Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Unrealistic Loot X Artistic Mood: Look, It’s My Old Lute

from my PanJiaYuan Flea Market adventure

Don’t Grab X Until Bargain’s Met: PJY Flea Market

 

spotted the two eye-catching instruments

PanJiaYuan Flea Market, Beijing古箏 GuZheng vs 阮 Ruan / Chinese Lute

 

back off after hearing the initial prices

the PiPa-like lute a.k.a. Ruan 阮 for 20,000 RMB

the surf-board-like GuZheng for 25,000 RMB

 

someone got hold of the GuZheng

bargain completed in minutes

4,000 RMB, deal

suddenly forming a crowd

people stopped by to look

as the buyer was counting his stacks of 100RMB bills

古箏 GuZheng

 

hey you!!

Your buddy has found his new home.

How much does it take to bring you home then

阮 Ruan / Chinese Lute

 

my stalking skill put into real use

following the seller as he sent the GuZheng away

wondering if we could bargain it down

stalking the "surfboard" bearer

 

he is quite a nice guy

got me to miss call him, so that

we can always call him back,

when we really feel like coming back for the lute

 

my dad put it at 3,000 RMB

but he was saying hey if we call him

it would be difficult to bargain it down

 

bargain rule #3 as mentioned in the previous post

even if it would kill you if

you fail to buy the item

pretend that you don’t really give much thought

and you can always get something else instead

 

we shall wait for him to call us then

and he really did two days after

the calls over international roaming

almost drained my credit

thank goodness we switched to payphone

at a local grocery store

 

the plan of the day totally switched

went down immediately after lunch

item and money changed hand

and he managed to persuade my dad to

get another small item

 

and it left us in a state of poverty

for the rest of the days to come in Beijing

counting on small notes to make end’s meet

 

it gave me loads vanity

while carrying it back to hotel on Metro

and hand-carried it all the way back home

gosh, I could not even play a single tune

such an attention seeker

waiting for my rocket to come

 

almost afraid that I would get trouble

with the custom offices of both sides

even approached the custom officer to ask in advance

“Do I have to declare this?”

 

back home after the long journey

still figuring out a decent name for her

and should I be attending lesson and where?

阮 Ruan / Chinese Lute

 

saw a live performance

impromptu Opera singing in a park

wow… mesmerizing

although I did not have a single clue of

what’s the singing is all about

Beijing: impromptu Opera singing in a park

 

it’s supposed to sound like this

heavenly, if one day I could play this piece