The journey is very smooth traveling along some of the newest highways in Zhejiang. In no time the bus pulls up in Yiwu and then the fun starts. First of all the basics, a bed; the main hotels are spread along one road Binwang Lu, and there are a full selection of prices and standards. I decided to pamper myself and stayed at the Kaixin Hotel, which provides each guest with free internet service in their room, handy for late-night chats with friends back home on messenger.
After a good night's sleep I was ready to hit the markets. Yiwu is promoted as a shopper's paradise, possessing as it does an ocean of goods; I decided to put this to the test. Wallet safely stowed in my pocket I headed out of the hotel to catch a taxi.
The standard of the hotel staffs was very impressive, all the lobby staff were eager to meet each guest a cheery greeting, and the kind doorman made sure that I knew where I was going; clearly taking pity on that as a stranger, I had to fight with the local map. In no time I was on my way to the Huangyuan Small Commodities Market, on Huangyuan Road.
As with all the markets in Yiwu this one is huge, although it is still a toddler compared to the city's giant International Trade City. In summer, without air-conditioner, the Huangyuan market can get pretty sticky, but there's always fun around the corner. Sometimes the fun is self made, such as trying out the cool roller-tricks, whilst other amusing distractions are created by Many of the foreigners come from the Middle East, Africa and Russia and many speak little or no Chinese; the result is a pantomime of hand gestures.
I decided to play a game and see how many of certain items I could buy for 100 yuan. Large areas of this market are dedicated to household products, including plumbing and electrics. Of interest were stainless steel vacuum flasks and vacuum teapots, very handy for keeping that morning coffee hot and fresh during the winter. The flasks ranged from 11-25 yuan depending on size and the teapots were 40 yuan. Another metallic gadget that caught my eye was a nifty fruit press, perfect for fresh juices; one of these would set you back with a price of 45 yuan. Mugs are roughly 1.5 and come in attractive sets of 4 or 6. The roller-trikes mentioned above start at 160 yuan and rise to 270 depending on the size you require.
Naturally with all Chinese markets bargaining is essential, and the more you buy of one item the cheaper it becomes. The stall holders are also very much used to dealing with foreigners and transactions can be carried out in relative silence as the bargaining takes place on a calculator.  Just remember never show too much interest in an object or you'll never get it cheap; plus, over exaggerated tuts and shrugs are always a good idea when bargaining, even if you haven't a clue make it look as though you're an expert in vacuum flask technology - fun guaranteed.
Options for lunch are abundant; as a legacy of the Middle-Eastern contingent of businessmen there are some excellent Arabic restaurants in town providing tasty meals in friendly surroundings. There are also a few Korean restaurants, again catering predominantly for the resident population of Korean businessmen, that provide authentic delicious food. The local area also specializes in a number of interesting Tofu dishes. Nowadays there are numerous coffee shops and tea houses providing respite from the retail vigor, and serving a decent mix of Chinese and Western foods.
In the afternoon I took a taxi across town to the International Trade City on Chaozhou Bei Road. This market is gigantic and provides the retail junky with the summer blessing of air-conditioning. Divided over 3 floors there are several thousand small shops here selling everything from cuddly toys to jewelry. The sheer variety of goods is overwhelming and during one cursory visit I felt that I could only touch the tip of this market's proverbial iceberg. Some of the bargains here included vases at 11 yuan , hair ties 4.5 yuan for a bag of 40 and Christmas and Birthday balloons starting at 11.6 for bags of 200.
Many of the stalls in Yiwu only sell to you in bulk and therefore unless you are buying big quantities you need to hunt for shops that have the Tourism Shopping Appointed Booth mark above their doors. This sign is white and blue with a horse-like creature in the centre. This mark means that at this shop you can buy in small quantities, very handy for the passing browser.
Having exhausted my browsing ability I went for a potter around the city and found the long-distance truck loading bays. It is here that those leviathan blue trucks are loaded up with their mountain of cheap goods and sent on their way to destinations all over China. I tracked down a few trucks that were truly in for the long haul, one heading up north into Russia and another Southwest to Nepal, wow what a trip.
The markets here in Yiwu are famous for selling an abundance of small commodities at cheap prices and this they certainly do. What surprised me most was the convenience of the whole experience. Yiwu is not large so the distances between the markets can be covered quickly by taxi, especially as the basic rate for taxis is only 5 yuan. The stall holders are on the whole warm and friendly, some of them eager to practice their English and help explain the attractions of their products. Unlike at other markets you feel comfortable browsing here, the pressure to buy if you so as merely glance at an object is not there.
The Yiwu experience is an extremely enjoyable one and well worth a busy day trip or overnight stay on the weekend from Hangzhou. Yiwu is above all a market town and you sense that if the locals could they simply wouldn't sleep, but instead continue trading their wares through the night. In Yiwu everyday is market day.