块"
Holy crap. It was so expensive, and I could not justify dropping one thousand on a necklace. Even if I bargained it down 50%, I still could not justify it.
But personally, I love collecting statement necklaces, and from my travels and just spotting prices in stores, I know that if a piece of jewellery is unique I would be willing to pay a bit more for it. I've learn my lesson buying cheap jewellery, and there's something nice about having a special item in your wardrobe.
After quick mental calculations, I reasoned I would be willing to buy it for 200块, nothing more.
So with my best puppy dog eyes and quivering voice I told him I'm only a poor student, but I really like this piece, and all I have on me to spare is 200 kuai.
First he said no and walked away, but I continued to crouch there and hold it and admire it.
He shouted 500, and said it is worth 2000 but 1000 is already a very good price.
I said I could only part with 200.
Then we made eye contact again and he gave a quick nod.
I quickly understood (I know no shopkeeper wants their other customers to find out that they just sold an item for 1/5 of the stated price) so I quickly opened my wallet and handed him 200.
But the MISTAKE I made was that I opened it and he saw the many 100块 bills I had in my wallet.
He said "你骗我！你有很多钱！” (You lied to me! You have so much money!)
But I said "No! This is money that I have to use to get back home!" But already I could not wipe the grin off my face.
I was incredibly happy with my purchase, and the friend I was with was quite shocked at the discount he sold it to for.
But, when I went to my other group of friends and asked them "How much would you pay for this?" one girl looked at it and said 10块.
Immediately I felt disheartened.
I looked at it again, and saw it in her eyes. It looked like a plastic bead necklace with inscriptions all over it.
But I know it isn't. I wish I had stopped for a second before I decided on 200块 to yell out 100. I wondered how cheap I could have got it for, or how much it was really worth.
Not only that, I realisd I had my DSLR hanging around my neck the whole time, so it was a dead giveaway that I was some loaded foreigner.
But in hindsight, I paid $35 for this necklace. In 块 standards, that is a lot of money, and I could probably live off it for a week.
In $ standards, $35 is pretty expensive, around the price you'd pay for a necklace full price at a common chain store.
To me, 200块, $35, is a lot of money, and I did feel a bit bad. But I love it a lot. I have never seen anything like it before, and I know I would have regretted it if I left it and walked away.
I love wondering who had it before me, or what kind of adventures these little beads have had. How did the seller obtain it? I wonder if he stole it...
All that's left to do now is restring it, as I would like to wear it as a necklace. I've washed it clean (it was disgusting before), and now I can touch it without having to disinfect my hands right after. I'm proudly hanging it on my jewellery rack next to my other favourite pieces that I've collected during my travels. I've realised I don't care what other people think of it, or how much they think it's worth, because to me, it's my new treasure.
But really, I'm curious. What do you think of it?
No comments:
Post a Comment