We took the MTR into Shen Zhen with Gooma. The ride is only 45minutes.I don’t really know what it is like in China, because we just stayed in the mall that is right outside the customs. The mall is like Pacific Mall but 5 floors tall.
When we arrived at the border we had to go to the “Foreigners” entrance and get through customs. And then meet back up with Gooma, which was difficult because there are multiple exits and you are not supposed to go back in to the terminal once you have left. We were outside waiting and I could see Gooma inside, so as I tried calling to her, the security guard became very cross with me. So eventually Ed had to sneak in to get Gooma. I was worried about getting in trouble if I got caught.
We had dim sum when we arrived as we waited for the stores to regain electricity. This was dim sum #3, Gooma was worried we would get sick of it, but there is no way. My favourite dish was the ginger steamed milk. And surprisingly they didn’t have any hot mustard.
We found the cheong sam store that Gooma’s friends recommended. We found a great material that was left behind by some other foreigner for my dress. It will be ready on Tuesday for a fitting. We also got Ed a jacket and pants made for the tea ceremony.
Then the shopping frenzy began. Gooma had a list given to her from her friends for the best places to go, so we sought those out and we were happily surprised. The first shoe store we were in, the sales girl walked us quite far to a bedding store and behind a big box was a door to another room. Inside this room were “brand” name shoes that cannot be seen by the police because they have labels on them. Everything was there Yves Saint Laurent, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Burberry, Versace, Chanel, etc. They had to run back and forth to where ever their warehouse was to get the shoes, which took a long time. Gooma used this to her advantage when bargaining. The final sale was $700 Yuan for 3 pairs of shoes and a t-shirt. I got red “Gucci” pumps and Ed got a t-shirt.
Next we got 20 socks for $200; the original offer was 8 pairs for $100.
Another shoe store, the store looked closed from the front, with their windows covered. There weren’t any fake labels here that I had heard of; but lots of shoes none the less. I got away with a pair of grey boots.
Next target, a purse store where Gooma selected several gifts for Christmas presents and I tried to find a purse for Mom but there weren’t any nice ones really, so I will have to keep looking. I did get a brown leather purse though.
Ed started noticing the mass amounts that I was accumulating and started looking. The store next door had fake Abercrombie and AE but nothing really spectacular.
On to the next store, my favourite, it was truly ghetto. I spotted several patterns of “Le Sportsac”and was suspicious that if they can make fake “LV” and “Gucci”, how they cannot have “Le Sportsac”. And I was right, turns out the ones they show with all the fake words on them are just for show. So I was asked to pick a few models and colours I liked and then a girl would go get them. So I figured she would go to storage somewhere. Then she climbed up the shelves and into the ceiling!!!! She had to move a ceiling panel and go in, slide the panel back over and then someone would put a purse back on the shelf. It was truly amazing. I picked out 3 bags, I could have easily picked 10, and Gooma bargained from $480 to $180. I would have paid $300. What an amazing deal.
Finally, we stopped to have an afternoon snack, Peking Duck. First and second course and then we were stuffed. Then before we left we used the facilities, I peed in a toilet bowl in the ground, twice!
And I finally found Starbucks mugs, one Hong Kong and one China, the mugs in HK are espresso cups. So I am happy to have found the full size mugs.
It was a very productive day!
We came home to rest and ended up staying in the night.