Luo Hu Commercial City , China
Apparently this place has a reputation. Hundreds of shops selling copy-watches and copy-handbags. We also got to shop at the factory next door. We are led down a hallway of stalls, all with their metal shutters down. One of them is open a crack, we are quickly shuttled in, and then the door is closed behind us. Inside is wall to wall fakes of expensive brand name status items. The factory does not keep any items in stock. You look at which fake knockoff you want, then the person in the store says your order over a cell phone. A few minutes later there is a knock on the metal shutter. The shutter rises up a few inches, and a handbag comes flying under the door. This way the police aren’t able to raid a store full of fakes, since only a few demo items are actually “in stock”.
We were bored with the other tourists comparing their real Louis Vuitton bags with the fake ones, so we went to the mall next door. Imagine walking down an aisle, and having people shout at you and grab you in every direction saying “Copy-watch! Copy-bag! Dvd, what you want!?” We bought one copy bag. To get the bag, the woman running the store sends a small girl up all the way to the top shelf. She then proceeds to push up the drop-ceiling tile, and crawl up inside the ceiling to get the bag from their stock. We then realize that the walls and ceilings of this mall are STUFFED with fake clothes and bags. This mall will explode in a toxic ball of flame if there is ever a fire.
This got very tiring after about an hour of being harassed, touched, and yelled at. So we went outside, ate a red bean paste bun, and sat on a bench until it was time to leave.
Copy Kinder eggs. Where Warner Brothers and Disney have a new spirit of cooperation. The Dwarves enjoy playing yo-yo, while Elmer and Bugs hatch from the same egg at Christmas time:
Things we learned about Australia from the Australian woman sitting next to us on the tour: It is the worst place in the world to live because they never put clothes on sale. Even things that are 3 seasons old!