Pearl Market

The snow covered everything by morning to a little over an inch, but it was melting by the time we went out at 11. Today we took our once a semester trip to the Pearl Market. It is a huge multi-story two building complex of wholesale items. It is really quite remarkable. There are certainly plenty of jewelry choices as the name implies: gold, silver, jade, pearls, etc. I really do not know anything about prices on these items, but my impression is that many of the shops are looking for massive bulk sales for export, or at least resale. We went looking for luggage. Because it was cold, I dug out and put on an extra layer of leggings under my blue jeans. My Chinese doctor would be very proud of me. She, as well as most of my local friends, are just appalled if they run their hand over my leg and realize that I am only wearing one layer of clothing. It is true that it helps my arthritis but if the rooms end up being hot, I start to suffer from too  many layers that cannot be convenient and politely removed.

We took the metro for about an hour to get to the Pearl Market. Bring a book, if you are ever faced with this, but people watching also passes the time. When we got to the exit from the metro we could not remember which exit to take. There are usually 3 to 5 exits from every stop, and although you can walk between exits after you get to ground level, it is not convenient. Finally, Rick left me sitting in a subterranean hallway and struck out to find the way. There are stairs and quite long distances involved sometimes and I just did not feel like moving. As I sat in the tunnel on my walker for about 10 minutes, 100’s of people walked by. Interpreting the look on their faces, I wished that I had a bowl to sit out by my walker. I perhaps could have garnered a fair amount of money. (You think I am just being funny, but I am only partially kidding.)

We bought a few things for the kids for Christmas, and looked for the store where we can get Tom’s shoes for $8. However, as many, many stores in this complex, it has relocated. Often the stores are mashed into cubby holes and only turn on the lights when you come to the entrance. I suppose they are illegal and are keeping one step ahead of the regulators. Never really found the shoe store, but we did end up with 2 big suitcases. We trashed our two big ones this last summer. Who knew that if you are transporting food items that you used with one set of children to the next set of children, the potatoes will rot in a short amount of time. They last for weeks on the top of my fridge. That suitcase went in the garbage at Peter’s house. The other big suitcase has been so heavily overpacked for years that one of the wheels has gone lame, and it makes for difficult pulling. I am upset that I was not paying enough attention to money conversion rates and ended paying too much for the two new suitcases we bought, even with bargaining, which is expected at most of the stores.