Xinjiang Trip Day 11 (30-3-2007)
In the afternoon I visited the bazaar again to look for Uigur knives after promising a friend to pick one up. I did a very bad job of the knife shopping and got scammed. The selection of quality knives was much smaller than in Kashgar, but there were still no excuses for messing up so badly. Once again I sort of ‘went with the flow’ far too much when dealing with a Uigur guy. I was far too nice to him. I realized I was overpaying but figured he was at least selling a quality product and that I would show him some respect and keep things nice and civil by not bidding too low. He on the other hand showed me absolutely zero respect, and after settling on a price for the knives gouged extra for the sheaths. I nearly walked away at that point. In fact I was just itching to tell him he was being a complete fuckwit. For some reason though I decided the money was only a little extra in the scheme of things and just wanted to get the deal over. As soon as he got the cash in his hands he ran away laughing. Later on, while trying to get some better sheaths (the ones he provided were rubbish) I found the knives were also second grade rather than top quality. So I bid high out of respect for him and his knives and basically got shat on in return, as he showed zero respect for his own product or his customers. Still, at least I did get genuine Uigur knives rather than Chinese produced blades with Uigur decoration.
I dropped by Fubar yet again in the evening and had a couple of drinks with a very mellow Mongolian guy.
