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From Dirt to Pearl, Shopping Beijing’s Many Markets: Postcard From Suzy Gershman

Peter Greenberg Worldwide
Locations in this article:  Beijing, China Hong Kong San Francisco, CA Shanghai, China

Chinese Market ShoppingDear Peter,

I don’t speak or read Chinese but I often play ‘The License Plate Game”  as I travel, which taught me the Chinese kanji symbol for Beijing.

I needed this information to make it through the Shanghai Train Station as the departures were posted in Chinese.

After a rocky night onboard the train, I was overjoyed to reach Beijing’s main train station.

There Sarah and I found a team from the Peninsula Hotel who took the luggage from the hustlers I’d hired (capitalism lives in China!) and drove us to Goldfish Lane, our regular address in Beijing.

Beijing Hotels and Restaurants

Urban Beijing Near The Peninsula Hotel BeijingThe Peninsula Beijing has a wonderful location near Wafujing. There’s a Chinese restaurant that has excellent dim sum in the basement. After the night on the train, it was a special treat to have breakfast in the lounge at The Peninsula and to shower and slip into the luxurious bed.

Despite our pleasure with property we still inspected other hotels. The Fairmont is a great new find. It’s in the Central Business District (CBD), a short walk from Silk Alley. Visitors should not confuse this part of town with Financial Street, where there are many luxury hotels. Financial Street is a difficult location for getting a taxi whereas the CBD is great for business and shopping.

The hotel has amazing style and resembles the famed Rem Koolhas building (located not far away) with a square cut into the building’s center to showcase the multimillion dollar glass dragon sculpture.

We stuffed ourselves on Australian beef at the hotel’s award-winning steakhouse, The CUT Grill, which overlooks the hotels’ multi-million dollar glass dragon sculpture.

For more Beijing travel ideas, check out the Ask the Locals Travel Guide: Beijing, China.

Chinese market goodsShopping

After recovering from the train, my first stop was The Pearl Market for watches, hair ornaments, and other trinkets. They also sell fake versions of brands name makeup.

Next, Sarah and I headed to Ya Show Market, the leading market for fakes purses, jewelry and other junk.

They also have a floor of fabrics and tailors. There are cute girls dressed in hot pink matching T-shirts running across the floor.

When we got bored with Ya Show, we went to Silk Alley, which was much the same. The quality of the fabric at both markets was pretty bad, so we searched out new tailors. The tailors congregate in one space where they sell fabrics and do copy work.

They all have names like Wendy Tailor– there’s no Elizabeth Tailor!!! Prices for a garment begin around $12 and average $15-20 for trousers or a simple top.

Exploring China? Don’t miss the China Travel section

Sarah Shops Beijing, Scores at Dirt MarketWe made sure to be in Beijing on a Saturday for the famed Dirt Market, a giant flea market that can be a lot of fun.

The market offers everything from Communist Worker Art posters to ancestors portraits (all fake). Sarah bought an amazing foo dog for under $100.

Beijing Airport

The Capital Airport was re-done for the Olympic Games. It now has several luxury hotels and various perks.

There’s also fairly good shopping there. From the Capital Airport we flew to San Francisco non-stop on our beloved United Airlines.

Alas, this time the food was disgusting and the plane very full.

Dragon Kisses,
SuzyKG

By Suzy Gershman for PeterGreenberg.com. Visit Suzy on the Web at www.suzygershman.com andwww.borntoshoplady.blogspot.com and of course, check out her latest book Suzy Gershman’s Born to Shop California Wine Country.

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