January 10, 2007



Today is our last day in Guangzhou and since I got a request from some family members to please buy some more pearls, I decided to head over to the Pearl and Jade Market. I previously bought 5 strands in just a regular street market with our guide when I was here over a week ago, but didn't know how to go back to that market, and wanted a much larger selection to choose from. We only had two hours to get to the market and back before we needed to check out of our hotel and leave for our swearing in ceremony at the U.S. consulate.

I began to wonder if this trip would be deja vu, as 6 years ago I also went to the Pearl and Jade market and almost missed our flight back to the U.S. Jeff and I and a friend went there in the evening of our last day in China and nearly didn't make it back as we tried to leave the market at 6 p.m. In China, 6 p.m. means shift change for the taxi drivers, so no one would stop to pick us up. It was a panicky few moments, but we did indeed make it back to our hotel and then to the airport although our guide was none too pleased at having to wait for us.

This morning, Taylor, Alyssa and I hopped in a taxi with directions written in Chinese for our driver, and he dumped us out and pointed to some shops that were full of jade. They were pretty fancy, so we started looking for some stalls and shops without so much glitz as we knew the prices would be less there. For the unexperienced buyer, Jade comes in four grades, from A to D and every travel guide will be quick to point out that their bracelet is of course A quality jade, but what the dumb Americans purchased was nowhere near as nice. I can recognize jade where the color has been added and didn't want that, but would be perfectly content with less than A quality since it's not like I'm going to turn around and sell it on e-Bay anyway, and most people don't know A quality from B when it comes to jade...not to mention that A quality is very expensive.

I really needed more pearls first, however, because I had received a request from my sister to see if I could get a few more. So, off we went in search of some pearls, which six years ago were right with all the jade shops. No such luck on this trip. After walking down row upon row of jade sellers, Alyssa said she wanted to look at some bracelets. She is too shy to talk to the sellers, so I let a woman at a stall pour what felt and looked like clear snot on my hand (probably the Chinese brand of K-Y jelly) as she forced a bracelet that felt far too small over my hand and onto my wrist. When I said that I didn't want it because she wanted about 1000 yuan, she had to pour even more snot from the bottle onto my hand to get it back off. In between, she had wiped my hand off with a crusty grey rag that looked like it had cleaned many a toilet, but instead had probably only been used to wipe the hands of about 5000 other unsuspecting customers. Score ten points for the Purell that I carry everywhere in my fanny pack!

Continued...


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