Lesson learned comes at a cost

China grows on you in ways one could not imagine. One of the first Mandarin words any foreigner learns to use with confidence is "pianyi yidianr" ("cheaper please").

While it is an attempt to buy something more suited to ones' budget the term contains within it a whole world of seller-buyer camaraderie, without which a shopping experience here would lose a lot of its color.

Much as I express frustration over the whole bargaining "ritual", I secretly derive much pleasure from it. Oh! What bliss it is to get something 10 yuan cheaper.