Shopping as a Sport

? AM:  Woke up thirsty.  Still raining.  Bummer.

6:12 AM:  Can hear the Sherpas coming down the path with Sherpa tea and hot wash water.  Lily knocked on my door, camera in hand, all bright eyed and bushy tailed to greet me with morning well wishes.  I jumped back into my warm bed with my mug of hot tea and updated my journal.  The rain stopped.  I just hear this annoying “drip…drip…drip” off the tin roofs.  Good news:  my cell phone is now fully charged.

7:20 AM:  Met Lily knitting in the dining hall waiting for breakfast.  Breakfast:  Ginger tea, crepe with ham, stewed tomatoes and French toast.

8:30 AM:  The owner’s daughter handed me my laundry.  I went back to my room to pack.

9:30 AM:  Met up with Lily, Sharon and Tim to shop.  While at the bottom of the hill just before the shopping stalls, we met up with Chelli and Bob waiting for one of the exchange offices to open at 10:00 AM.  We found an open exchange office a few stalls down the main street.  At 72 NPR to 1 USD, I was able to change $40 USD to 2880 NPR.

Purses:  Lily and I went back to a certain stall that had purses I admired.  The last time we were there, another shopkeeper wanted 650 NPR for each purse.  Today’s shopkeeper wanted 800 NPR for each purse.  I looked in the shop for a black/white and black/gold purse for Michelle and Marie.  I found two smaller satchel purses that were of those colors.  I offered 700 NPR for both.  Shopkeeper said, “No.”  David, who was in the shop, said, “Frank’s real good at negotiating.”  David stepped outside then called Frank over to our shop.  I told Frank I could get these purses at home at Cost Plus for $7.50 each, but would buy them for $5 each here.  Frank offered the shopkeeper 700 NPR for both.  Shopkeeper said, “No.”  Frank replied, “Well 700’s all we’re willing to pay.”  Then Frank put the purses down and walked toward the door.  Shopkeeper ran after him saying, “Okay!”  After purchasing, I found Frank down the street and gave him a hug.

Compact audio discs:  Near the money exchange office, I heard lilting chant music coming from a stall.  I asked the shopkeeper which cd was playing.  He eagerly showed me the dusty cd.  I really liked the music and thought that my friend ERIC would like some local music, as well.  I asked the shopkeeper for two new cds.  He diligently looked through his inventory to find shrink wrapped copies, but couldn’t.  He then checked each cd for scratches and showed me the quality before placing each cd into his stereo to show me each was in excellent condition.  Two cds for $10 USD was, in my book, an excellent bargain for such salesmanship.

Aprons:  Last time we were here, Annie said she bought for her friends aprons, which they wear when they get together for cooking meals at her home.  About two stalls down the street from the purse shop, Lily stopped to look at aprons.  I wanted three aprons for my sisters; Lily wanted three aprons for her friends, giving us buying power for purchasing a quantity.  Shopkeeper wanted 450 NPR each.  The following negotiation ensued:

Lily:  We’re buying six:  325 each, plus the cap [for my son] for 300 instead of 350.

Shopkeeper:  No

Lily:  The aprons smell moldy.

Shopkeeper:  Moldy!?  Moldy!?  What “moldy”?

Judy:  That’s when things get wet and start to grow mold.

Shopkeeper:  No smell moldy.

Lily:  Smell it. [Placing an apron under the shopkeeper’s nose.]

Shopkeeper:  [Smelled an apron] Nothing.  You’re the first one to say “smells”.

Judy:  They’ve gotten wet and mold started.

Shopkeeper:  No.  All shop smells like this.

Lily:  325 each for 6, plus the cap for 300.

Shopkeeper:  No mamsey.

Judy:  Let’s go.  These aprons are all over.

Shopkeeper:  [To Lily walking out] No mamsey!  Come back!  Okay 325.

Judy:  We need the apron strings.

Shopkeeper:  Apron strings extra.

Lily:  You said you had them.

Shopkeeper:  You only pay 325.  Apron strings extra.

Judy:  That’s not right.  Of course these aprons have strings.  They’re not extra.  We don’t want them without apron strings.  They’re not aprons without them.  We’ll go to another shop that has them.

Shopkeeper:  Okay mamsey.  I give you apron strings. [opening a plastic bag of embellished strings]  These are special.  See?  I make special.  No one make like this.  [showing us the sparkle rickrack she adds to her strings.]  

The shopkeeper randomly pulled out 6 strings from the plastic bag.

Judy:  That’s not enough.  We bought six aprons.  We’ll need two per apron.

Shopkeeper:  One cut in half.  Sew it on sides.  See—like mine. [lifting her top to show us her apron strings]

Lily:  I don’t want to sew.

Judy:  Don’t we just pull it through a casing?

Shopkeeper:  No.  See?  [lifting her top to show us her apron waistband]  My strings like this.  All this way.

Judy:  Okay.

Map Bandanas:  We stopped to say hello to our shopkeeper friend with the trekking poles.  We ended up buying a quantity of bandanas imprinted with a map of our trek to Everest Base Camp.  He wanted 150 NPR each, but with the quantity sale and repeat customer going for us, he offered 100 NPR each (roughly $1.35 USD each).

12:30/12:45 PM:  Lily and I returned to the lodge.  The steps leading to Zamling Lodge was blocked by yaks.  Lily called out for help.  A local man walked up and we followed close behind him as he shooed the yaks to step aside as we passed.  I never went up those stairs so fast.  I had to catch my breath at the top.

Lunch:  Yak burgers (I guessed it a breakfast), honey carrot slices, egg salad with hot lemon water.

I went back to my room to pack my souvenirs.  Then I filled my spent energy drink bottles with the powdered glucose from the ziplock bag Annie had given to me.  I didn’t want the airport to confuse the white powder with cocaine – as was the running joke in our group.

After logging in my purchases and creating a cheat sheet for my NPRs, I checked my list of people I wanted to bring back souvenirs.  I want to bring back something for my dad and his wife, my co-workers and perhaps something for my nieces and nephew.

4:00 PM:  Knock on my door.  It was Dakar calling me/us for tea.  I drank ginger tea while hovering over Lily as she played Scrabble.  After I helped her, Songmee and David shot me a look of annoyance; so I read my book.

The news on from the television was regarding Nepal’s constitution still not close to completion by the May 30 deadline.  The consequences could bring about another strike/unrest in Nepal.  We’ll be flying out of Nepal on May 30^th, so we should avoid any consequences resulting from non-completion of Nepal’s constitution.

I circulated a thank you card for Ming and the crew.  My fellow trekkers were happy to sign.

7:15 PM Dinner:  Cream of chicken soup, fried chicken, French fries, fried cauliflower and for dessert:  spiced peaches.

8:15 PM:  Back in my room, Lily visited.  She borrowed my nail clippers, a nail file, scissors and some moleskin.  We laughed about negotiating for the aprons.

After Lily left, I packed my duffle, refilled my camelback and planned my clothes for tomorrow.  The back of my heels were no longer sore, thanks to the use of the shoe inserts lifted to cushion the tender area just above my heel, where the boot crinkles.

Tucked under the fluffy covers, I updated my journal by the light of my headlamp.  I killed a flying bug attracted to the light.

10:05 PM:  I thought about my kids – no news is good news, right?  Love you kids.  Mom

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