Shopping Day Sunday

Unofficially, Sunday has become our shopping day as it's the only day we get to spend with each other, doing things together.

So today we decided to explore the local wholesale market, 荷花池 which is sort of similar to Chatuchak Market in Bangkok, except that this place has no map, whatsoever and it's much bigger. It actually reminded me more of the wholesale building that I went to in Hong Kong because this 荷花池 was not an open market that I expected, instead, it was a huge building of about 5 levels, even the surrounding streets are also part of the wholesale market. We barely finished exploring the lower levels of the building in the 2 hours that we were there. And we haven't even hit the streets yet.

 

Anyway, here's our 'loot' from 荷花池:

Things here are much cheaper than if you were to get it from shopping malls and such, usually when you buy 10 pcs and above, they will quote you their 批发价. Sometimes, if you are lucky, you can spot some good buys without having to buy such big quantities, like this hair-clip that I spotted, going at 5RMB.

And I also spotted this hair accessory selling for 5RMB each:

But there are so many colors that I cannot make a decision which one to choose, I eventually bought 10 @ 3RMB each:

Hehe....

After that we headed to the Panda house @ 宽窄巷 to get some souvenirs which will be characteristic of Chengdu for our nieces:

The top 3 are for our nieces and the bottom one was actually a gift from Gary after he returned from his last trip in August.

Aren't they adorable?!?! I loved it so much that we both agreed to get them for the gals.

After Panda house, we headed down to Metro to get some grocery shopping done, and also to get some stuff back home like the local spices as well as chewing gum.. lol

We liked Metro because it was so hard to get in! Actually not really, but let me share the huge amount of trouble we went just to get in. This is the only hypermart we know of, that requires you to be a member in order to get in. And to be a member, you need:

WHAT kind of documents are necessary to get a card?
Copy of your business license / organization code certificate (original)
ID of legal representative (original)
ID of card holder (original) 

Introduction letter (original)

The 1st time that I went there alone, they refused entry because I did not have a card to swipe at the entrance, even though I explained that I'm a foreigner and I want to check out the place. Their attitudes are not entirely the most pleasant - they stare at me blankly and mumbled in their local dialect why I can't go in, which of course I couldn't catch half of what she's saying, and turned away. 

So the next time I went, I got Gary to go with me and we spoke in English that we will like to apply for the member card. Now, we realized that when things are in English, things get done differently. They immediately processed our applications after looking at the company letter which was also all in English (even though we didn't have the other documents required - we only have our passports and the letter). So we got our cards!

Anyway, we like Metro for its wide selection of imported goods as well as low prices. This is where I can get my regular supply of soymilk, not as healthy as Sanitarium So Good but I have to make do with what I have. Besides my Magic Bullet is not as powerful as Pik Yee's Vitamix to make fresh Soya milk everyday. And it's also where Gary is 'spoilt for choice' in his selection of his skimmed milk. 

 

So here's what we bought in Metro:

Wholesale markets,Supermarts, Hypermarts - I love them all!