Scooter shopping - Part 5

A few days have passed and I thought thoroughly about my next move. The question was: Buy cheap like colleague A and possibly risk and live with a low quality scooter or spend more and go for quality? I tend to go for quality, because as people say, you get what you pay for and buying cheap can be more expensive in the long run. However, I ask a few friends. Most say to buy cheap, but I listen to my best friend’s advice who goes for quality. So quality it is.

My next challenge is to exchange money. I know from my flatmate that he tried to exchange a small amount of CAD at the ICBC branch we all opened our accounts and they refused. Exchanging money is another problem in China. You simply can’t do that. Only very few places offer this service and next to the rather small fees you have to pay, there are some ridiculously low limits for Laowai - foreigners. While a foreigner is allowed to exchange 500 USD per day, and has to fill in some forms, etc., a Chinese can exchange up to 10.000 USD per day. Because the banks have to report transactions over 10 grand, they accept up to 9.990 USD. 

I ask the local expat community on WeChat where I can exchange my USD and what do I have to do. They all tell me to go to either the headquarters or visit a big branch downtown and take a Chinese person with me and let them do all the talking and paperwork. Because in some cases the name has to be written in Chinese and not in Roman characters. Luckily I find a girl who needs USD because she’s travelling abroad in a few days and we arrange to meet. 

A few days later, I meet her in front of a busy shopping centre and we exchange envelopes like in the films. Straight after that, I take a taxi to the X-Union to have a closer look at the scooter I want. The driver drops me off a block after the shop and I discover more scooter shops. Most of them are closed at this late afternoon time, and the others have nothing that interests me. My goal for today is to either buy the one from the X-Union or one of the two I saw in the shop next door. There was a light blue and a red one. Both looked quite similar to the one I want, but there’s a 100 quid difference in price. I’d like to know why. The other thing is that I’d prefer to buy the flat black from the X-Union.

I arrive at the shop and it is still open. I have a look outside and notice that the light blue e-motorbike colleague B likes is gone. He won’t like to hear that. I go inside and see six men and two women sitting around a round table having dinner. Typically Chinese, noodles are on the menu and rice on a hot plate in the centre of the table. They all stop eating when they see me and stand up. One comes to me while the rest clear the table and put it aside. I point at the scooter I’m interested in and ask for price and specs. Since we don’t speak the same language, we use gestures. But again, there’s a communication barrier, because some gestures don’t exist in this country or have a completely different meaning. Rubbing your thumb with your index and middle finger to indicate or ask how much, doesn’t work here. Since they don’t get what I’m asking for, I take my mobile phone and use an online dictionary. The Chinese do the same. So here we are, all typing and talking into our phones and showing each other the screens. They’re surprised to hear that I want to buy and pay cash. They seem not to believe me, and open their eyes wide when I put my hand into my pocket and produce a handful of red bank notes with Chairman Mao on them. I’m immediately offered a seat, a cup of tea and noodles. They put the notes through a money counting machine and give me my change. Like  Antonio Marcipane in Jan Weiler’s German novel ‘Maria ihm schmeckt’s nicht’ (Maria, he doesn’t like it), I know that I’m paying too much, but I accept it. Antonio is a Gastarbeiter who emigrates from the south of Italy to Germany, meets the German Ursula, gets married to her and leads a bourgeois life somewhere between the Italian and the German mentalities. The novel is written from the son’s perspective and describes all the ups and downs of an immigrant. Antonio wants to buy a house and signs a mortgage, which he knows is a rip off and any other German wouldn’t be offered. I feel exactly the same. If I were Chinese, I’m sure they’d go down in price and offer me instalments, etc. Never mind. 

They pull the scooter out, dismantle the seat and bring a set of batteries. It takes them a while to install them and I’m being offered more tea and a cigarette. When they are done with the batteries, they check if the lights, brakes, etc. work and ask me to pose next to the scooter and sit on it and take many photographs. Then they roll the scooter out of the shop and show me how to start it, how to lock it, how to use it, etc. They give me a helmet, a brake lock and a raincoat for free and then I’m good to go. 

