Beijing, China

Saturday’s the best day to ply the thousands of stalls of the infamous and somewhat chaotic Panjiayuan market (“Dirt Market” in Chinese) on the Third Ring Road, a “must-experience” destination we’d been told, for flea market aficianados, history buffs, junk collectors and the likes of us. As promised, Panjiayuan was chock-a-block with beads, bangles, books, jade, jewelry, Mao and Cultural Revolution memorabilia, Ming pottery, Yixing teapots, Tibetan souvenirs, silk galore, traditional crafts, and junk of every kind and description.

I scored a few Qing Dynasty brass water pipes (don’t ask me why), antique tools, and miscellaneous gift items, while Ev picked out some beautiful old celadon beads and some cute little teapots—we both acquired some additional Chinese seals and blanks (I had purchased some hardened chisels for carving seals earlier in the week at CAFA so that we could give this a go ourselves once back in Canada).