clumsy

on the beautiful Saturday of may 6th, N, my 'san ge mei mei' (three sisters), TI and I went to spend a day in the biggest flee market in Beijing - Pan Jie Yuan. it's a beautiful market with lots of things you really don't need that you are willing to bargain for for hours...

as there were six of us - we decided to split and meet later. it didn't take long before i laid my eyes on the most impressive pestle and mortar I have ever seen. three pieces of carved marble - I just had to have it. ofcourse i wanted to hold it so the seller handed the article to his helper who helped handing it to me. this complex handover allowed for one of the pieces to fall and break - well - a tiny piece of clay statue.

it took literally 3 seconds when a group of about 15 locals surrounded me - the foreigner - who just broke what is apperently a piece of a 6 statues series claimed to be worth 6000RMB (!!!).

big drama. lots of Chinese around you. very embarrassing. you want to disappear. you can't. it is very hot and your sisters are looking at you quite amused by the situation. heading to the market police to settle the issue. meeting with N and TI who will from now on take the lead on the negotiation. did I mention it was hot?! and tense?! after some 30 minutes (nerve racking... well - not so ...) we settled on 150RMB compensation for the statue (note that the negotiations involved tears, pregnant belly and three market police officers ...

I found a similar pestle and mortar in a different booth. bargained with my new 'friends' from ~1800RMB to ~160RMB.