Saving Money and Eating Scorpion

So after not doing too much the past two weeks, I was starting to get a little antsy to see something other than my campus and the UChicago center. This coincided happily with my classmate's final presentation on the Beijing markets, more specifically the Zoo Market, which she explained has the lowest prices. So on Sunday, a me and a couple friends went down to the Zoo market, to see what we could see.

Walking through the market, I was reminded of why I don't go out a ton in Beijing- waaaay too many people crammed into waaaaay too small of a space. It was so insanely packed, I can't imagine how people could go shopping just for fun. As mentioned, the prices were good, but I was looking more for gifts for everyone at home, so I didn't buy much. I was thinking about getting a pair of "Uggs", and some of the misspellings were funny - "Nggs", "UGCs", or best yet "Aukstalia". :) The Zoo market was a lot like other ones here in Beijing, absolutely packed with people, and about 7 stories tall. The Zoo Market was a little different, in that it was far more "legit" - they don't have a lot of knockoffs and aren't geared towards foreigners.

After the Zoo Market we went to Wangfujing, where I've been a couple times before, with Charis and then once other time. I tried to buy a knock-off Tiffany's bracelet, but the lady wanted 85 RMB and wasn't willing to drop it very low. Having tempted Asta and Eddie to come with me with the promise of scorpions ad other assorted things sold for sale there, after going to get my dad's Christmas gift, we went to get Asta and Eddie a deep fried scorpion. Asta bought it and ate two, and then I ended up eating one, too! It was pretty decent - deep fried and covered in seasonings, so that was what you tasted. We also got fruit covered in sugar, and then also deep fried ice cream. The deep fried ice cream was so terrible, it was just covered in cold oil - a waste of 10rmb, that's for sure.

It was fun to go back to a place I'd been at the beginning of my stay in China. I was a lot more friendly and willing to talk to the sellers a lot more - one said, "Hello, you want to buy?" to me in English, and I told him, "It's okay, I speak Chinese!". I also got use the line, "I'm a poor student, I don't have much money!", though even then the lady didn't give me much of a discount. Another shopkeeper thought I was Russian, which isn't the first time I've been thought to be from Russia. I kind of like it, it means I look European. :p