the true story of chinatown

after much confusion involving an "investigation" on the subway, we grabbed a cab to chinatown. when we got there, we headed to the nearest corner and waited to see what was offered us. the first seller was a man offering us gucci and chanel. we asked him if he had coach, but he didn't. so it was on to the next street corner.

the next salesperson we found was a woman. when asked if she had coach, she forcefully assured us that she did, saying that her sister had stolen some just the day before. this was our woman. she talked for about forty seconds on her phone in chinese before giving us a nod over her shoulder, meaning "follow me." we followed her for about a block before she stopped and stood far enough away from us not to be noticeable while she talked to her partner in chinese for a few more seconds. she led us around the corner and said, under her breath, "follow that woman," gesturing toward another chinese woman on the next corner.

we followed this woman about a half block before she stopped, put her finger to her mouth, and told us to "shhh." she turned to her left and opened a door with a key. (at least the door was made of glass...right?) she opened another glass door into a long badly-lit hallway. at the end of this was yet another glass door into a courtyard of sorts. she told us to wait for her while she locked the door behind her. from the courtyard, we went down a metal staircase where she unlocked yet another door and led us into a room full of cardboard boxes and chinese newspapers stacked up waist-high. we followed her into a room off this one, which is when each of our jaws dropped to the floor. HUNDREDS of designer handbags.

usually this isn't my scene, but i found the absolute most perfect bag in the world. with a shoulder strap. after making our purchases, we were told never to speak of this again. oops.

this was, by far, the sketchiest thing i've ever done.