On Saturday I had planned to visit the Canton fair, which I talked about a few posts ago. I was all ready to go...I had a collared shirt on, directions in my pocket, and an adventurous attitude. I had asked my Chinese friend Mei about it, and I checked my email just before I left. She said you can't just roll up to the door and walk in...you need to be a registered buyer. To get registered, you need an invitation to the Fair from the government, and also a business card, and probably a lot of other paperwork. I didn't have any of these things, so I opted to skip out and save myself a lot of time.
I decided instead to explore a part of the city I had never been to, and see what there was to see. I took the bus to the start of the subway system, and looked for somewhere to go. I noticed a subway stop called 东山口 (Dong-Shan-Kou) on the map, and was happy that I recognized all the characters. 东 is the second half of our province 广东 (Guangdong) so I see it a lot. It means east. 山 is mountain, and 口 is mouth. When dealing with place names, a lot of times they are not literal, so the Chinese don't think the place is called East Mountain Mouth. It's just DongShanKou.
So, I got off the subway at 东山口, and went to see what there was to see. It's fun being a stranger in a way, because everything is new and interesting. I emerged from the subway to see not a big throughfare street as usual, but small, narrow passageways. The streets were lined with small mom-and-pop shops selling clothes. It was great...a nice change from the polluted, busy, and loud streets I'm used to. Even though I was still in the middle of Guangzhou, and could see all the tall buildings and hear the traffic in the distance, it felt like I was in a much smaller, less busy town. There was a small park area with a waterfall, and many 'grandparents' playing Chinese checkers and Mah Jong. There were many benches laid nicely out in the small space, and there were people on almost all of them, resting in the shade, and some napping. It was a nice spot out of the sun, and the flowing water nearby was calming.
I left the park, and walked down the small streets. At 东山口 I had come upon a colonial neighborhood, with different architecture than I see most of the time. Guangzhou was China's only sea port, so it was a popular location for foreign traders and their boats to dock and to set up. This is evident in the neighborhood I found myself in. If I was a student of architecture, I would be able to pick out the different buildings' origins. But since I'm not, all I could tell is that it was different. One building would have looked quite at home in old Hamilton. It was all brick (there is not much brick here) and had two columns rising up to the top of the building. There was a prominent "1937" at the top of the columns, giving me a timeframe to think about.
All the mom-and-pop stores in this area sold clothes, and I spent many hours looking through racks upon racks of random shirts. There were pirated pieces, factory seconds, and probably some authentic clothes too. I found everything; pirated Oakley backpacks, tennis and badminton raquet frames, reams of fake designer clothes, and the odd piece of high quality clothing. I picked through the clothes that didn't seem to have any order, occasionally finding something that fit and looked good. There were lots of stores, and all had the same format and stock. The prices varied though, and I bought three shirts. Two button-ups, and one t-shirt.
While buying my clothes, I was happy to use the Mandarin numbers I've recently learned. It took me two months to learn the numbers, and boy are they useful! I also know how to ask how much an item is. I have heard the phrase for "It's too expensive!" but can never seem to dredge it up when I need to. Regardless, I enjoy bartering with the shopkeepers. Sometimes the store keepers would think my struggles with the language are cute, and like me. Other times, not so much. Either way, I usually got what I thought was a good price. However, because I'm a foreigner, they sometimes try and take advantage of me, and won't come down in price enough. When that happens, I just walk out. When I tell this to my Chinese co-workers, they are pleased and smile and laugh. I think they don't feel I'm capable of driving a hard bargain! A few times the storekeepers have come out of the shop to wave me back in, where they are more than pleased to accept my offer. I was taken advantage of in Hong Kong when I bought a fake watch (I knew it was fake) for WAY more than it was worth. So now, I don't mind walking out, because I don't want to be ripped off again. I glad I learned my lesson early.
So, that was my trip to DongShanKou. It took all afternoon, and I really enjoyed discovering the different buildings and calm feeling in this new neighbourhood. I think I'll head there again in the future.
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