SILK MARKET

Aaahhh...we were able to sleep in this morning!  Today and tomorrow are free days.  The Nottinghams and Lais shared 2 taxis to go to Silk Street.  Donna, Katie and the 3 of us shared a cab.  We were told they will only take up to 4 in a cab but we were able to get one that took the 5 of us.  Taxis are cheap in China.  The ride took 15-20 minutes and cost us $6 including tip.

Silk Street (also known as the Silk Market or Xiu Shui Jie in Chinese) is a prosperous shopping market in Beijing. It is now regarded as one of the symbols of Beijing together with the Great Wall, the Summer Palace and roast duck.  Many foreign visitors, including some celebrities, enjoy Silk Street for shopping or having their clothes tailor-made.  It is a large building with 6 floors and offers everything from clothing, traditional handicrafts, calligraphy, carpets, paintings, watches, electronics, musical instruments, toys, jewellery and trinkets.  It has changed since we were there in 2006.  The stalls were basically booths and some were only separated by wooden walls or just draperies.  Now, it has been renovated and the stalls are rebuilt with glass partitions throughout.  It looks a little more upscale.  The bartering is the same.  They try to get you in to look at their products.  You ask how much, they punch in their “asking” or “starting” price on a calculator.  You say “too much”.  They say “give me your best price”.  You go down to 1/5 of their asking price and they say “you’re killing me”!  You start to walk away and they call you back...and eventually you settle on a price that makes each person happy.  Madi was super happy.  She bought a watch, a panda wallet and an inner painted snuff bottle (panda drawing of course).  I bought some scarves and a t-shirt for myself.  Aubrey didn’t buy anything although he was looking at watches and wallets.  Katie and Madi were playing with an Er Hu (Chinese violin).  Donna bought one for Katie.  Grace bought one for Olivia.

The trek back to the hotel was an experience.  We tried to hail a cab but not one stopped for us.  The private taxis were available but we were told not to take them as they are very expensive.  We tried jumping into several but were waved away because there are 5 of us and they can only take 4.  A parking security guard was yelling at one of the cabs we were trying to get into.  They were literally standing off and yelling.  We walked away.  We are guessing that the cab was not supposed to take us or he was not supposed to be in the parking area.  Eventually, Aubrey ran to a cab that was letting off a customer.  He took us...at last...thank goodness.  Grace told us later that we had to go to the back entrance of Silk Market to get cabs.  The ride back to the hotel cost $5 including tip.