Beijing, Day 3: on staring, bartering, and dumplings

Drew and I came to Beijing as tourists, but it turns out that Drew is actually the tourist attraction.  When we are out and about, we attract SO MANY stares.  Drew thinks that it is because of his handsome looks, but I don’t think so.  It seems like people are glaring at us, but I tell myself that they are just staring rather intently.  And the stares are bewildered stares, not, say, come hither stares.  Or friendly stares.  Have they never seen a white person? Perhaps not.  White people in Beijing have been so few and far between that even I have started to get excited when I see a white person.  I should be sympathetic (but really, he says the staring doesn’t bother him), but I’m not.  Being Asian and growing up in Minnesota, I have attracted quite a number of stares myself.  So, I’m not exactly sympathetic when the tables are turned.

Yesterday, down in the subway, a little girl saw Drew and actually nudged her older sister so she too could have a look.  The little girl looked scared, so maybe the nudge was a warning of imminent danger.  Today, while Drew was buying tickets down in the subway, two prepubescent boys actually came up and stared at him.  They got so close that I thought they were going to reach out and touch him.

I would like to blame Drew for all the staring, but I have realized that I attract stares on my own.  Even though people try to talk to me in Chinese, I’m sure that I look foreign.  I have quite a tan, and this makes me stand out when everyone else is so pale.  I also forgo the parasols and umbrellas that women use for sun protection, and I wear sunglasses.  My clothes are modest, but I do wear tank tops, revealing more skin than most of the women here.

Last night, Drew and I had our first bartering experience.  He needed sunglasses, so we stopped off at this little shop.  I have never bartered before (except when I bought my car), but according to my guidebooks, it seemed to be expected.  Drew was trying on the cheaper sunglasses, and then the shop guys tried to upsell him the Ray Bans.  He asked me what I thought and I said “I think they know you’re American and white.”  He settled on one of the cheap pairs and asked for the price.  The guys entered 78 on the calculator (I  was prepated to communicate this way), which was Y78 (this translates into about $12).  Now, $12 is cheaper than sunglasses in the U.S., but I decided that there was no way we were buying these without some haggling.  I looked rather unimpressed, and I was.  I told Drew to barter, and so he suggested Y50 (about $7.70).  The guys then said Y60 (about $9.23).  I still wasn’t satisfied, and Drew looked at me.  I said Y55 (about $8.46), and they accepted.  Bartering saved us about $3.50, but it wasn’t about the money.  We probably still overpaid, but at least we didn’t go out without a fight.  Bartering was a fun experience, and I’m glad I read up on the bartering tips in my guidebook.

Today, Drew and I went to a coffeeshop to take advantage of the air conditioning and to get some work done.  I have discovered that the only thing more expensive in China than in the U.S. is coffee.  My iced coffee cost about $3.25 and Drew’s latte was $4 (of course, that’s comparable to the cost of lattes in the U.S.).  Coffee hasn’t really caught on in China, which explains why the coffeeshop didn’t open up until 9am.  And why there isn’t a Starbucks on every street corner.

Drew and I ate lunch with his adviser, WF, today.  His adviser is teaching a summer course at one of the universities, and he has been an indispensable resource.  We went to a dumpling place, and it was really, really nice to have someone to navigate the menu and order for us.  Plus, seeing as how servers and store clerks always approach me first and ignore Drew, this was the first time that I too got ignored.  When we sat down, our server immediately began to talk to WF and ignored me and Drew.  Trust me, it was a nice change.  Apparently, WF looks more authentically Chinese than me, which he should because he actually is Chinese and I am not.  Anyway, lunch was fabulous and so incredibly cheap (about $10 for all three of us, including beer).  We ate lots of dumplings, a potato stir fry, a cold noodle salad, and garlic eggplant.  I asked WF if there was a place like this in Orange County, and sadly, he said that there is not.  Well, from now until when I return home, I’m going to eat my weight in dumplings.