Happy 牛 Year

It's strange to be in Xiamen during this first weekend of the Chinese New Year as it is very quiet. Most all of the shops are closed up, the market was open and full this morning but by the afternoon it too was quickly starting to empty out.

Closed stores in Xiamen

At least when we wandered we found that the ladies that we always go to when we get our shoes polished were still in town. There were about 10-12 people out waiting to polish shoes today, and when the two that we always go to saw us they lit us with big smiles and immediately started to wave us down.

Pricing, however, became something of a sticking point.
Usually Tina pays about 3 kuai - I barter more and pay 2 kaui (0.30 USD) - but today being New Years' Eve I was in a giving mood and had agreed to pay 4 kuai for a good polishing. All was going well until Tina finished first (damn her tiny feet) and gave her girl 10 kuai, this got my girl into thinking that she also deserved a little extra pay. Second problem was that I only had a 10 and thus required change. The photo above is taken after I finally convinced her that she needed to give me change and she decided that 2 kuai were all I needed. I tried to argue and the small crowd quickly formed. I've learned from them that as if I refused to move it meant that I didn't accept her agreement so I sat there and just kept saying 不好 (bu hao - no good) until she got up and walked away from me. The other shoe shiner in the purple coat told me to take her shoe polish station instead of the change - this was all done in good fun and joking (at least we believe that, these women might be cursing us when we leave). Finally I did manage to get another kaui out of her, making for an expensive 7 kaui (1.oo USD) shoe polishing...

Then to top it off, she tried to refuse the 3 kuai I wanted to give her as a tip when I said 新年快乐 (Happy New Year).

Tomorrow we are off to Malaysia, chances are we will not be posting again until we return from that trip on Sunday. Enjoy your Chinese New Year, year of the 牛 (niu), the ox or cow.

They're back...

We had complained earlier that all of the shoe polishers had disappeared, and that Siew Yih had told us not to worry and that they would return in a few months.

That was back in August, and for a few months we were worried that Yih was wrong and that for some reason unbeknown to us they wouldn't be returning. By the time Tina's family came to visit some of them had started to return and we were able to get our shoes polished, but there still weren't as many of them and the timing of when you'd find them and their location was still hard to figure out.

But this Sunday when we went to the market, back in their usual location we were greeted with a nice row of at least 8 people waiting to polish our shoes.
So Tina and I walked past them all smiles to know that they had indeed returned, and when the ladies that usually polished our shoes saw us we joked "好久不见", bartered a little and then sat down to get our shoes polished up all nice and clean.
It was good to see them again.

Now where do we go?

It's become quite a habit now, that, once a month Mark will get a haircut and then have his shoes cleaned. Of course, I tag along, since the little barber doesn't speak a lick of English and periodically he will try and have a conversation with Mark. At that point, Mark will look at me as if to say, "are you going to help me out here?" I digress.

Afterwards, it's off to get our shoes shined, though I only get mine done in the fall and winter.

We walk down the alleys, where we then come upon a street, where they sell just about everything, from Viagra to fruit. It's the same ritual each time. The ladies who polish your shoes, will point at yours and explain how dirty they are, then you ask how much, they tell you the price, you tell them it's too much, and so begins the process of bartering. Next thing you know, you are sitting on the little chair getting your shoes polished, while the local Chinese gather around to watch and discuss, we assume, how we paid twice as much as the locals. Often we try to listen while a local Chinese is getting their shoes polished, but since we seem to be the source of entertainment, we never find out.

Waiting patiently

Jackpot Laowai's

Local discussing how we just paid double!

Last weekend we go to our street to find it's empty. All the vendors that had stalls in front of the buildings, as well as the ladies who shine our shoes, have disappeared. We were stunned. They were just here a week ago. Now the question is, where do we go?

When talking to my little sister Siew Yih, she said that this is the time of year when China holds a competition for the Best Liveable City, so all the cities do their best to clean up their act. She told me not to worry, they will be back next month once the competition was over.

So today, I went to the street to take some pictures for this post, and find that they are now doing some roadwork. I get the feeling that they won't be back for a long time, and I hope I'm wrong.

We will keep you posted whether we will once again be able to have our shoes polished.

Just when we finally bartered them down to 3RMB!