Empty Handed

Today I decided to head over to the Qipu Market off the Baoshan metro stop. I spoke to a few guys in my dorm that were raving about the place. How they found good quality (fake) Nike Air Force 1 shoes for 85 rmb, which is like $12 and change. How one could find sweatshirts and jackets for next to nothing. And on and on and so forth. And since I need a pair of basketball sneakers, I decided to head out there and have a look-see for myself.

On the walk over there, I saw people with bags and bags of their loot, presumably purchased from the Qipu Market. So that got my Chinese bargaining juices flowing, thinking that I might be able to buy a lot of stuff. Cue Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger" song. I normally don't shop for clothes that much; back home I shop at Costco and Wal-Mart, so that's basically my fashion sense, but hey I was kinda excited b/c I might get some deals, practice my Chinese, etc etc.

So when I arrived at Qipu Market, it was a mass of humanity in every direction. I should've taken a picture, but didn't want to take out any valuables, just in case fckers scoped me out and pick-pocketed me later. Popped into the first building and walked around; all women's clothes. Shit. Popped into the building across the street, there was only one or two floors with men's clothing, which all kinda sucked and with no sizes that actually fit me. I only found one shoe store that sold really bad knock-off Jordans. Bad in both design and quality.

Basically, I thought its pretty difficult to leave Qipu Market empty-handed, but empty-handed I sure did leave.

Better luck tomorrow, I guess....

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