On the 8th Caitlin and I woke up early to head out and explore some of the black markets! We went down to Nanjing Rd but got off at the West subway stop and not the east one so we had to walk about 20 mins before we finally got where we wanted to go. But we made it and started following the people that would ask…Coach? Gucci? Prada? Watches? Bags? Glasses? When you follow these people it turns into heaven for women, that is after you make it past the winding alleys and street ways to get there. They lead you to more purses than you have ever seen. The first room always has their lower end (not such good knock offs) but as soon as you ask do you have any more they twist a wall and there is another room of glory. Some places have a couple of walls that twist some just have different levels but they always have more to show you. We didn’t buy anything but the experience is a lot of fun. We were kind of scoping it out so we know how much we want to spend and we can go back and talk them down to the price we want.
After a while we had to head back to get to class. We had not eaten at this point so naturally we stopped and got some dumplings to go.
Class was interesting. Weiqi (our professor) has been talking about Chinese history and the different dynasties. Since the class is so long (3+ hours) we get a break in the middle. During this break we asked where the best ‘black markets’ are. She quickly corrected us and called them ‘affordable markets’ but she knew right where they were J She told us to go to the Pudong area (the East side of Shanghai) and take subway line 2 (the green line) to the Science and Technology Museum stop.
So naturally after class we decided to go see if Weiqi knew what she was talking about. And wow did she know!!!! If you ever are in Shanghai and want anything ‘affordable’ come here!!! Take line 2 to the Science and Technology Museum and get off the subway at this stop but never go above ground. Swipe out of the subway area but stay in the subway station and you will be amazed. Hand made tailored suits and coats for about $70 (note you don’t want to bargain with the tailors because they are sewing this article of clothing for you so if you go too low in the price they can easily go very low in the quality of the sewing…other than with the tailors bargaining is encouraged!). I didn’t buy anything but I know exactly what I am going to go back and get J
This place closed kind of early (7ish) so we grabbed some dinner and came back to the Faculty Club. We had a low key night and just hung out in one of the guys rooms.
The whole day was an ‘affordable market’ adventure. I cannot wait to go back and bargain some good prices for some cute purses J
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