Mine and my new travel partners will never forget our stay here and the new friends we made at our favorite neighborhood market around the corner...we could say we lucked out, but I think it was the pay off for the desire and determination to meet "The Real China"...right Bill?
Our day in Shanghi took us to a carpet weaving factory where Rodger showed us how the carpets are made, told us how long they took multiple artists to create, and led us to where we could buy them...the thing is, these were really, really expensive...which makes this next story that much funnier. Jim holds firm that it was DOMO'S FAULT!
While roaming around the carpet showroom Jim was sipping a bottle of water and wondering how much longer until they could press on from their current assault on the group's wallets. He was either checking the time or looking at his camera...whatever it was, he turned his wrist...the wrist connected to the hand that has holding the bottle of water! As the water tumbled out of the bottle and onto the top of a 15 ft by 20 ft rug, a rug that the group had just been informed cost in the thousands of dollars and had taken multiple weavers multiple YEARS to complete, his face he is told reflected to shock and dismay that only an action of this nature could produce. Only he, Domo, and one lucky, LUCKY!, group member was fortunate enough to witness this heart pumping event, but he was told that his face was a grand comedic sight to see. This was when Rodger showed how cool-awesome-smooth-and-in charge of all carpet existence he truly was: Jim sputtered like a 5 -year-old who had to tell his mom that he had spilled his cranberry juice on the new living room carpet"RRRRooodddgerrr, uhhhh, I, uh, ... spilled...". Rodger snapped his fingers, calmly summoned a fellow worker, and swiftly, like a well seasoned matador, wiped the carpet off the stack and had the young man dry off the water with has literally sitting politely on top of the tightly woven fibers of the elaborate carpet, a testament to the quality of their weaving prowess!!! Then Rodger just looked at me, smiled, and said "No big deal..." and walked away to find a possible PAYING customer. To say that Rodger's steely resolve was impressive would be a China-sized understatement...
After the rug experience we went China's Chinatown. The ultimate opportunity to see the same 100 items, sold at 1,000 different little tables, by 2,000 different calculator wielding sales people. As interesting as all this high octane commerce was for Domo and I once we bartered our little chess set down to about 7 dollars we chose to grab a miniature Chinese Red Bull "Vitamin Functional Drink" and walk through a park and around the outskirts of the surrounding area. This day was capped off by hanging out with the son of one of the guys working at restaurant we had dinner at that night. He didn't squeak a word, but he was able to play a fully functional game of chess for the first time after watching me show him the moves 3 times...amazing display of learning, memorization, and attention span. The gift of an mocha ice cream bar from the staff that watched us play and showered us with smiles and welcoming gaze that said "thank you..." was the best tasting meal of the trip...a trip made-up of great meals!
The evening was brought to a close with the Cirques Du Soleil style show spotlighting the culture and history of Shanghi. Domo napped on the bus and escaped kidnapping this time :-).
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