China - Shopping and Expenditure

Can I shock you? I hate shopping! I really do! The only things I like to buy are books. That's it. Other than that I don't like to go through the ordeal of bargaining prices, choosing, trying, and walking through scores of stores. And then there are promoters, pesky sales people and worse, the mistake of purchasing something that you realized later you either don't want or isn't suitable. So, please, understand that this topic is going to be a bit short!

Beijing is a good place to shop (but a personal opinion is that many things are so commercialized - you feel that the shopping places were just meant for tourists). If we have places like Lot 10, Bukit Bintang, Suria KLCC, One Utama, etc in our country, they have these places as well especially at Changan Avenue. At Changan Avenue where we had our dinner at the Beijing Arts & Crafts Centre's restaurant at the groundfloor, there are rows of shopping complexes. The clothes department is a good bargain. There are lots of merchandise as what you would expect from shopping malls. But yours truly could have just walked blindfolded into these stores as shopping sceneries are not my fancy.

Please don't ever shop at Beijing Lufthansa Centre - it's really expensive. Not only that, Mr. Wong says a cup of coffee there could cost you RM22! The only place I would recommend shopping is at Xui Shui market. Yeah sure, those were imitation goods, but the quality is just as good and who will know the difference? The prices are so low that for a non-shopper like me, I couldn't resist buying a thing or two there.

Chengde's night market is a good buy too. Among the merchandise sold are clothings, luggages, souvenirs and handbags. Tianjin is a good place to get beautiful and cheap table clothes, plus souvenirs as well. Okay, I admit I don't mind walking along these stalls. I think I must correct myself - I hate shopping at shopping malls!

I didn't spend much for this trip. The tour package which costs RM1688 per person, covers all accommodations, flight, entrance tickets, meals, just all the necessary stuff - including our transport from Seremban to KLIA and back. I only need to fork out RM40 for the additional trip to 3 places (Beijing zoo, a temple and Xui Shui market) and RM32 for tips to Xiao Kuok and the bus driver. The money for tips is counted as RM4 times 8 days of our trip. Definitely so reasonable. Among ourselves, we came out with RM5 each as a gesture of thanks to Mr. Wong. My shopping expenditure was about RM170. So, I didn't spend much.

Here's some pictorial explanations:

A souvenir store on the way to the Great Wall of China. This place is real expensive compared to Chengde and Tianjin.

Inside Beijing Art & Crafts Centre.

At Changan Avenue sidewalk.

Tianjin's cultural market.

At Xui Shui market.

In front of the Beijing Lufthansa Centre.

Some of the lovely paper cuttings which I bought.