How do you say "rechargeable?"

Chronicling the rest our our journey in China just couldn't work without a camera. (Sorry iPhone and iPad). So we decided to buy a replacement, which was its own adventure. 

Kate took us to the grocery store, Lotus, which has an electronics section. As soon as we approached that part of the store, the four bored-looking clerks immediately perked up to greet us. Kate said it might be the first business they had gotten in a while, plus it was three Westerners to boot. 

The first one didn't know any English, but Kate knew the word for camera.

Our helpful clerks.

We picked out a Canon that was a smaller, next-generation version of our late camera. Through a combination of hand gestures, the limited English one of the clerks knew and Kate's Mandarin ability, we figured out that this model used the same memory card. But we struggled to confirm whether the battery was a strange kind of disposable type or a rechargeable. It took opening the box to confirm that all was good and that it's rechargeable. 

The clerks showed us how to reset the camera's screen instructions from Chinese to English. And we got ourselves a new camera, suggested retail price 1,599 yuan -- or roughly $265. The final step after paying, though, was to be escorted to a special desk to fill out a tax form for the store. 

So we are back in business with our new Chinese camera. 

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Red tape: There's almost as much paperwork to buy a camera in China as there is to buy a car in the United States.