of the massive shopping centres. I'm not sure how many department stores line Qi Pu road - one fairly concise estimate was 'a whole heap' - but each store is chocked full from basement level 2 to 5th floor attic with little shops selling clothes and apparell of all manner. Girl's clothes, men's clothes, kid's clothes, midget clothes* - thousands and thousands of different items, and after 4 hours I can honestly say it's all crap. (*Disclaimer: May not actually have been midget clothes)Qi Pu lu was originally a place for wholesalers, but since the closure of the infamous Xiang Yang market this summer, the myriad of salesmen, touts and purveyors of dubious wares have been forced to graze at the city's other market places. In turn, like a good flock eager to be fleeced, the foreigners and tourists who depended on Xiang Yang for their ready supply of fake goods and shitty souveniers have followed. And, if I am allowed to take this analogy a little further, the influx of new consumers has brought with it their own parasites: the damned Xiang Yang cockroaches.
And I'm not talking about the skanky insect kind of cockroaches, the kind that strike fear into the heart of even the most foolhardy of people (me), I'm talking about the uber-annoying "hello, you want watch, bag, DVD, cheap cheap" touts who try and drag you to some shady shop or other to sell their stock of counterfeit goods. These bastards stick to you better than a bad dose of the Vietnamese clap (so Jimmy Wright tells me), incessently harping on about going to their shop, armani sweaters, polo t-shirts etc. And because of the relatively small amount of foreigners who visit Qi Pu, they prey in packs! It's fake goods touts in STEREO at Qi Pu!
Anyway, besides getting annoyed by said cockroaches, and besides not actually getting anything resembling a Christmas present whatsoever, I did manage to pick up quite a few cheap flowery shirts and a couple of T-shirts, so, I believe I win! Hurrah!
No comments:
Post a Comment