So this wonderful Monday morning we set out to find me a bag/purse/anything that will carry my wallet and a book. I was shocked at the sight of the market place. People were everywhere. It was like the routine Saturday morning shopping crowd. So we squeezed through the people, safely crossed the street using the "buffer" method, which has become very popular with us lately, and into the first market. This market is a little hard to explain. There are about 7 floors of shops all squeezed in like sardines. The first floor is just bags, the second is shoes, the third is a combination of jewelry and shirts, the fifth one is dresses and I don't think we made it up any more floors. The shop keepers will stand at the front of the shop and clap. This is quite annoying but apparently quite effective since they all do it still or maybe they just haven't gotten enough rotten stares or letters of complaint. I just want to poke them but I've refrained. The colors are magnificent. The styles are bold and very unique. There are sparkles everywhere but mostly on the shoes. We weaved our way in and out of the shops with little success in bags but too much success with earrings, which was not the goal of the trip but oh so tempting. So we marched onto another huge market.
She wrote a good description, so I thought it would be easier to share this with everyone than to write it myself. There are also huge "supermarkets" (usually foreign, i.e. Japanese) that are REALLY nice and have multiple floors of shoes and clothing, home goods, grocery store, etc. Obviously, these places have set prices and you cannot bargain there, and things tend to be more expensive. Much better quality, though.
One thing that I can't even BEGIN to express just how many stores there are in Chengdu. I guess when you have this many people, you have to, but I think you could spend a year just shopping in Chengdu and not go to the same store twice. On every single road, there are multiple stores right next to each other. It amazes me how they all stay in business. It's interesting, too, because sometimes they're grouped together, i.e. "Computer City", which is a HUGE place of several big markets selling all electronic goods. These places are extremely hectic and crowded, but you can get really good deals and bargain. This is where we get our DVDs, which is pretty easy because whenever sellers on the 3-4 floor there see us, they all start shouting "DVD! DVD!". There are also roads where mostly fruit is sold, or flowers, etc. Shoe stores and clothing stores are everywhere. There are little hideaways in side streets that are just filled with people selling jewelry, bags, etc. It really is impossible for me to convey!
