My beautiful scrolls. Scrolls were very popular amongst the band, and I knew I should get some, but I wasn't sure what... in the end, the choices seem pretty obvious. I've always liked Chinese calligraphy (heck, even the street signs in China look like works of art to me), and.. well, need I defend the bamboo scroll? I don't think so. Once I saw the scroll that Mike Joiner was arguing for (that will be explained in a moment), I knew I needed a bamboo scroll of my own. The calligraphy scroll says "fate," and includes a poem which was not translated for me. I'm really happy I got that particular one... Chris bought a scroll just before me that said something about "peace and harmony," but I'm much more of a "fate" kinda guy. The guy who sold me the bamboo scroll was trying to interest me in another scroll instead, which was a much bigger closeup of bamboo (one stalk took up about half the width). The artistic detail in the bamboo may have been more impressive there, but I think this just looks a lot nicer... as Mike Joiner put it, "more balanced." The scrolls were only 40 yuan (about $5) each! I wish I'd gotten something more horizontal as well, to put over the bed... but I'm quite happy with both of these.

The Mike Joiner Story (extremely abridged.. there were other witnesses who could undoubtedly tell the story much better than I.. such as Mike): It was our last group shopping trip, at the Hangzhou night market, and Mike only had 50 yuan left. But he still needed a small scroll for a gift (to his sister, I think) and he saw a bamboo scroll that he just had to have. He would have been perfectly willing to pay more if he had more, but he only had 50 yuan. All he wanted in life at this point was to spend his 50 yuan and walk away with those two final souvenirs.

Enter Ping. After probably about 20 minutes of furious and rapid arguing in Chinese (that included Ping stomping her foot at one point and getting shoved by the vendor at another), with Mike standing innocently in the background and repeating "But I really only have 50 yuan! I'm not just trying to be cheap!", he had a deal. At one point the woman offered to give him a big scroll and a small scroll for 50 yuan if he would settle for something other than the bamboo, and even Ping suggested that he take it! But Mike held strong to his goal. It was clear that the woman was very angry about the deal she'd agreed to, and it sure didn't help when Ping topped it off by asking for free boxes for the scrolls! (Mike eventually dug up a yuan or two in coins to pay for the boxes)

We all wished we could have understood what Ping and the vendor were saying.. we could tell from their behavior that Ping was very skilled at this sort of thing.

Further adventures of Ping vs. The Vendors (unrelated to scrolls, but I'm not sure if there are pictures to associate this story with, so I'll put it here while I'm thinking of it): At a daytime market in Hangzhou, Philip expressed interest in what was advertised as a silk robe. Ping borrowed a lighter from somebody and tested the robe by burning a thread (the official way to identify real silk), then loudly declared "It's not silk," and we all left. As we were walking away, we heard the vendors yell something at her. When we asked what they said, she responded, "...a bad word..."