silk market success

Thursday I went to the famous silk market just to check it out, with no intention of buying anything, and walked out with my hands full of stuff.  Those sales girls are tricky little devils.  It all started when I saw mahjong sets for sale, which was the one souvenir I wanted to bring home for myself.  Surprisingly I don’t see them around much so figured I should get it now while it was right there.  So I haggled down from 1400 yuan to 650 yuan.  Still probably way overpriced, but she seemed terribly upset by the deal.  And coincidentally enough two days later I did see the same set for sale at a store for 750 yuan, so even though I think that store is overpriced too, I couldn’t have been completely ripped off.  I also saw most of the other things I bought at the silk market at that store, one I paid too much for and the other I paid half of what they were selling it for.  You win some you lose some.  The fact that I actually got over my fear of haggling was worth the few hundred extra yuan I probably paid that day.

Oh, and I bought the mahjong set without having ever played before which is probably pretty silly.  I am decent at the computer solitaire version, but I know that is nothing like the real game.  A few hours ago I got my first lesson though and had a lot of fun!  Anybody in LA up for mahjong nights?