Sunday turns into day of bargain shopping

** Countdown to our adoption: Only two days left before we get Matthew. **

By TERRY R. CASSREINO

BEIJING, China (Sunday, Dec. 7, 2008, 6:15 p.m.) – Pam is absolutely, positively intent about seeing the Bird’s Nest and the Water Cube from the summer Olympics in August.

So, we plan to get with our tour guide on Monday afternoon and head over to at least see – if not outright tour – the Olympic venues Monday before we head to Zhengzhou.

It actually will be interesting to see the stadiums up close – after all, the only times we saw them have been in high definition on NBC last fall.

Another Wal-Mart run

Sunday found Pam and I take a taxi to another side of the city and a better Wal-Mart SuperCenter.

What is it with the Cassreinos and their obsession with Wal-Mart, you ask. Well, we needed to buy a luggage lock so we can check-in Pam’s carry-on bag when we fly to Zhengzhou on Tuesday.

In-country flights have stricter regulations about carry-on bags than do international flights.

So we hopped into a taxi and for the equivalent of less than $4, traveled to the same Wal-Mart we visited in March and April 2006.

And among the first things we noticed once inside the store were all the Christmas trees and decorations for sale as seasonal songs played through the store speakers.

I quickly headed for the electronics and DVDs to see if I could find a Blu-ray version of John Woo’s “Red Cliff.” Unfortunately I didn’t see any Blu-rays and all the other movies had titles written in Mandarin.

Next, we headed through the clothing section – I tried to find a pair of khakis, but didn’t see any I wanted or any I thought might fit. And then, ultimately, we wound up in the food section.

This Wal-Mart had two floors and was packed with aisles of fresh meat. Besides the bins of loose chicken, customers picked through slabs of beef.

In the seafood section, fresh octopus joined eels, fish heads and shrimp in the open air on top of mounds of ice. Want fresh fish? Then pick the one you want from tanks against the wall.

One more interesting thing you don’t see in the United States: Tons of friendly sales assistants hoping to help you find what you need. The store had to have at least one assistant for every customer.

After a couple of hours of browsing we left forgetting to buy what we went for: The luggage lock.

Stop at Silk Market

Our next stop on our shopping tour took us on a $4 taxi ride across town to the Silk Market, a seven-floor monstrosity packed with vendors and merchants selling everything from clothing to jewelry. And just like Wal-Mart, this place was packed.

Pam and I browsed through a maze of endless aisles while aggressive merchants spoke in clear English trying to make a sale. If you show any interest, merchants will grab your clothes and not let you leave until you buy something.

If you look hard and are willing to bargain, you can find great deals in men’s clothing, women’s clothing, jewelry, watches, toys and electronics. Almost an entire floor saw merchants sell fashion underwear.

We were able to persuade a merchant to drop the price of a watch from about $40 to less than $4. And I could have easily bought 100 percent silk dress ties for less than $4 each.

The number and variety of products was endless and mindboggling. And after a couple of hours, we had enough and took a $4 taxi back to hotel.

Tonight: I hope to head back to the night street market and capture some high definition video. And on Monday: It’s off to Holt International’s Beijing office for orientation and new information about our son.

Copyright 2008 by Terry R. Cassreino. All rights reserved.