I needed a new bag as my other had broken in many places and is now unserviceable. My favourite bag shop is in Golden Bridge market near the train station so I decided to go up there to have a look at what they had in stock.
Taking the metro as far as Hangzhongmen and then jumping onto the number 13 bus is the best bet and hopefully you can get a seat.
On a hot day it’s a nightmare having to stand on a packed bus, even with the improved air-conditioning on the new buses. My plan worked well and I hopped on the near empty bus and got a seat. Less than a minute later the bus broke down and we all had to leap off and wait in the scorching sun for another 13 to come along. We were stranded by the side of the road each of us craning our necks to search for a replacement bus.
Luckily again I got a seat and it was a new nuber 13 and so the air-con was working quite well. Even so 57 minutes later when the replacement bus arrived at Golden Bridge Market I was very hot and sweaty. Even wearing my old jungle Tilly hat made very little difference – in fact it just made my head run with sweat.
Golden Bridge Market is clearly having a facelift as there was the makings of a nice central area with a children’s playground and larger chain stores appearing. I just hope it desn’t mean the merchandise will get more expensive.
I eventually found the stall on the second floor (had been looking around the wrong floor for ages) and they had a fantastic array of bags. Of course al the bags I wanted were the most expensive ones (£30+) so I chose several cheaper ones – one to carry my laptop around and one general purpose every day bag. Each was £8 each (only a small discount was possible even though I pointed out that I was an old customer).
After a MacDonald’s ice-cream I braved the number 13 bus again and as a treat for myself, stopped off at Skyways Bakery to buy some cheese – the highlight of my week.
In all, the whole bag buying process had taken for over 3 hours. Things happen quickly in China but it takes forever to get anywhere, especially in Nanjing and especially Shanghai Lu which is completely choked with roadworks. I can’t wait for metro line 3 to come next spring.