From My Cyberjournal 68May 2006
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Nobody loves a bargain more than the Filipino. Bazaars, tiangges, flea markets, —if a bargain is to be made we crowd and haggle. Most of those fancy sophisticated air conditioned department stores of the '07's have ended up as glorified markets with narrow aisles and a confusion of stalls; but then that's what the buyer loves. If you are a foreigner, then you really have not been to the Philippines if you have not gone to a native market, or at least shopped in a tiangge. Everyone will tell you Spain's Queen Sophia patronized the tiangge of the Muslims in
Greenhills in search of fine pearls.

You can get almost anything at these shops, the hottest place for bargains being a building in Divisoria called 168. Imitation Rolex watches, Armani over-runs, flashlights, DVDs, electronic gadgets, costume jewelry, leather goods, all kinds of tacky stuff, —you will find them all at 168 at prices so ridiculously low you have to wonder whether there is some catch to all these. They are mostly, if not all, made in China. The owners are Chinese who appear to be from the
mainland as they do not speak English or Tagalog. The giggly sales girls are all youthful Pinays; and should you bid much lower than the original price for an item, they glance sideways at an inscrutable Chinese merchant behind the counter who simply makes the slightest of
nods to approve the sale. So who go the better end of the bargain? Ha. Ha. That's the fun of it all. Beats being ripped off at a signature boutique.