Night bargains
(Night bazaar in the old town: Shanghai, China)
Ying and I have been to Shanghai’s night market at least once. I also managed to herd my mum and went there on their very first night in China, so I was throwing them straight in there, I was a little disappointed to discover that the dazzling display you can see in this image is only a few years old. It seems that for many years, the night market was simply that, a market. Now it had been spruced up and no doubt the prices have been too. There are many ancient brands in the market – probably on the same spot as when they were founded, but there are also the obligatory tatty souvenir stands too.
Saying that (for a person unfamiliar with the recent past of the area), the effect is a generally good one; smart buildings, enough fairy lights to take the edge off the night and decent shops and restaurants hiding around the cusp of every curling roof.
It is within this bustling, illuminated commotion that the famed dumpling restaurant is nestled, next to a fountain filled pond, right in the middle. It is diverting at best, but I was leaning heavily on my family as they were drawn in by the prices of the many goods on offer. They probably thought I was being terribly cruel not to allow purchases on their first night, but in these places, everyone add fifty percent on to the usual asking price and many foreigners don’t know the difference. I am still caught out all the time, even when I believe I have gotten a genuine bargain, I’m not sure that in China I ever have.
– Today Rosie is in the UK, on a train –
