The Palestinian

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Went to the Yu Gardens because the Columbians said they might meet us.  Tried to txt  but it was a landline.  Walking through and it got busier and we came near bargain shops.  About to step into a shop and saw a non-Chinese dude so we said some stuff in English and he responded.  He was Palestinian but spoke perfect English with no accent.  He was a nursing student in Ohio and was now studying at the Second Military [some M word] Academy somewhere in Shanghai.  He’d only been there for a month but had a girlfriend who helped him learn some Mandarin.  He had all his classes in a hotel and lived there too and didn’t like the food.  He had some ME friends, one from Tunisia and one from Jordan, one was also a nurse and one was a doctor.  Or maybe one was a dentist.  Anyway, we said it was good to talk to him and parted ways.

 

It was CRAZY CROWDED in the Yu Gardens shopping part.  Literally packed, shoulder to shoulder as you walked through.  I paid heed to the advice of “Pretend you have the shoulders of a linebacker,” and kind of just powered my way through without being too pushy.  It also helped that I was many inches taller than most of the people around me.  Dani hooked arms with me and Catie with her and that’s how we got through.

 

We had our first hagging experiences there sorta.  I asked for journals and didn’t realize so I didn’t buy them.  Dani bought some scarves at the original price which was a little too much, but they’re nice and we didn’t really know and she was willing to pay the price so whatever.  I saw some glass Buddhas in a shop somewhere and took a picture and the girl told me no pictures and tried to sell and said she’d give me half price when I said I wasn’t interested, but I seriously wasn’t interested, and just kept walking away.

 

I saw a golden sculpture in the window of a jewelry store.  I thought the price on it said something like Y150 which is like $21, so I was totally going to buy it for mom.  Catie and I went into the store later and went to the high quality jade part and some things for upward of $50,000 USD.  I think some were even more than that.  I asked the person at the counter how much the ship was and she said it was 24k gold and then that it cost something like $50000 US or maybe it was $5000 US, I can’t remember anymore, but it was way too much.  I think the 150 part referred to the weight of gold.