I finally have my scooter! I am an official member of the zillion two-wheel-family. I need to learn the streets now. This will take a while, because there are no maps and no Sat Navs. 

My first ride is eight miles to my school in light rain in the late evening. There’s not so much traffic towards my direction and I have to go around two roundabouts, which is fun squishing between the cars and busses. Macklemore’s tune still in my ears:

Downtown, downtown (downtown)

Downtown, downtown (downtown)

She has her arms around your waist

With a balance that could keep us safe

(downtown)

Have you ever felt the warm embrace

(downtown)

Of the leather seat between your legs

(hey-ey-ey-ey, hey-ey-ey-ey)

(hey-ey-ey-ey, hey-ey-ey-ey)

(downtown)

You don't want no beef, boy

Know I run the streets, boy

Better follow me towards

(downtown)

What you see is what you get girl

Don't ever forget girl

Ain't seen nothing yet until you're

Downtown

It’s quite a difference between my 1300 ccm Yamaha and this little 72V scooter. It feels like a toy. A really beautiful toy, even though my best friend prefers Italian design and disagrees with my choice.

Macklemore's Downtown (opens in a new window)

My scooter

                     Light impressions

   Instruments

                     Flashy helmet I got for free.

                     I bought a full face with neck and throat warmer/protection

   Siblings

If you would like to read more by me, here are my novel and my diary from Ar'ar, in the northern Saudi desert. Both available on Amazon as soft and hard copy. 

Scooter shopping - Part 4

Today we will finally go to the X-Union shop to see and hopefully buy. I meet up with colleague B in front of a bank, because we need to withdraw money. Colleague B arrives before me and tries to withdraw, but doesn’t succeed. Even though the ATM screen shows all the credit and bank cards signs, we are unsuccessful in our mission. Colleague B suggests to try the Bank of China ATM in the Walmart. That’s where all our colleagues withdraw their money. The problem is, B has come by bicycle, even though we arranged to take a taxi. Now he has to push his bike to the Walmart. Twenty minutes later we arrive at the Walmart and go downstairs to the ATMs. Colleague B tries his luck and succeeds. I try my German and my British bank cards and my credit card, but don’t manage to withdraw. There’s an error with my card says the screen. You’ve exceeded your limit says the screen in a second funny message. How can I exceed my limit if I haven’t used the cards for a long time? I give up. Colleague B leaves his bicycle at the Walmart and we hail a cab. Ten minutes later we arrive on the road we want to go and get off at the TP Mall. A massive building with cafes, restaurants, cinema and many, many shops. We go into a GIANT bicycle shop because B wants a lock for his bike. In there one of the shop assistants approaches us and addresses us in English. 

May I help you? he asks.

Yes, I’m looking for a lock, says B, looking at the bicycles before him.

And we’re looking for a scooter shop called X-Union. Do you happen to know where it is? Oh I see the locks over there. I’ll have a look at them. But do you know where the X-Union shop is? This monologue is brought to you by colleague B, talking to a Chinese, not looking at him.

Excuse … Sir …. my English not good. I not understand…. says the poor assistant, looking lost at B and me.

Colleague B repeats his monologue, again looking at the bikes and not at the assistant. The assistant is still irritated and lost and repeats: I not understand…. my English not good…

Because this is ridiculous, I snap my fingers at B and tell him to look the poor guy in his face, speak slowly and not jump from topic to topic. B finally gets it and looks at the poor guy, but still jumps from topic to topic. I interfere and tell the assistant that B wants a lock and make the appropriate gesture. Now he finally understands and takes us to a wall with locks. There B asks again for the X-Union but the assistant has no clue. So we leave the shop. 

I don’t want to criticise my colleague, but I noticed that most native speakers of English who don’t speak any other language, are quite arrogant when they speak to foreigners. They expect them to know English and understand every single word. Because you speak English, it doesn’t mean that the entire world speaks English. A lot more people speak Mandarin and Spanish and possibly Arabic. Don’t expect other people to read your mind and understand your accent too. Also use your hands and arms and underline everything with a gesture if you want people to understand you and not get frustrated.
Thank you!

