Things I did Today Part 2

So I'm in Beijing for a bit longer than I anticipated due to the fact that we couldn't get train tickets at a convenient time. On the upside, it's been pretty awesome. We went to an antique market today, we took two buses and a long walk to get there, and then when we were leaving found that there was a direct bus that took about twenty minutes that stopped opposite our hostel which was pretty funny, in kind of a smack yourself on the forehead kind of way.

The market, Panjiayuan, was pretty awesome. Essentially a giant square full of stuff, cheap and expensive, new and old, to buy. I've never really bargained before but I did manage to talk a couple people down from their original prices. Although the other favorite thing is to continue to lump more and more things together with a discount. It's kind of hard to get out of that. However that said, I bought a ton of stuff, mostly small things and jewelry, for $30-40 RMB or less, there were a couple exceptions that were above that, but there were a bunch of exceptions that were below that (to the tune of $5 or $20) so all in all I think I came out ok.

There were tons of things to look at that I'm probably going to never buy. Giant chest of drawers, and old boxes and other things. I'm trying not to weigh myself down. Also, I don't really need to buy more stuff overseas and ship it home. It's still pretty interesting nonetheless. And there was stuff that I bought there, that I don't think I've ever seen anything else. So I'm happy, in a consumer kind of way, but still pretty happy.