Chris and I made it out to the electronics market today (finally). This place was called Dream World, and to a rich geek, it really would be. Four floors of computer parts of all types. I say rich geek, because a lot of tech stuff is more expensive in China, despite it being manufactured here. My theory is because of shipping costs. I'm fairly certain that the stuff is manufactured, then sent to Canada/USA/wherever to be assembled/packaged (so they can claim it is an American product, or wherever it was assembled), then it gets sent back to China for retail sale.
A second contributor to the price problem is clearly the colour of my skin. I was asking around the floor that had video cards all over the place for a certain model of video card that is quite new. I know the high end version of this goes for upwards of 600 bucks CAD (as of the time I left Canada, anyway). The low end version sells for 250-300 bucks CAD. They offered me the low end version, for the high end price. I laughed and said no. Sometimes, I think they forget that my lack of mastery on the language does not equal stupidity. I wouldn't be asking model numbers and questions about memory if I didn't know what I wanted and what price to expect.
Eventually, Chris and I found a spot that carried laptop batteries and I communicated (mostly with pen and paper) that I needed a laptop battery for the plane ride back. This went fine, as I brought the model number (see?!) of the battery, my laptop, along with the voltage ratings and the mAh of the battery. My problem was that they clearly didn't know much about batteries, as I wanted a high charge battery (something with higher mAh) to hold a longer charge. The plane ride is 12 hours, and I only have battery power for 3 of them. They kept saying a higher mAh wasn't doable, or that it would damage the laptop. I insisted, so they called their provider.
"Provider" is simply the term I've given the mysterious men on the other side of the phone call. Every shop that doesn't have what you want, can get it within two days from some mystery man only a phone call away. I suspect it's just a family member sitting at home checking out Chinese eBay, or something along those lines. It's mildly suspicious, and I know the legality is probably a bit of a gray area, but it's nothing abnormal in China.
The provider came up with a battery close to what I want (7200 mAh, which should get me around 5 hours more laptop time), but I was looking for something closer to 9000 mAh. I'm still not sure I'm going to buy it even now after the event, but I humoured them and got a price. Surprisingly, the extended life battery was equivalent to about 77 bucks CAD. This is (I think, you can never be sure in China) a great price, relatively speaking. In Canada, an extended life battery goes for well over 100, sometimes even over 200. However, I hadn't even haggled yet, so this low price threw me off. I started wondering if the battery was new or refurbished, or if they were somehow screwing with me, so I got a bit scared off. I told them I'd think, and come back. They didn't like that so much, I got a lot of resistance and "You pay deposit now, pay now!"
Chris and I also headed over to Nan Chan Se, where we got prices for modded PS2's (for Rob), looked at some games, and just random adventuring. What amazed me is how efficient Chris and I are shopping together. I've said before that doing something in China usually takes setting aside the whole day, but Chris and I got through the electronic market in 2 hours, finding everything I wanted and then some, plus when we got to Nan Chan Se, I got a belt (finally!) and sunglasses. I had set aside a day of belt/sunglasses shopping before, and gotten nothing done. Today, I had gotten a good idea of my battery situation, prices and locations of the PS2's, an "authentic" Caivin Klein leather belt (that's NOT a typo), and polarized sunglasses. It was the most productive day I've had in China yet.
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