Beijing Day 6
Memorable events of the day:
* Lunch with Tony Wei, CEO of MySpace China (www.myspace.cn), who gave us a tour of the offices and a 2-hour education on the Chinese Internet market. There are tremendous opportunities due to the massive size, but the market is still very immature due to the fact that the per capita GDP here is about 1/10th of the U.S.
* A negotiation with a woman at the Silk Market ended up in a minor assault — she literally hit me as I walked away when she did not like my “best price”. It was harmless and very funny! But as Steve can attest, the women are extremely aggressive…
* Passing out ice cream cones to our favorite vendors from the day. After literally 6 hours of intense shopping — every stop includes a serious haggling session — Steve and I took $20 to the mini-grocery store and had them give us as many packaged ice cream cones as that would buy (about 3 dozen) and we handed them out Oprah-style. “You get an ice cream cone. And you get an ice cream cone…” At one point, we literally almost started a riot!
* Getting fitted for a custom-made suit — for 900 Renminbi (~$133) I’m getting a suit and dress shirt made. “Susan” and her sister took great care of us. And the cool thing is, they keep your measurements on file, so once you’re in their system, you can re-order and they’ll ship to you!
* Returning underwear for a larger size at one of the Silk Market stations. See “Skid Row” post here.
* Rocking to 50-cent in the back of taxi home from the market. The Chinese cab driver, in splintered English asked, “You like the rap music?!”
* Enjoying “comfort food” — a hamburger, fries and a beer @ Molly Malone’s, an Irish pub across the street from our hotel.
Here’s my favorite pic of the day:
