Phen's China Adventure

Oh, I have. A few times. I need to get a bottle of that. That's some goooood stuff.
 
If you get Moutai or any other expensive liquor go to a high end store. There are a lot of fake stuff in China.

FYI the Moutai and other liquors are more expensive in China. I saw Moutai and wuliangyi in LA at Chinese stores for $75 a bottle. Which is like 500 RMB.
 
They can be fake in the US too. There are also different grades of moutai. I think the cheapest I've seen is in duty free in China.
 
Awesome. Thanks for the heads up guys.


I just went to the Silk Market today. Took the subway. I can't get over how cheap it is to ride it. I think I may head to China Bar tonight. Not sure tho. I'm kinda beat from the sun and heat.
 
Hahaha. Each weekend so far here, it's been like 85 and sunny, while being overcast and humid during the week.

Bought a pretty sweet Tag Heuer Grand Carrera knock off for pretty cheap. Bought a pair of Oakley knockoffs pretty cheap as well. I tihnk I'm going to pick up a new pair of glasses too eventually. I know they're not real (or may secretly be) but as long as the lenses are decent, I don't really care.
 
This, besides the albums I got, was the only souvenir from my trip. I think it was like 120$, which is a ton, but I really wanted a fake Rolex, and it's super detailed, I was really impressed. These are pictures I just took of my actual watch. The second picture is a (from what I can tell) laser etched Rolex crown in the glass, which blew my mind. It was really hard to capture moving the watch back and forth on manual focus. It's quite difficult to take pictures of something so shiny.

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I'll snag a pic of the Tag I got. I only paid 175 RMB for a Grand Carrera, which wasn't too bad. The starting price was about 600.

I did get told not to come back to a booth. I guess I was too firm on my price that I was willing to go and she found it to be an insult. I didn't really want the shirt, I just wanted to practice the pricing to see how far they'd go.
 
That's something that's always made me a bit uncomfortable. My buddy loves haggling and low balling people on craigslist, but that's not my bowl of soup. It's definitely something that you have to practice, and I'm terrible at it. I did talk the lady down on my watch, but she insisted that it was worth it or whatever, apparently because it was more difficult to fake. Ironically my guide told me that I wanted a fake watch with internals from Taiwan, that they were much more high quality than the internals from China....

When I was there, one of the guys got a bunch of Abercrombie shirts for really cheap, and the more he looked at them, the more he realized that they were real. And then he realized the guy said something about them falling out of a truck, so I guess they were stolen goods... Basically anything is fair game, haha!
 
The one lady that's here with her husband that I work with bought a fake Rolex today. She just happened to be wearing the real equivalent that she bought like 10 years ago. They compared them side by side and if you didn't know any better, you'd say they were the same. The knock offs are getting pretty good on some things.

Here's my Tag.

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I was told something by one of the guys that's been here for a while. You can go into the markets, decide on a price, and as long as it sounds good to you, then you should be happy... because 90% of the time, you over paid.
 
I was told something by one of the guys that's been here for a while. You can go into the markets, decide on a price, and as long as it sounds good to you, then you should be happy... because 90% of the time, you over paid.

+100

That's why you never check the price of electronics after you buy them...
 
That watch is baller, y0! Nice.

I bought a watch in NYC in Chinatown that worked 20mins after I bought it. Then I realized it's a selfwinding watch. Haha! But I overpaid a lot. I paid $40 for it but I too am terrible at haggling.

Why did you buy sunglasses when you wear glasses, silly?
 
Mainly because there have been many times that I could have used them... especially while golfing. I can see well enough to pass the vision test for the drivers license. I just have an astigmatism that can bother the crap out of me if I go too long without glasses, or drink without my glasses on.

I'm going to get a pair of prescription glasses when I get back from Vietnam.
 
I was told something by one of the guys that's been here for a while. You can go into the markets, decide on a price, and as long as it sounds good to you, then you should be happy... because 90% of the time, you over paid.

I think bargaining is part of the fun! My friend's wife used to own a kiosk and said whatever prices these people open at, only pay 25% of that. They make a killing, esp from foreigners
 
I did have fun with it. I plan to go back when I have more money to spend. I didn't want to piss away all I had on trinkets...yet.


Question for you though. I'm having troubles with finding my way around. Google Maps gives directions, but they're always in Chinese. It doesn't matter if I use Chinese internet, the VPN to the US office and search that way. I wanted to go somewhere today but had no idea how to get there by myself. Any suggestions? I think when I get back from Vietnam I'm going to buy a Garmin or similar for uses like this, unless you have a better thought.
 
Hm..I use Google and mapabc, but I read/type Chinese...the GPS's there are cheap, but I think they're in Chinese too. You can also use zuoche.com. It will tell you the fastest routes by walking, bus, subway, etc...but that's in Chinese...Only thing I can think of is using those and then google translating..

I did have fun with it. I plan to go back when I have more money to spend. I didn't want to piss away all I had on trinkets...yet.


Question for you though. I'm having troubles with finding my way around. Google Maps gives directions, but they're always in Chinese. It doesn't matter if I use Chinese internet, the VPN to the US office and search that way. I wanted to go somewhere today but had no idea how to get there by myself. Any suggestions? I think when I get back from Vietnam I'm going to buy a Garmin or similar for uses like this, unless you have a better thought.
 
awesome thread, killed a lot of time at work! ill be back to see what you get into next haha
 
Hm..I use Google and mapabc, but I read/type Chinese...the GPS's there are cheap, but I think they're in Chinese too. You can also use zuoche.com. It will tell you the fastest routes by walking, bus, subway, etc...but that's in Chinese...Only thing I can think of is using those and then google translating..

That may be what I do. I should have picked up a map while I was at Union Grill a couple weekends ago. they have some maps with both languages on it. I'll try your suggestions. I really want to find out where China Bar is, as well as a few other places. I need to find GT Bananas before October 1st. Gareth Emery is spinning there. Gotta find out if I need to buy tickets or if it's just a first come type deal.
 

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