Bengfort.com

For the past two days I have been a Beijing shopping/tour guide for two elderly American ladies that are here in China on a tour. They arrived several days before their tour started, and wanted to take the time to do some serious luxury shopping. These ladies were actually friends of my friend’s mom, which is how we got in touch. This was their first time in China, they spoke no Chinese, and as they were a little more on the elderly side (they are both grandmothers, but still look great if they should by chance read this blog), I think comfort, convenience and air conditioning were their most pressing concerns when it came to going around Beijing. Thus they hired me to make sure they ended up at the right places, got good prices, and got around comfortably without having to worry about language differences, ordering food, or getting lost.

These ladies were incredibly sweet, but from first glance at their Hermes belts, Burberry bags, expensive watches (the brand I forget, but the Chinese bellhop at the hotel identified every single name brand they were wearing, which was fascinating but creepy at the same time), I was a little worried that they would not be able to hold up to the hustle, heat, bustle and bang of Beijing, especially since they were clearly accustomed to absolute comfort and ease.

The first day they wanted to do nothing but shop. So I took them to the pearl market, where we spent four hours looking at pearls, trying on pendants, and experiencing excellent service from “Tom” who had perfect English when it came to talking about pearls, their quality, shape, luster. The pearl shop we went to had been recommended by the hotel, and prices of course were through the roof, but I found out it was nothing compared to pearls in the States, where a quality string of pearls can be in the 10,000s. The walls of the shop were covered in framed photographs of female presidents and first ladies who had bought pearls at their shop, including Barbara Bush and several of the Finnish Madame President who is an annual returning customer.

Both of them bought a couple of items, and in terms of the amount saved from the original price to the haggled price, I think it was one of my most successful bargaining experiences. Because they bought three strings of pearls, we negotiated to knock off about 700 USD total. Tom of course told me not to tell others what we got the price down to, but then he also asked me to bring others to his store if I got any more tour guide gigs. Maybe I should be taking a cut.

The next day they wanted to tour some art galleries, so I took them to 798, a widely acclaimed modern art district. The previous day, they had almost died in the taxi because air circulation was bad, and since they were staying at a relatively new hotel, few taxi drivers new where it was. One of the ladies wanted to go home earlier since she was running out of steam, but I had so much trouble finding a taxi driver who knew the place, and she wasn’t comfortable going by herself with a driver who didn’t know exactly where he was going. This time, we found a “taxi” who ran business out of a black Lexus. There was no plastic gate around the driver and the air circulations was better, so the ladies asked me to ask the driver if he was willing to be our personal driver for the day. For five hundred kuai, he was at a our beck and call for the whole day, which was nice. With a driver willing to go anywhere, I had him detour so that they could see the new Bird’s Nest stadium and Aquatics Center which are being built for the Olympics. The driver not only drove by, but stopped the car up close so we could get pictures, which was a treat for me since I have only seen the structures passing by on the highway.

All in all it was successful and fun. Being paid to go shopping and sightseeing was really nice. Plus as I am a planning guru and people-person who loves to talk about China, it was especially rewarding and applicable work. Plus, I am “cute.” Whatever that exactly means, it works in my favor, especially when it comes to charming old ladies.