You Don't Know Cheap

The damage is done, and wasn't anywhere near as bad as I was expecting; but then again, neither was the shopping.

Before coming to Thailand, people were constantly warning us of the need to bargain for EVERYTHING and boasting about the great shopping.  Here in Bangkok especially people were recommending all these great places to shop, telling us that the shopping here is great and really cheap.  Well, to those people, "You don't know cheap like we know cheap!"  It's true!  It's no wonder so many people think the Chinese are cheap: they have the cheapest prices.  I guess it's because everything is made in China, but as far as we can tell, it really is the cheapest place for shopping!

We went to this massive mall today, MBK, which we were told has great variety and you can bargain!  I would really love to know what other peoples' definition of "bargain" is, because it's clearly different from ours!  There was one point when I asked a guy (who was on his phone) how much a shirt was, and he just pointed to a sign "199".  Everything was 199, and they're attempt at bargaining was, "Okay, okay.  Discount.  180."  Bu hao!  I say, BU HAO!  I miss shopping in China.

Other than a few articles of clothing (we get bored of wearing the same three shirts) we didn't really buy much.  Not much compared to China at any rate.  It's disappointing, but that's that.  I'm now secretly (and yet not so secretly) planning a trip to Shenzen before we leave HK to come home.  I miss the rush of a good bargain.

All in all, I say that unless you've been shopping in China you do not know the meaning of the word cheap!