You see it on their arms, in their ears. The first time you see one, a quick scan of the accessories shows where they have been so far. If you see them a second time, their arm moves a bit slower under the weight of one more bracelet. Meet the backpacker chicks and their ever expanding silver collections. Sometimes it’s not quite real silver. Sometimes, even when you look for the real stuff you just can’t find that 92.5. But it doesn’t matter. If it’s silvery, chunky, cool, it’s going on that wrist to add the assortment. I must admit: it is tempting with shop after shop offering appealing looking jewelry at lower prices than boutiques back home. Besides, what better way to remember your trip than with a piece of jewelry? I’ve made a few purchases in the last couple weeks myself. Lijiang and Shangri-la have been particularly alluring with their abundance of silver shops hawking various assortments of real and costume jewelry on every alley and corner. At the horse racing festival I went for a bracelet, doubtful if it’s real silver, but it did appear to be of some hardy silver-colored metal. I bargained, did the walk away (part of the fun) and came away with my prize. That night visions of bangles and earrings danced in my head. I awoke with plans to buy more to take away with me. I probably would have bought more while in Shangri-la, but it was too cold to shop.