The pains of bargaining + Great Wall and Bird's Nest

Today my rellies organized for their driver to take me out to the mutianyu section of the great wall. Mutianyu is a bit further away than the badaling section of the wall, which is the most densely visited by tourists. Many tourists had recommended on traveller forums to stay away from badaling and visit one of the more far removed sites, so it was fortunate i didn't have to spare any expense to get out there. Mutianyu is set up to cater for tourists though, charging admission tickets, providing chairlifts and of course being populated by agressive souvenier vendors!
Once i got off the chairlift at the top i hiked for about 45 minutes in one direction til i hit the sealed off section right at the top of a climb. fantastic view from the top there. there i met another aussie tourist, and we were chatting away when suddenly this other middle aged chinese woman collapsed behind us. luckily the guy i was chatting with was alot faster than me, and quickly got her into the first aid recovery position. She was fine after a few minutes though. i think she just overexerted herself on the climb or blood pressure had dropped to low.
to decend from the top of the wall you can either take the chairlift back down or a luge. Was psyching myself up to do the luge, but when i found out its actually like a bob-sled luge and not a road luge i chickened out. they've got guards/minders posted at various sections of the luge tube, and as i was decending on the chairlift above i could see all of them were asleep at their posts. That re-assured me i made the right decision and i wasn't a chicken :)
Nothing much else to say about the wall, just look at the pics! at first i was very chuffed about the quality of them, then i realized however or whoever took the pics it would always come out awesome.


unfortunately took too much time at the wall, so didn't have time to visit the summer palace after. instead shi guo (the driver) dropped me off at the bird's nest (olympic stadium) and let me roam around for about 45 mins. A friend had told me he'd recently went there and entered the stadium for free, but this time when i went they were charging 50 yuan to enter. It was pretty packed with people too, so didn't have enough time anyway. Regret not going at night though, since it and the water cube would've looked much more pretty with lights. up close it looks a bit ugly, since all the 'straws and twigs' of the structure look so chunky. not just here, but everywhere in china they're still selling official olympic 2008 merchandise, and even special olympic stores are still open! It's such a source of great pride for the people, so i guess they'll be selling stuff for awhile yet, years maybe?! I myself finally managed to track down an 'official' dvd of the openning ceremony. u don't know how hard it was to find. everyone here kept giving me funny looks when i explained i wanted a 'real' non-pirated version!

Shi guo (or was it guo shi?) my driver turned out to be a real nice guy. Once I started talking to him he was real happy to tell me a little about himself and exchanging differences btw china and australia. I found out a few things about driving regulations in china, like you don't have your licence automatically suspended if you're caught drink driving, if any foreign drivers kill anyone in an accident they're automatically deported, and chinese drivers can kill upto 3 people in accidents before they lose their licence (can't remember if it's permanant). Actually i don't know if Queensland road authorities specify how many people you can kill before you lose your licence. I think it's just a worry that the chinese authorities actually specify a number! Actually now that i think of it, it's a real worry why shi guo knew all these facts.

After the bird's nest i got shi guo to drop me off at the silk market, one of the well known markets in bj for clothing, jewelry and souveniers. This was actually my second visit, since i had to exchange a shirt i'd found a small hole in. luckily the guy i'd dealt with the previous day was there again, and i think he actually liked me so he was more than happy to change shirts. Not that i think everyone actually liked me just cuz they called me friend. Or all the old ladies calling me 'shuai ge' handsome boy. Of course they do that for everyone, and they all tell you they'll give u the 'friend's discount' just for you, or give you 'a little cheaper'. Luckily since i look local i didn't get hassled as much, and just grunted and noded when they were throwing me the sales pitch.
I know some people enjoy bargaining, but i think it's a major pain in the arse. I really just don't have the patience and time to play these games, bluffing, making several rounds, eavesdropping on other sales, and doubling back to stores. but then of course you have to bargain or else u'r badly getting ripped off and look like a complete ass when you compare what you're paying to everyone else. and here they really do start at astronomical prices. eg. shirts that usually go for 40 yuan they'll start at 300 yuan. obviously the local chinese on average probably obtain a lower price than the tourists, but most tourists who come here do push as hard as they can, me included. I'm sure i could've got lower prices with the stuff i bought, but i like to justify by telling myself they probably need the money more than me :)
NONE of the clothes there are real. so it's ridiculous when they start at such high prices and adamantly tell you it's real. It's so simple to point out to them why it's fake though, like all the spelling errors on the labels. I thought i'd use this as a tactic to speed up the bargaining process with one pair of jeans, but i actually ended up pissing off the lady vendor after i told her all her jeans were poor quality (maybe at one point i could've thrown in the word 'rubbish', i can't remember!). Then i thought i'd use the walk away trick hoping she might suddenly change her tune and call me back with a discount. didn't work. she just stood there and kept shouting and hurling abuses at me in chinese even from 3 stores away. guess she'd had a rough day.
The walking away trick does usually work though if you're on the verge of a deal. I had to pull out the ole 'walkaway' when i was buying a long sleeve tee. absolutely arduous sale though. heres how it went, picked out a shirt i wanted and got the price from 160 down to 80. i knew he wasn't going to budge as much as the other stores since his was the only one selling these particular prints and styles. So i was happy to buy it at 80 but then i wasn't too sure of the size, since it was small. i sometimes fit into small things in oz, but being china the sizing standards could've been different. he adamantly assured me it'd fit after he spread it out against my arms, but in the end i decided to try it on. so after getting half naked in the store (theres no changing rooms) , found the sleeves to be ridiculously short. After giving me a sheepish grin, he asked if maybe there was a different print i wanted. We picked out a different white one, but then i noticed an ugly black dirt mark on the back. of course he assured me it'd come off in the wash, but i didn't wanna take the chance. Finally though, i found a larger version of the orginial shirt i'd wanted, that he hadn't even been aware of! So after all that i'm just about to pay for it and he tells me this one isn't 80, it's 90, for some unknown reason. bastard! as if you're not already making a huge profit out of me you still wanna squeeze me further! So i told him 'suan', walked away and then he pulled me back with the orginal price. what a pain....