A few days before Grace arrived in Shanghai, I was walking down Nanjing Lu when I encountered the most persistent street vendor. He approached me as I walked by and wanted to sell me two fake Mont Blanc pens.
"Cheapie-cheapie, 100 kwai!", he said (~ $14 Cdn). "Booyao xiexie," (don't want thank you) I replied in one of the few but likely the most useful chinese phrase I have learned.
The man started walking beside me saying "Okay okay 3!, cheapie-cheapie 100 kwai" adding a third pen to the box....."Booyao xiexie", I replied......."Okay okay...... 4!, cheapie-cheapie 100 kwai" reaching into his pocket and adding a fourth....."Booyao xiexie", I replied mildly amused now......"Okay okay 5....6....7.....8...........13! Cheapie-Cheapie! 100 Kwai!" After offering the 13th pen, the box, which was built for two pens was bursting open with pens falling out....... "Booyao xiexie," I replied fully laughing at the whole ordeal now........"Okay okay 13!......and Omega watch, cheapie-cheapie, 100 kwai!".
At this point, I realized I was not going to lose this guy too easily. What probably spurred on his persistance was my snickering at the peculularity of the whole situation. Finally, wanting to shake him I stopped walking and stood to cross the street, hoping he would get the picture that I was not interested. "Come, cheapie-cheapie he repeated while tapping my arm for about 15 more seconds before finally relenting.
A couple of things strike me from this experience; one is that being friendly and acknowledging some of these vendors is not the best way to avoid their persistent sales pitch, the second is to never take their first offer, as there is a good chance that you will be offered 11 more pens and a watch!
~Paul
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2 comments:
haha, i can't believe that the word for "don't want" is "boo yea!" that's awesome. ~ heather
Paully you are hillarious! I can fully picture you in all of these scenarios. Keep the stories coming! Ryan says hellow. ~ Sarah
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