Lost in Guangzhou ( part 5)

Guangzhou Baiyun World leather trading Centre is a massive building where authentic leather and PU goods are sold. Some of them are luxury brands from Louis Vuitton to Celine to Gucci. 

This centre, very much like the Yiwu Market, had its own buzz. People from everywhere come here to buy leather goods. I liked the vibe. The shops were filled with bags, belts, wallets, knapsacks, all branded. Here you could buy one or dozens. I purchased a few belts and bags. Raliyat said she was leaving her purchasing for the real stuff.

The 12 year old bag

The last bag standing with one loose eye :)

What did she mean by real stuff? I wondered. 

When visiting shops, it’s important to collect their call cards just in case you need to revisit. In addition, you will also need a notebook to write down the cost of items and the quantity. This book was not to be misplaced. It was like your hard copy google map. 

We exited the building and walked into another building not far from the Centre. The building looked like a block of apartments and we had to take a lift to gain access. Raliyat kept smiling at me as I looked at her with questioning “where are we going?”

You’ll see was what her face seemed to say.

We got to the designated floor and walked towards one of the apartments.
She knocked on the door and a young slim lady wearing a stripped black and white sweatshirt and tight fit jeans and white tennis shoes opened up and ushered us in and locked the door behind us. There was also another male shop attendant inside. And there we were! Looking straight at us- Hermes. Prada. Celine. Tory Burch. Louis Vuitton bags. All sitting pretty on well-lit glass shelves. There were so many in different colours. 

" This was the REAL DEAL."
I moved from shelf to shelf admiring these highly valuable accessories. I picked one grey Hermes clutch bag. They were on sale for almost half the price of the retail value.

At this point I was upset! I had spent almost all my capital in Yiwu and at the leather world market. And here I was in a shop where I knew I could have made a huge profit if I had enough money.  I took their call card and I promised to be back the following day as I had very little cash on left. . I took a mental note of the items that I would buy.

We left afterwards for a pizza dinner and I got my favourite dessert- Cheescake!

The next day,  Raliyat decided to stay back to rest as she was done with most of her shopping. " Are you sure you'll find your way to the shop? “

" Sure , I'll be fine. I've got their card and it's not far from the leather market" I replied. 

" Ok" she said " see you in an hour".

I walked out of the hotel and straight to the leather market and then towards the apartment building. I stepped into the elevator and to shop 204. A man opened the door. He did not look familiar to the one in the shop yesterday. So, I apologised and said I think it's the wrong shop. Hmm, perhaps I got the numbers mixed up? I thought to myself.

I checked my waist pouch for my "Google Map"

I stood in the hallway flipping through the pages in search for the card from the shop.

People came in and out of the elevator and we nodded with a simple Nihao and they would walk into one of the shops.

I searched and searched and I couldn't find it!

Kai! Where is this card o? I thought. I’m pretty sure it's this building, perhaps it's shop 402? Well, there was only one way to find out. I took the elevator up to the 4th floor- knocked on 402. An old man opened up and I knew it couldn't be that one! Again I mumbled "sorry , sorry, ni hao, xie xie" and turned back to the elevator. I bet he would be thinking what's wrong with this African woman?  

Once back in the elevator, I thought or was it shop 240? Or 420? Am I in the right building?? At this point, I began to hyper ventilate. Here I was, a young black woman. Alone in an elevator. Unsure of where she was or where she was going. At this point, the thought of everything luxury was gone with the wind. I went back to the second floor and looked for shop 240. I knocked on the door hopeful but this was dashed when an unfamiliar face opened the door yet again. It was at this point I realised I was officially lost. 

I felt a bit embarrassed that a shop I had visited just yesterday was gone from my memory. I couldn't ask for help because I could not speak Mandarin. Not even a simple “where is or I’m looking for ?” to navigate in a building. There was only one thing left to do- go back to the hotel.

It was a long disappointing walk. It was the last day of my trip in Guangzhou. When I walked into the room, I just told Raliyat I didn’t fancy any of the bags in the shop when she saw me empty handed. (Sorry Raliyat if you’re reading this - now you know why! LOL) Sigh! It was at this point I realised how important speaking another language was instrumental in business across borders. If you would like to learn French , Spanish , German or Mandarin Chinese please visit https://bit.ly/3ZAUEgn. xie xie!

I hope you enjoyed reading this story. Please leave a comment and watch out for my next blog -Keeping it real in Kenya!

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