Pearl Market shopping spree

How can I be in Beijing and not go shopping? Sun was our first day off in Beijing. (This week we are off on Sun and Monday instead of the regular weekend.) This may well be the only weekend we get that has 2 days off and that everyone is off at the same time… Once the Pavilion opens, I doubt we’d have this much free time…

After the visit to the Great Wall, many of us felt we’ve had enough sightseeing for the next little while; instead, we decided to hit the Hongqiao Pearl Market.

This may be a good time to say that I’ve become really close with a few people over the last few days, two of them in particular: Pearl and Yuanyuan. They have both lived in Beijing for extended time before and knows their way around. Fortunately for me, we’ve hit it off right from the get go. They are extremely friendly and kind; they are both older than me and instantly took it to themselves to look after me in every aspect as would a big sister. We get along superbly as if we’ve known each other forever; I feel comfortable talking to them about anything and we loved the same food, same kind of shopping, and generally did everything together. Their names will likely come up quite a lot.

Anyways, Pearl and Yuanyuan brought me and a whole group of other staff: Suzanne, Nancy, Barb, Iris, Pardip, Beth, Laurel, Daryl, Paul and Roy to the Pearl Market. As soon as we arrive, we thought we were in heaven: there were countless little shops selling an infinite variety of jewelry, mainly pearl, but also various things like jade, onyx, shell, chrystals, etc…. I literally felt overwhelmed by the selection, and the amount of people there. I had no idea where to start or what price to expect there. Thankfully Pearl was there to help; she brought us to a shop and negotiated a good deal for us as a base price from which we drew inspiration for further bargaining.

The pearls were of varying sizes and quality; I had to first have a lesson on how to tell if a pearl was real and how to tell one quality level from another. Apparently you can simply scratch a real pearl with the blade of scissors as a test for real vs fake pearls. If it is really fine powder that comes off of the pearl, and if by gently rubbing the pearl at the spot where you scratched it you can reveal a beautiful shine and luster again effortlessly, then the pearl is real. If the pearl is fake, you’ll scratch off the color coating and reveal the plastic inside.

Armed with this knowledge, we began bargain hunting. The jewelry is very affordable here; I ended up buying quite a few items for gift and for myself. I had lots of fun picking through the vast ocean of merchandise, looking for the right design, the right color, the right size, the right shape… Pearl was indispensable to all of us; she has great taste, and eyes for good items, not to mention the ability to negotiate good deals. We all left after a few hours perfectly content. The smile on my face was so big and I couldn’t stop admiring what I bought that my dear friends said I was in “pearl ecstasy”.

The side effect of this shopping trip was that the crowded place made me cough even worse. (Many of you would remember that I have been coughing ever since I was stranded in St. John’s, Newfoundland. Yup, however hard to believe, I am still coughing and it got worse after the Pearl market. I suspect the 2-3 days I’ve been in Beijing hasn’t helped either. So, I went to visit Chinese Traditional Medicine doctors on Wangfujing in one of the really well known Chinese medicine pharmacies. Luckily for me, their most senior doctor was in. Just her confidence was very comforting to me. She gave me a prescription for Chinese herbal medicine and I paid peanuts to have the pharmacy boil the medicine for me. When I went back later in the evening to pick up my medicine, it was still hot to the touch, obviously just finished.

I don’t want to brag about this ancient art of medicine, but after drinking this medicine at night, and again in the morning, I, along with Pearl and Yuanyuan, noticed obvious improvements in the sound of my cough and the significant reduction of phlem. =) Yeah!!!