Shenzhen

On our 1 day off while here Eben and I headed into Shenzhen, a city not far from Hong Kong for some shopping and possible indoor skiing. Well the indoor skiing didnt work out but the shopping was insane. Never in my life have I had to bargain for something and never have I purchased a purse. (Catherine, neglect the last sentence) Anyways we got a driver from the factory to drive us the 1.5hrs to Shenzhen and we brought along our factory assistant Ivyna for translation and guidance. None of us had ever been to Shenzhen but the driver quickly found the walking mall and we began. The retailers are attracting you to their booths with loud noises and promises of a deal, or I assume thats what their saying in mandarin. Once you start looking your in trouble, they wont let you go and they do everything they can to sell you something you dont kneed. My watch for example, bargained from 270 Yuen down to about 70, with 8-1 ratio I paid a little under 10$ for a ripoff of a major brand electronic watch. Not sure if I even should have purchased a watch, In fact i regret it now, but the bargaining was fun. It's also fun to see the styles of another part of the world. While I wasnt able to find any Engrish.com worthy clothing I found styles not seen in America. I walked away with a pretty awesome shirt with wolves on it and another with a pheasant. I told my engrish speaking salesman I like shirts with animals and this is what he found me, I had to purchase after his dedication. Our main item we didnt get is a remote control mini helicopter. A sweet toy these miniature RC toys can fly indoors and cost at most 20$ on the street, eben and I being cheap wouldnt pay this despite their 40$ ebay price and hence have no mini helicpoters. The rain began during our shopping adventure stopping us early but not until a quick lunch at Pizza Hut and more mini-helicpoter bargaining. I'm getting sick of chinese food, I cant wait for a hamburger or steak, even plate of spaghetti sound great. But mostly I miss my burritos, this will be my first stop upon arrival in Seattle this friday.

We finished shopping and had no desire to go indoor skiing on shaved ice. Ivyna will have to go another day. For being our translator/ assistant for k2 she has never seen ski bindings or boots, nor seen how people ski, but she does really well with it all and understanding us.

Today being Memorial day and us being in China, we worked. Last night Eben and I went out to dinner on our own and hit a huge language barrier, I will write more about that in my next blog, until then adios, I dont know how to say goodbye in mandarin.