An edited snippet (for grammar) from a conversation on the topic of travelling in China:
Don't forget the exchange rate! $1 equals almost 7. You will save lots of money shopping!
:) I tried to make a joke about this statement but the speaker of this quote kept pushing on about all the things you could buy. Ahhh, to be young, carefree and naive again -- both a blessing and a curse.
My wife has been tracking our spending in China the past few weeks. I'll look through her notes later and try to make some sense of it but in the meantime, some recent spending stories in a similar vein to the above quote.
Cheap EatsA new Korean restaurant opened up near my son's preschool so we went over one night for dinner. Food was tasty and cheap. The typical dish was priced at 7 RMB. appetizers at 4 RMB which meant for about $2 USD a person, you could have a very satisfying meal. This restaurant though is 2 blocks away from one of my wife's favorite shopping spots (a parking garage chopped up into tiny merchant stalls) so we walked by for a look. We went from looking for a sweater for my 2 year old daughter to boots, skirts, tops, etc. for my wife. $7 dinner -- $50 shopping afterwards.
Only 10 LeftA local merchant had a special deal -- vests for 18 RMB ($2.65) -- but he only had 10 of them so get there early before they're sold out! He opened at 10:30AM so we first sat around for an hour at a restaurant eating dim sum -- 50 RMB ($7.35). Then we walked around the supermarket for another hour buying this and that -- 150 RMB ($22). Finally we were able to buy a vest and it certainly was a great deal as we had previously bought the same vest elsewhere for 42 RMB ($6.18). But the total spending report definitely favored the more expensive vest.
Now these numbers are very small for somebody earning a U.S. income living in China but I'm sure everybody has similar stories except with numbers proportionally bigger. It's hard not falling into these traps as businesses simply have the upper hand on consumers.
(Filed in spending)
"Look at all the money I saved!"
Posted by Mossy
January 17, 2010 3:27 PM
:) I tried to make a joke about this statement but the speaker of this quote kept pushing on about all the things you could buy. Ahhh, to be young, carefree and naive again -- both a blessing and a curse.
My wife has been tracking our spending in China the past few weeks. I'll look through her notes later and try to make some sense of it but in the meantime, some recent spending stories in a similar vein to the above quote.
Cheap Eats
A new Korean restaurant opened up near my son's preschool so we went over one night for dinner. Food was tasty and cheap. The typical dish was priced at 7 RMB. appetizers at 4 RMB which meant for about $2 USD a person, you could have a very satisfying meal. This restaurant though is 2 blocks away from one of my wife's favorite shopping spots (a parking garage chopped up into tiny merchant stalls) so we walked by for a look. We went from looking for a sweater for my 2 year old daughter to boots, skirts, tops, etc. for my wife. $7 dinner -- $50 shopping afterwards.
Only 10 Left
A local merchant had a special deal -- vests for 18 RMB ($2.65) -- but he only had 10 of them so get there early before they're sold out! He opened at 10:30AM so we first sat around for an hour at a restaurant eating dim sum -- 50 RMB ($7.35). Then we walked around the supermarket for another hour buying this and that -- 150 RMB ($22). Finally we were able to buy a vest and it certainly was a great deal as we had previously bought the same vest elsewhere for 42 RMB ($6.18). But the total spending report definitely favored the more expensive vest.
Now these numbers are very small for somebody earning a U.S. income living in China but I'm sure everybody has similar stories except with numbers proportionally bigger. It's hard not falling into these traps as businesses simply have the upper hand on consumers.
(Filed in spending)
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