Shopping and visit to ex-pat bike shop

This morning I didn't have class so I rode my bike 4 miles to a shopping bazaar in the basement of the Shanghai Science & Technology Museum. Two people had told me about the bazaar so I decided to check it out. I didn't have an address so I wondered if "basement" was something like the "basement of the Alamo" in PeeWee Herman's movie. (Hint: there is no basement of the Alamo). Well, I found it, and at 10am on a weekday the place has few shoppers. Shopkeepers globbed onto me like bees on honey. The bazaar is just like the shops of the bottom floors of the Pike Place Market in Seattle, except in Shanghai the shopkeepers yell at you to buy their goods. "Buy shirts?" "You want DVDs?" "You buy shoes" etc etc. Hold on to your wallet!

I was on a mission to buy ties and cross that off my shopping list. I ended up buying about 25. I bargained for 10 yuan for the cheapest ties, equal to $1.50. I started bargaining with a second tie seller and told her I would pay 7 yuan. I had to walk away from her twice before she agreed to 7 yuan. Then her friend who owned the booth where I paid 10 yuan happened to walk by and told her I had paid 10 yuan, so she said the deal was off. I just walked away and bought somewhere else. By the way, I found a great shop with scarves, so I'll go back.

In the evening following my afternoon classes I took a taxi to SISU, a bicycle shop and cycling club for ex-pats. I met Bill Gaylord from Atlanta, GA who runs the business with three partners. SISU has weekly rides Wednesday nights. The club also hosts touring rides on the weekends. Unfortunately I teach Wednesdays from 6:00-7:35pm so I'll miss the ride next week. Maybe next time. Bill talked non-stop and told me something interesting: Shanghai is building 50 miles of new roads EACH WEEK! He said people ask him for updated maps, and he tells them no sense in trying to get a new map because the roads are always changing. I heard about this growth from someone else but didn't believe it until Bill confirmed it. Looking around Shanghai you can see it is the world's largest construction site. Not only are they building new roads, but the existing roads are all under construction, too.