Pretty exhausted with the nomadic lifestyle from Hong Kong to Macau to Zhuhai to Panyu to Guanzhou to Shenzhen and back to Hong Kong in 6 days, Dec 22-27, I slept through the 4 hours flight without even paying my dues to the throne!
Marketing strategy at most outlets in China is atrocious! Prices quoted for the same product fluctuate by 50% between the initial and last offers! Desperate to secure more sales, the personnel with their products, even dashed up the moving coach to offer rock bottomed prices! Obviously, we, who had already purchased at the higher price, felt cheated!!
There is this gems, semi-precious stones, outlet in Shenzhen, operated by a migrant from Malaysia, who shared with us, his success story. We, fifteen of us, were each presented with a jade pendant as a token of rejoicing his newborn son, the day before, after having had 3 daughters with the eldest at age 21!
He sounded genuine when advising us against purchasing his overpriced jewellery! So impressed I was with his sincerity, I decided to seek his expertise in selecting a white gold diamond set as my existing diamonds are mostly in yellow gold settings! In fact, in Hong Kong, at Jacky Chan's owned outlet, I had bought a diamond ring!
However, I was stalled by our tour leader, for reasons, best, not mentioned. She urged my mom to restrain me from striking a bad bargain! Thus, except for me, even Aderlyn who was cautioned, left the outlet armed with purchases!
A complete ruby in diamond settings comprising of a ring, ear-rings, pendant and necklace, showcased as pricey as RMB66,000 sold for merely RMB1,600 with certification!! You bet, no typing error! They read RMB Sixty-six thousand and RMB One thousand six hundred !!
Aderlyn kept harping that I missed a good deal. Had I??? Ironnically, no one doubted the credibility! I, however, have reservation over the ABSURDLY OVERPRICED ???!! items though!!.....
