So I have this sudden crave (again).

I want a jade. A bangle.

Maka usaha gigih mencari di google pun bermula.

Sebenarnya bukan sudden crave pun. Dah lama nak beli tp taktau that's a real jade ke tak. Some sellers kata tak ori and ada some sellers claims they have the original jade. Dekat sini, kedai emas memang ada jual emas with jade and such. Tapi itulah. Kena berhati-hati. All gold designs are from Singapore tapi some sellers, we cant trust them. Suka tipu part berat emas. Kat tag tulis 20g tapi sebenarnya 15g je. And I found an interesting find while browsing tru the goldsmith. Boleh bayar ansur. I dah terkebil-kebil time tu, pelik pun ada. Rupanya itu memang resmi local.

Anyway that's not the actual story lah.

Ada satu kedai dekat area rumah, kedai emas juga, claim bangle jade tu harga $380 after less. Tak tau nak percaya ke tak. First, I dont know jade price range. I dont know to diff original and fake jade. Not an expert in this.

Google to rescue. Tapi. Not quite helping lah google ni. Kena banyak tukar keywords, otherwise you will hit on that promo page. Or even worst, scam. I even asked Kak Ann from Singapore, mana tau kot-kot dia tau. And asked my skandel kesayangan yg akhirnya suh I gugel je. Sampai hati youuu. Haahahah.

Maka dari petang sampai tgh mlm, i duk browsing, change keywords and such. Banyak landing dkt page orang pergi tour China. Demi mencari cara utk tau jade original ke tak, I baca lah jugak blog posts tu semua.

Okay.
Baca one post. Ohh. Gitu ke. Then another post by other person. Eh. Lupa kurang sama mcm post orang tadi lah. The next next next posts pun sama. Semuaaaa jalan cerita sama.

First, pergi Jade place. Then crystal place, and next to great wall of china. From Singaporean, Bruneian, Malaysian, semua samaaa je. And some of them siap gi kedai ubat yang urut kaki amenda ntah and same stories, kena paksa beli ubat yg super mahal.

I know that I just google things out. Tapi bila baca byk-byk post tu, I started to thing, ehh, dorang ni macam kena scam lah. Sebab semua lebih kurang sama je. Semua pergi dgn tour. Well, most Malays cant read Chinese. So, ikut tour guide lah paling senang pada hematnya, kata pun nak gi China kan.

Ini cerita dekat tempat jade lah ye from what I've read.

Dorang akan bawa gi tempat jade, and nanti ada penerangan camne nak detect tu real jade or not. Lepas tu akan ada one person dtg time rombongan tu tengah buat tour/demo jade, and this one person (kononnya bos) claim that he/she from Malaysia or ada someone yg kahwin dengan orang Malaysia (or Singapore/Brunei, depends on tour group tu origin mana) Or pretend that they just got a newborn that early morning. This one person siap bagi angpow to the tour members sebab gembira sgt dpt anak.

Or this one person akan kata yg dia ni famous lah apa, lepas tu siap kata, okay lah, I bagi discount sampai 90% utk that tour group je. Because he/she sooo happy to meet people from the country that they've been.

Maka, dorang pun beli lahh. Sebab they made the scenes so real. Siap staff berlakon lagi kata yang, ehh, tak boleh, mana boleh kasi murah, siap pretend nak marah bos tu sebab kasi murah sgt, siap mcm keluar masukkan jewellery boxes tu semua.

Tahap bijaksana nak menipu tu tinggi giler sampai if tour guide tu from Malaysian, price will be in thousands ringgit. If Singaporean, they'll ketuk the tourists in SGD. Okay. Contoh la, rantai jade. Satu set tu, if Malaysian beli, it's RM 3000 (lepas convert), and if Singaporean, the same rantai jade set, will costs them in SGD 3000. Haaa, gilo tak gilo.

Pity those people. They dont even know about it. Yang dorang tau seronok gi China. Tak sedar diri kena tipu. Konon dah beli belian terbaik. Balik rumah, update blog, cerita psl shopping trip. Kesiannyaa. And suddenly I rasa seram nk gi China. Semua nak copycat, nak tipu. How mehh??

Eventually I found the right post. It's in some forum. The trusted seller is in Singapore, so now, how I can convince my husband, to go there, just to buy my jade bangle? Ahahaha. Oh yes. Yang Sporean kena tipu dkt China tu got her refund before flying back to Singapore. $3000. Pengsan. And memang tour guide tu komplot dgn ini semua. Be careful guys. If orang kata nak bagi less, jangan mudah nak terpedaya sgt.

So, ini tips utk tau ke tak jade tu original ke tak.

- ada bunyi. Bila ketuk ada bunyi. Yang last bunyi, ada vibes, itu yg original.

- looking tru lights.

- ambil pisau and calarkan. If tak calar, itu original. Haa, ada berani nak bawa pisau gi kedai emas? Heehe.

- jade yang I tau, paling elok from Burma/Myanmar. China pun ada. And some part of the world tapi tak sebyk from Burma or China. If jade from Burma, memang super clear (look tru light).

- sekarang byk jade yg injected with colours. If jade tu nampak kaler tak even, itu memang treated jade. Tak even, maksudnya, sebelah sini kuning, sebelah sana putih.

- price jade adalah berbeza. Sebab apa? Sebab masa dorang (tokey jade) beli batu, they went by auction. They dont know it's a real deal or not. Sebab tu ada jade yang super good quality tapi mahal, and ada jugak yang super gold quality, tapi price dia takdelah mencekik leher sgt. If the owners menang auction dgn bid plg rendah and turn out dlm tu jade yang elok, maka boleh la dia jual murah. And vice versa for the high bid stones tapi turn out tak banyak yang boleh guna.

- if jade mahal, $300 > get certificate. If original, memang ada sijil asli or tak.

- Li Hong at Singapore, is one of the recommended store. Nak pergi nak pergiii!

Dah. Tu je.

Happy hunting!