25. Silk Alley


One scene in Silk Alley

Day 17

We had heard about the "Silk Alley" and the ladies, Glenda and Virginia, decided to take another shopping trip. 

Silk Alley is a shopping area located near the US Embassy in XiuShuiDong Jie north of JianGuoMenWai DaJie. Many silk items and other type of garments are for sale -- designer jeans, silk pajamas, silk scarves, outdoor jackets, shoes, children's clothing, tapestries, CDs, Beanie Babies and computer items. One never knows what will be for sale on silk alley on any given day, but many black market items are everywhere. Some may be overruns or seconds from factories nearby. Some are "knock-offs" ... counterfeits ... not the real McCoys. Many Eastern Europeans, resident foreigners, expatriates and tourists flock here. The market had developed very quickly in the past few years.

Since they didn't know how to tell the cab driver where they wanted to go, the desk clerk wrote down the name in Chinese so it could be given it to their cab driver. Success! It worked!

When they got out of the cab, they saw shops everywhere. These stalls sold clothing, shoes, hats, jewelry, watches, kites, and trinkets of all kinds. Not only were there shops down the main street, but more shops were down narrow side alleys where two people at one time could hardly walk. The nearly mile-long Silk Alley is hardly ten feet wide, jammed with humanity with shop stalls and aggressive saleswomen pushing every possible garment and product. Virginia had just never saw anything like it. She bought a silk robe, T-shirts for two of her grandsons and a mandarin-style blouse. The sizes, as in all of China we have seen, are very skimpy. Glenda bought two Chinese caps complete with braids for her grandsons, a blouse for her daughter and a small silk wallet for herself. 

Again today, the temperature was near 100 degrees. There was much more to see (and to buy), but it was just too hot. They walked down the street to catch a cab back to the hotel. On the way, a pedicab driver convinced them to use his services instead. He wanted to charge 40 yuan to take just Virginia. They bargained him down to 20 yuan for both to ride. Along the way, he indicated that he wanted to wear Virginia's one-dollar hat. She let him wear it thinking she might take his picture. 

The driver stopped across the eight-lane JianGuoMenWai DaJie from the hotel and asked for his money. He motioned for them to take the underground walkway to get across. Glenda gave him too much money and he got away with Virginia's hat besides! Today had been a day for bargains, but this was definitely not one of them! They came back to the hotel "scratching their heads" all the way. 

<Previous> Table of Contents  <Next>