Diary July 17, 2010

Author: Cody Lewis

We went to the consumer electronics market today. This market is enourmous, stretching through a dozen buildings each with five to twenty floors, containing thousands of small vendors each with no more than about 500 square feet of retail space. The odd thing is, they all sell the same products. All the unique products could be contained on one or two floors, and sold that way. But that isn't how the Chinese operate. Instead, they break into thousands of small stores and sell on a case by case basis, and where the customer is expected to bargain. Bargaining usually brings down the price anywhere from 15% to 50%, so it's often worth while to try. Unfortunately, it's also extremely difficult to search for what you want, assuming that it's a small device that isn't necessarily advertised by the sales people. You have to wander around, looking at all the stalls. It's window shopping in the extreme.

	The (very busy) main street in front of the electronics market.
	Isaac looking at gourd flute instruments from a street vendor.
	A small building in the consumer electronics market.
	Finding one another among (quite literally) thousands of vendors is almost a nightmare.
	A long day shopping and negotiating...

//Calender