Jade Market

Although we've traveled since Friday morning at 5:30 am our time, we decide to keep going as this is the only day to sightsee before we have Kaylee and also the Jade and Flower Markets are only open on the weekend.

The Hotel calls a cab for us as it's about a 30 min. ride to the Markets. Eva was kind enough to write the words in Mandarin for our driver.

We explore most of the Jade Market.There are hundreds of booths and it becomes overwhelming. Most vendors are not agressive and just let you browse. This may be due to the language barrier.



In one of the first few booths, I spy a jade gator. Troy and I collect a gator from all the places we travel. We decide to keep looking to see what other gators are available. That is the only one we find. Finding pigs and dragons is easy, gators aren't so prevalent.



We go back several times, only to find the booth unattended and it appears the proprietor is standing at a nearby table playing some type of checker-like game. He is totally absorbed in the game and does not stop for customers. On our final visit, we catch him at the table and he names his price by typing a number on the calculator. An older woman who speaks English assures Troy he is getting a good deal and she doesn't understand why they offer the lower prices to we foreigners. He hands Troy the calculator to make his counter offer and as Troy and I discuss it and agree on a price, he must have got impatient to get back to his game and drops the price lower than we were going to offer. You will have to see it in person, as the photos don't do it justice.



My find is a carved ink stamp. The carving detail is so intricate and features a village and tiny people carved into the stone. We ask for an interpretion of the stamp and they didn't seem to know so agreed it must be good fortune. We'll take it.

We're getting tired and hungry and decide to make a pass through the Flower Market.