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Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Persistence

We went to the Zhouzhang Water Village, outside of Shanghai, where we went on a gondola ride through the "streets" of the city.


It was beautiful and peaceful.
After the ride, as we walked on the sidewalk, we saw a small, Chinese woman with pictures of the village that she wanted to sell to us. She'd come up to us, smile her toothless grin, and try to push the cards into our hands.


We kept saying, "No, thank-you" but she kept persisting; following us into the restroom, waiting outside the stall, walking to the sink with us; all the time smiling and making whimpering noises while showing us the pictures. We'd wave her off, and continued to walk out of the village. She followed us all the way to the tour bus, trying to convince us to buy her pictures. When we got to the bus, she stood, holding the pictures and smiling at me. I finally gave her a dollar (1 RMB equal to 15 cents- yes I'm still cheap), held her hand and smiled at her.


She grinned even broader then turned to the window of the bus, reached up and showed us her pictures again. We drove away, leaving her in the parking lot. She turned back to the village to find her next potential customer.

11 comments:

Julie Harward said...

In Israel, we ran into the same thing. She does have a cute little face! Love the gondola ride too, those were good pictures too...keep sharing, love it! Come say hi :D

Teachinfourth said...

Wow, now THAT'S persistence! However, it can become an annoyance, too. When I went to Mexico, we had these kids who were trying to sell us things/juggle for us all over the place. You can't help but give a dollar here and there...

Kerin said...

Persistence indeed!
Waiting for you outside the bathroom !!
How kind of you to give her a bit of money.....no wonder she grinned ear to ear :)
Have a great day!! Can't wait to hear about more of your adventures!!

Brenda said...

When I taught school all the kids were trying to sell the same candy, etc. for a fund raiser and I had already bought TOO much when one little boy comes up and asks me to buy some from him, I said that I was out of $$$ and he promptly started tapping all my pockets! He heard a jingle and shook his head...no you still got $ for ME!!! I took my keys out of my pocket and shook my head...no I don't!
Persistence!! At least your picture isn't fattening!

Yvonne said...

Persistence definitely pays off--even if it's just 15 cents ; )

But waiting for you outside the bathroom--that's a little much.

CB said...

In my travels I have never encountered the begging or persistant sales tactics like this. Wow into the bathroom that is really crazy.
I think you handled it well. She looks like a sweet little old woman, you have to kind of feel sorry for her.
The Gondola ride through the city...fun!

gigi said...

You were kind to finally give her some money.

Kazzy said...

She is so cute. How could you say no??

animal print gal said...

Very innocent face I love it! How not to give in! Beautiful pictures, beautiful blog!

Valerie said...

I love, love, love that first photo!

I'm so far behind on my blogging and blog reading, but I've had fun catching up with your trip. It sounds like it was so fun. It's great that you got to do something so amazing.

Jenny said...

The gonadal ride looks so beautiful.

As for the woman, wow she has some determination.