A bike buying experience

   All week I've been trying to get out after work to buy a bike but seemed to find reasons every night to do something different, like dinner with PDX co-workers in town, heading home for a run and nasty wet weather. Well, my experience would not have been the same if I had chose to go any other night then Friday to buy my bike. Here's how it went down. Got to the bike shop which is about 3 blocks from work, asked the guy to show me some cheap bikes in different price ranges. He showed me no name ones for 200rmb (about $30), Chinese brandname ones for 375rmb (about $55) and Giant brandname ones at 535rmb (about $85)...ok, here's what I was thinking; 200rmb is too cheap for a bike and 535rmb was more then I wanted to spend on a bike that I only need for 5 more months. So my conclusion was to buy the one for 375rmb. I purchased the bike, along with a lock, basket and helmet. As the guy was putting all the accessories on my new bike I thought to myself "should I be buying a bike with a name that I know, Giant?!?!" then I thought "no, this one will be just fine!". Here's the bike I got:

Not bad looking, right?

Made my purchase for a Giant Brand
bike store.

   I was riding home (which, by the way, I wasn't sure how to get home...but I had maps) happy and thinking that it was funny that I have to stear a little to the left then a little to the right all to just head straight down the road. I felt like I was drunk on this bike, but again, only need the bike for 5 more months. That's when I noticed that the pedal felt funny but I continued to ride another block. At a red light I looked down to see that my pedal "handle" was about to fall off...OMG, I got off the bike to fix it and that's when my pedal handle did fall off. My first instinct was to laugh, I really just bought a bike for $55 dollars and didn't even get 8 blocks from the shop before it fell apart. Then I wanted to be angry for the same reason that I originally wanted to laugh. What was I going to do, I couldn't fix this bike. I was almost half way to my apartment, do I just go home then take the bike to be fixed the next morning or do i go back to the bike shop in hopes that it was still open (they were packing up as I was leaving). I decided to be angry and go back to the bike shop and make some demands. Most of you know that I don't really get angry and my angry is pretty pathetic (symptom of being married to the most easy going, loving man and having amazing friends that I have no drama with...what do i have to get angry about)...I don't get to practice being angry very often. So as i'm walking my new bike back to the shop I am working out in my head what i should say and do. I get a half block from the bike shop and see that the lights are still on the door open. Yes!! I could take care of the broken bike issue right then and there. I walked up to the shop and hollered for the worker to come outside, in my angry voice I said several times...you sold me a bike that broke, i'm so angry...I don't want you to fix this bike, I want a new one. You sold me a bike that broke after 8 blocks...I will pay the difference from this bike and the Giant bike and I will take the Giant bike home with me. After a bit of arguing we agreed upon a price for the exchange of bikes. Unfortunately, the shop was packed up...

Maybe it's hard to tell but this little store is now packed with all 100+ bikes that were on display
outside the shop during the day. I couldn't even get more then 6 feet in the store and that was only by climbing over bikes. There was no way to get the Giant bike from the back of the store. I would have to wait until the next day :(

   So I would have to come back in the morning to pick up my new bike. Our deal was that I would bring 180rmb and leave with a Giant bike, crappy basket, good lock and my bike helmet. I wasn't completely satisfied b/c i tried to bargain for a better basket b/c of my original bike falling apart so quickly but I couldn't get the guy to budge. I left thinking that it was actually good that the bike fell apart when it did so I could make the trade, if it happened the next day or a few days after my purchase I'm not sure that he would have been as willing to make a deal. By this time, I was tired, frustrated and starving (it was 9:30pm) so I caught a cab after only making it a block towards the subway station. I just wanted to get home! I ordered some delivery food and called it a night.

 Today the exchange was simple and here are my new wheels. You should note that I don't feel drunk when riding this bike.

A snack on the way to pick up my bike.
I love these things, sesame crusted glutenous rice with red bean paste inside.

I think that the guy in the bike shop must have felt bad b/c he gave the the bigger and better basket! 

My bikes new home outside my building. I have 2 locks on it in hopes that it won't get stolen.

   Lesson learned: Cheap Chinese goods are still cheap Chinese goods even in China!!

   I took my time riding home, also took some detours as I'm learning to ride a bike in this city. Some streets have bike lanes on both sides of the street, others have only a bike lane on one side, others have no bike lanes but allow bikes and yet others have no bikes lanes and don't allow bikes (even though I see bikes on these streets all the time). It's going to take some getting used to but I'll have fun doing it. I stopped at a bakery and bought fresh bread, fueled up with a smoothie then went on a bike hunt for The Avocado Lady. 

I had read about her as I followed links from some of the shanghai based expat websites. Here's what they say about her: "The Avocado Lady is not an urban myth, but to many expats is one of Shanghai's urban legends. Her store is ever gaining in size and produce, what she doesn't have she can order. Her store is regularly stocked with fresh mints, herbs, tropical fruits, cheese, olive oil, lamb and avocados." I made some great purchases; pine nuts, mint, basil, prunes and medjoul dates. All for a very reasonable amount of money.

   I went home and unpacked all my goodies. At this point I was all about spending more money, sorry Donald, and with an upcoming trip to Qingdao , AKA Tsingtao, yes like the beer, I was going to need a new camera. I wandered in the direction of the camera store and came across the Fred Meyer (or Meijers for those in the mid west reading this) of Shanghai, Century Mart. I'm not sure that it's a chain but it has everything you could possibly want from appliances to all sorts of food necessities. The best part was the ramped conveyor belts that took people from floor to floor.

Got the same camera as last time. It really is an amazing camera.
This store is a famous camera store with really fancy high-end,
professional gear available.

This is me playing with my camera just outside the store. The guy ahead of me in this pic, with the green backpack, is also playing with his new camera. I guess that's the thing to do when leaving this store. His was about 5x bigger then mine.

More playing around.

And more playing around from an elevated pedestrian walkway.

Now I'm off to bed to read more about Qingdao and figure out some things I want to do while I'm there. Good night!