Bazaar

Not bizarre as in weird (although sometimes); mostly just the kind with mobs of people, fake goods, and car salesman like business practices.  I went to Qibao (pronounced chee-bow) ancient town on Sunday.  This small water township is over one thousand years old.  It’s clearly been through some renovations, but it stands out in stark contrast to almost everything else that’s shiny and new in Shanghai.  Every street and cramped alley way was overflowing with tourists, shops, and aggressive sales people. What is it with the selfie sticks?!  The food highlights were: boiled bird eggs, strawberries in some gelatin thing, pig leg fried in sugar and soy sauce, and peanut brittle).  On a calm weekend morning I bet this place is pretty incredible, but on the weekend it’s more like a renaissance fair.

At the edge of the town is a towering temple and pagoda.  I had previously never been in to a Buddhist temple.  It was incredible.  It reminds me of the cathedrals in Europe in terms of history and beauty.  I definitely felt like a laowai (foreigner in Chinese) as everyone was bowing and following customs.  I just took pictures...

Monday was a field trip to supply chain heaven – Jiuxing market.  While this giant outdoor marketplace mostly caters to DIY construction projects, you can find everything here.  There are 9,000 stores, 25,000 people working, and it does $5 billion in sales per year.  I tried to get some good pictures, but none of them really capture the scale of what this place is.  The shops operate on a pretty fun business model.  If you want an invoice the price goes up 8%-10%.  Rumor is fake invoices are as common as the fake products.