Science and Technology Museum fake market

I wanted a shoulder bag so I wouldn't have to carry things around Shanghai, so I headed out to the fake market at the Science and Technology Museum. It's under the ground between the museum and the metro stop.

Arriving a little earlier than the advertised opening time (10 AM), I headed over to check out the museum. There was a long water feature fountain thing cascading in front of it.

And a huge queue of sorts. That put paid to any idea of heading in and taking a look today.

A close up of the fountain, with the Expo mascot Haibao in the background. The HR girl from work suggested he looked like he was advertising toothpaste. I concur.

Haibao up close. The kids were trying to climb him, but otherwise seemed to enjoy their picture being taken in front of him.

The dragon globe statue looked more China to me.

Behind the dragon globe statue you could see doors. These lead into the market, and further beyond the metro. I headed in and bartered and bartered and bartered for a shoulder bag. An okay looking canvas-type shoulder bag from the largest mall at Zhongshan Park was 599 RMB, and the selection there was very limited. Pretty much all the shoulder bags there were synthetic and sporty.

I bartered down to about 60 RMB for similar bags as the one shown below, before the sellers gave up on me. So I offered and stuck to around 65 RMB ($13.00 NZD) for this one. I also bought a leather belt, but I cannot remember how much I bought it for. The bartering process was extremely tiring. It basically consists of the seller whining at you and continually offering a succession of nominally lower prices from the exorbitant one they first offered.