We walk down the road in search of the X-Union and pass many other shops. Like in Saudi, here too, the shops come in categories. We pass some clothes shops, some barber’s, some electric appliances, mobile phone shops, mini-markets, various restaurants and eating places, a few pharmacies, carpet shops and banks. Because I have USD with me, we enter an Agricultural bank of China branch to ask if I could exchange my money. We see a machine that gives out numbers. We approach it, read the instructions that are surprisingly available in (not so correct) English and have to look at each other in surprise. Why? In order to get a number you have to either swipe your card or enter your bank account number or name. This means that the bank serves their customers only. We ask a guard for help. At first he doesn’t understand what we want. Then I show him my ICBC card and from his gestures, mimic and the sound of his voice we understand that we won’t get served here. 

After walking roughly 2 miles, we reach some garages and soon after the scooter shops. Because we don’t want to waste our time, we pass all the shops until we finally find the X-Union. There we find the scooters we saw online on their website, plus many more. Among the many more is a light blue electric motorbike that looks very futuristic. Both of us stand in front of it with our mouths wide open. It looks like it came out a Sci-Fi film or a Japanese cartoon. We ask for price and specs and find out that it is quite expensive. Well, B really wants it and spends some time looking and touching it. Meanwhile I go inside the shop and find the scooter I saw on their website and would like to buy. With a bit over 600 pounds, it’s more than I’d like to spend. However, I got my students to translate their website for me and on their site is says that the original price is 600 pounds, but the discounted is 500. 

I ask for a discount and they play the Chinese or the duck as they Greeks say. Meaning: They know nothing about it, deny that there are any discounts and basically try to fool you by selling you a story that they have no clue. I also ask about placing a downpayment and pay the remaining amount either in instalments or in two weeks when I get paid. They refuse, although they offer it on their website. Then, I take out my phone, fire up the browser and show them the prices online and show them the section with the instalments and downpayment. Again, they don’t want to know anything about it. This is China. Take it or leave it. They do business in their terms. You buy if you are desperate or really want and need it. They are not bothered if they don’t sell.

Colleague B is undecided and since we both have not enough money with us, we decide to leave and have a look at the other shops. We find similar scooters and bikes in the shop next door, more or less at the same price and quality, but different colours. We continue our search, but don’t find anything we like and decide to go home. 

I see a taxi parked along the road and a man and a woman standing next to it. It looks like they change shifts. We approach them and I ask: Jinyang? The male driver waves us to come and the woman opens the doors for us. The driver luckily knows where we want to go and doesn’t drive us around or tries to rip us off. But he doesn’t put on the metre. When we arrive we give him two pounds, which according to B is the correct price. The driver doesn’t argue, says thank you and we’re off.

And the hunt continues.

Macklemore's Downtown (opens in a new window)

E-Bike from outta space,  the one colleague B likes and will eventually buy.

                     X-Union Scooters

                      The one I want.

If you would like to read more by me, here are my novel and my diary from Ar'ar, in the northern Saudi desert. Both available on Amazon as soft and hard copy. 

Scooter shopping - Part 3

So it’s down to me and colleague B now. We want and need scooters. We want to finally be independent and explore the city and not be stuck in our microcosmos around the school and accommodation. We’ve had enough of incapable taxi drivers who don’t know anything and try to rip us off. Today we decide to go to the X-Union shop and see what they have on offer and hopefully buy.

We jump on our bicycles and drive off. That’s actually a silly idea, because, what are we going to do with the bikes if we buy scooters? We really haven’t thought of it. Colleague B said that we’d be quicker than by taxi and should therefore cycle there. The afternoon traffic is quite bad and if we took a taxi, we wouldn’t make it in time and the shop would be probably closed.

