the best bargain ever

on our last day in yangshuo, greg, brooke, and i wandered down into this underground shopping center that we'd walked past several times that week but never explored. most of the stores were closed up, steel garage-style gates pulled down over the storefronts. i wandered away from the other two and into this shop that was selling some colombia, north face, and abercrombie pants and shirts. i asked the guy for the price on a pair of abercrombie pants i was looking at. "150 yuan." (a bit over $20 US) pretty cheap for abercrombie, i thought, so i told him i thought they were fake and that if they weren't, they were selling them for way too little. since they're probably fake, "70 is the most i'll pay" i told him. he refused and i walked out and across the way over to where greg was standing next to a ridiculously good-looking twenty-something year-old chinese girl, looking at the ties on the racks in front of him. "how much?" i asked him. "twenty-five. she told me one fifty at first." i looked at her, mock outrage in bold letters on my face... speaking in chinese, i said "you told him ONE HUNDRED and FIFTY yuan? that's more than we'd pay in america for these ties if they were REAL! one hundred fifty... poor college students can't buy ties for that much." she giggled uncomfortably and we talked a bit. i asked her were she learned her english. beijing. and how she ended up with a german/european english accent. no idea. she looked back at greg and at the pink tie in his hand. it had some sort of stain right on the front. "just buy it. wash it tonight, and if it doesn't come out clean, i'll refund your money." "HIM wash it?" i asked, "what if YOU wash it and WE come back tomorrow?" she shook her head as greg put the tie back on the rack. looking at me, she said, "twenty-five yuan. do you want to buy one?" i countered, "do you want to give me one for free?" no hesitation whatsoever, she nodded her head and said, "ok."---------------"Are you serious?" i asked. i was just joking with her and here she tells me i can pick whichever one i want for free. i start looking for the best-looking, most expensive tie i can find and brooke (who was listening to the whole thing) asks, "is it because you think he's handsome?" The girl giggles and nods. "yeah. that's right."-----------anyway, I got a free tie. pastel green, and pretty dang good-lookin, if you ask me. :) wore it to church this morning.