Pearl Market is like Divi Mall, only with jacked-up prices, a place where tourists get to buy souvenirs at tourist rates. The guide told us to bargain really hard and quote price really low. The shopkeepers are good in English and in the art of acting and persuasion. A lot of the stuff there I could buy in Divisoria. There are some items though that cannot be bought just anywhere, like souvenir shirts, any item with Chairman Mao in it, anything with Beijing logo.
We roamed around the market for an hour; my friend brought some shirts and table runners. I wanted to buy those I ♥ Beijing shirts, not the regular kind, a special one which would make any Filipino laugh out loud when they see it. We noticed that some shops sells "I ♥ BJ" shirts, and BJ, in the Philippines, is a shortened term for "blow job", so there you go. I also wanted to buy the I Climbed the Great Wall shirts, because it'll remind me that I am such a liar...I just walked a section, and climbed the first stairs, so I'm not entirely lying. Heehee. Well, I didn't buy any because I thought I could buy it anywhere in Beijing. Well, I was so wrong. We didn't find anything like that again. I guess those kinds of souvenirs can only be found at the tourist traps shops like the Pearl Market. I didn't want to haggle so I didn't buy. My bad.
I have no photos of the Pearl Market; I left my cameras in the van because I didn't want to stand out as a foreign tourist. Then I realized when we went inside the market that I may be Asian but my eyes are definitely not almond-shaped or chinky; they're big and round. I was not successful in trying to assimilate. Haha.
And speaking of which, I get stared at, a lot. I don't know why. Is it really seldom that people from Mainland China sees Southeast Asians? I'm quite fair, and skin color-wise, I could pass off as Chinese, although I'm more on the pink side than the yellow side. My hair is black like theirs as well as the colors of my eyes. Is it because of my big, round eyes? I thought at first that I just look really, really cute that's why I get stared at. Heehee. But that is just my inner diva and vanity speaking. LOL. Or maybe because I'm rotund? Heehee. I guess, it is the latter reason. I haven't seen any plus-sized people there. Yup, that might be it.