Macklemore is our companion again:

Killing the game 'bout to catch a body

Passed the Harley, Dukie own a Ducati

Timbaland, Khaled, Scott Storch, Birdman

God damn man, everybody got Bugattis

But I'm a keep it hella 1987

Head into the dealership and drop a stack and cop a Kawasaki

I'm stunting on everybody, hella raw, pass the wasabi

I'm so low that my cajones almost dragging on the concrete

My seat is leather, alright, I'm lying, it's pleather

But girl, we could still ride together

You don't need an Uber, you don't need a cab

Fuck a bus pass, you got a moped man

She got 1988 Mariah Carey hair

Very rare, mom jeans on her derriere

Throwing up the West Side as we tear in the air

Stop by Pike Place, throwing fish to a player

Not even half way to the X-Union shop, I look to the right and discover some scooter shops behind the bushes. We stop, turn, drive behind the bushes into a car park and see a dozen shops. Our eyes widen, especially when we discover an incredibly great looking scooter in the first shop. We both stand in front of it in awe and saliver almost drools down our chins. A few people, I guess the shop owner and his gang, approach us and say something, but we don’t really pay attention. After a while, our senses come back to reality and we enter the shop to see some more models. We don’t find anything interesting and walk out again. As we pass THE bike, we ask for the price. With 900 Pounds, it is quite expensive and twice our budget. We enter the shop next door and see a more or less identical model I liked yesterday and am considering buying. I ask for specs and price and the shop owner says 500 Pounds, 72V, 20 Amps, etc. Wait a minute! 500? The one from yesterday was 330 only. I take out my mobile phone and show him a photo of yesterday’s scooter and say that it costs 330. The owner shrugs with his shoulders and walks away. That’s the end of discussion! We too walk away and go to the next shop. 

It is weird, in a western country you wouldn’t get this treatment. People try to sell. Not to absolute killer prices, but at least they make an effort to sell. Here, they just don’t care. Their attitude is, if you don’t buy, someone else will. Customer is king? Not in this country! I start to believe that Russell Peters, the Indian-Canadian comedian is absolutely right in what he says about Chinese making business. They are so different from the Indians and other nations. And because there are no price tags anywhere, they can tell you whatever they want. And they do. Especially to Laowai - foreigners. If they see white people, you can see Dollar signs in their eyes. Take it or leave it. We go for the latter and leave it. We go from shop to shop and realise that these people here have quality scooters, that’s why they are more expensive and out of our budget. 

Time flies by and we still haven’t found anything to buy. There are many nice and beautiful pieces, but either too expensive or have a 60V battery. In the back of our minds is still the X-Union shop, that’s why we are not really bothered to buy today. Although I’d love to get one. 

Almost two hours later, as we believe we’ve reached the last shop and are ready to go home, colleague B looks around the corner and sees another shop. The owner, a lady, has wrapped up for today and is about to close her shop and go home, but she does us the favour to stay for a little. The shop is smaller than all the other ones and I don’t find anything I like. But B does. He is interested in two models and asks questions. The lady behaves like a seller back home and flourishes in her role. She pulls scooters aside so we can have a closer look at the ones B is interested, she uses hands and feet to explain things, she uses Baidu Translate to make us understand better and you can clearly see that she wants to sell. 

While we are in the shop, her husband arrives to pick her up, sees us, takes his mobile phone and takes a few photographs of us walking around and bending over the various scooters.

Colleague B decides not to buy anything, so we leave.

Oh what a tiresome day!

Russell Peters on Chinese and Indians making business (opens in a new window)

Macklemore's Downtown (opens in a new window)

Some scooters we saw.

    Drooling - saliva running down the chins

                      Somebody's bike. Not for sale, but wild design. Drool, drool. drool...

    BMW? I don't think so.

   A very common design. Colleague A went for a blue coloured one.

    UK design

                      US design with blanket to keep yourself warm.

    Husband and wife.

    Umbrella for either rainy or sunny days

   Brutal Asian design

If you would like to read more by me, here are my novel and my diary from Ar'ar, in the northern Saudi desert. Both available on Amazon as soft and hard copy.