the "antique" market

the roomie (mac) and i and my friend Jacqueline decided to adventure to the Dongtai Lu Antique Market.

why i say "antique" in my title is because like most of china's goods, i believe these are fake antiques. most of these items were NOT one of a kind, or rare. yes, there were some great and rare finds but they were few and far between. no lie, we saw a group of men destroying some leather goods to make them look "antique". true story :)

 and like all antiques, they took some "digging" to find the legit stuff. i think i saw the same buddha head about 50 times."oh, check out that turquoise buddha head!" i might say... only to find the same one about 2 shops over and then again across the way and to the left.
and again, as bargaining goes in china, you ask "dou shou qian?" (how much is it?) they look at you for about 3 seconds and then decide, obviously trying to decide how dumb of a foreigner you might look like, to mark up the price about 100%. for example... take this buddha head i bought (i actually bought a smaller version of the far left one)

they tried to make me pay 180 kuai (equiv. $25). i got them down to 50 kuai (equiv. $8). you just gotta "walk away" when they don't give you what you want. basically, it gets you want you want everytime!

 i also got a beautiful silver bracelet with a flower and koi fish on it (asking price 175 kuai, got it for 75 kuai)

AWESOME vintage luggage! mac, jacqueline and i LOVED THESE!

 and of course! who doesn't need a vintage wall hanging to show their pup love?

i will definitely be going back here again before my time in china is over because i want some more vintage looking decor for my one day apartment :) at least for my bedroom back home in the mean time.