The Ladies Market

This past Saturday we went to the Ladies Market in Man Kok. This is where people go and buy all of the fake products. Having been in an Israeli Shuk before, I had already mastered the haggling skill and as a result I could get anything I wanted for significantly less than my American friends.

My friend Chasen, being the compulsive shopper that he is, could not say no to anything and as a result started buying everything he saw. He started with the belts, followed with watches, towels, paintings, zippo lighters, shoes, sport jerseys, ties with a handkerchief and cufflinks and even rings. The fact that he was carrying that many bags made things worse. Every single shopkeeper kept pulling us in and throwing more stuff at us, there was no escape from there. After a couple stores ripped him off, I started doing the haggling for him. I explained to him that there is no way to win in these markets; you either get scammed, or you get scammed less, but in either case the shop will always make an insane profit, the only difference is how you feel afterwards.

Originally he had paid 200hkd ($26) for each silk tie/handkerchief/cufflink set. I bought 5 sets for 300hkd ($39) total. He also wanted to buy the jersey for 200hkd. I got it down to 50. I explained to him that the key to get a very reduced price is to throw an insanely low price, let them laugh at you and then simply walk away. They will chase you yelling lower prices until you turn around and buy it from them. They are so used to selling to the average tourist that they feel ashamed if they cant close a deal, and as a result will drop the price until you buy it.

Hong Kong has been trying to fight piracy for a while, and as a result they have a lot of undercover cops in the area. This made it more difficult for us to get the higher quality products, since the shopkeepers where afraid to display them. After talking to a local for a while, we convinced her to meet us in the KFC across the street with a bag containing 20 rolexes. Chasen ended up buying 5.

We walked for a while until the shops closed. Then we went to the parallel street to head back to the subway. The way Hong Kong shopping is organized is very interesting, there are streets dedicated for each individual product. There is a street for cellphones, one for computers, jeans, etc. At this point we where in the shoe street. It was insane to see the amount of Nike logos, every single store had a giant swoosh on top of it. There must have been at least 20 in a row, and again, Chasen being the compulsive shopper he is had to go in to every single one. He bought three limited edition jordan kicks. The only crappy thing about Hong Kong is that everyone is tiny, so finding a size 12 is nearly impossible. After going to 10 different stores, I was finally able to find one that had the shoe I wanted in my size.

In the end we added up all of what we bought. Between Sean and I we didn't even spent a fifth of what Chased did, even though each one of us bought a pair of shoes as well. Thats what I like about going out with him. It doesn't matter how much I spend, it will never be a significant portion of what he spends so it makes it alright.