So, I am now HOME!!!!!

Well Folks, my journey to Shanghai is now over.....and what an experience it was!!!!! If any of you ever get the chance to go on an assignment like this, you should take advantage!!! To say that I am a changed person, I think, is an understatement. My eyes have been opened and I now see the World from a different perspective. The Chinese love us!!! In case you were not aware, they refer to America as "May-guo" and this means "Beautiful Country"!!! If you want to watch a very interesting video of the Maglev Train that runs from the Pudong Airport (jee-charng) to the downtown Pudong area go to this sight http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=y-54gBLwK3s . A Happy 4th. of July May-guo!!!

All my best to you that have enjoyed my travels through this website!!!!!

John

Space is at a Premium Here.

So, when one goes to the Fabric Market here in Puxi, Shanghai (pronounced Poo Shi) you can get any material you want and you can get anything that you want made. You can get pants, suits, coats, ties, leather jackets, cashmere coats,shirts and even tuxedos made and tailor fitted to you. You simply go, pick out your material and have whatever you want made. You can even take an item into the shop and have it made into a different color or even a different material. At some places you can negotiate and others you cannot. But as it is with all things in Shanghai....space is at a premium. As a result, there are no dressing rooms for you to try on your finished goods and what happens is the shop owner or a shop worker will hold up a sheet for you to try on your new clothes!!!! It is important, I think that one wears the best underclothes possible, because you just don't know when and if the person holding up your privacy screen will inadvertantly drop it!!!! I have even seen where the dressing rooms are in the corner of a hall. So here you see, a picture of Larry Habitz, in trying on his new pants that he ordered from Jason's shop. His first experience was a positive one, because the shop worker only dropped the sheet once!!!!!

All for now!!!!

I was warned "Red Taxi No Good!"

Some of you may recall from a prior post in April about how what you get in a taxi driver can be a real crap shoot!!! I have had taxi drivers on more than one occasion tell me they know how to get to the place on the card only to get lost. Well, Kurt and I had another unique experience. It was a humid morning in Shanghai when we hailed a cab at Diamond Court. I said: "Ching Song Wo Chu Jin Dahn Da Sha (I am going to Aurora Building) and I show him the card. He nods and Kurt and I get in the car. Kurt comments that it is humid (Chow sur). The taxi driver hears, rolls up the windows and turns on the air. So far so good. The driver plays classical music, Mendelsohn, I believe. Kurt and I look at each other and say "maybe red taxi not so bad". We are moving right along and hit a long stop light about halfway into the trip to the office. Kurt and I are talking and so we don't notice that traffic has left and we are just sitting there!!!! All of sudden, the driver wakes up and there is this personality change. He goes from Mr. Hyde to Dr, Jekyll. It's like the change from Mendelsohn to Motley Crew. I think you get my drift. Just like a nascar driver, warming up his tires with the "weaving" we start weaving in and out of traffic. He speeds up, and Kurt and I just kinda look at each other and wonder what to do as we are being jostled by the movement of the taxi across lanes. The journey continues and the taxi driver tries to make a left turn....in front of a Dong Feng, which is a big big truck. The Dong Feng stops, is too close to us and cannot move because on his right is a Buick that has pinched us off from making the left turn....So what does the taxi driver do? He can't can't make it into the correct lane, so he drives into oncoming traffic and actually drives down the middle between two lanes of oncoming traffic!!!!! Now Kurt and I are becoming very anxious, but not as anxious as the motorcyclists being forced to stop in mid turn and the pedestrians running and scattering in all directions as this mad man approaches!!! We are jostled some more, the driver is laughing and going Mai Won Ti, Mai Won Ti. (No problem, No Problem) and I am saying Mon Mon Li, which means "take it easy" but to no avail......we did make it to work but now we absolutely understand that "Red Taxi is noooooooooooooooo Gooooooooooooooooooood!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This picture is of the next poor sucker to become this guy's victim.....I am sure he was just thrilled with the chance to really scare someone else!!!!

All for now............................

A Pleasant Surprise.

So, at Diamond Court, where I am staying, my apartment is cleaned twice a week. Those days are on Monday and Thursdays. Yesterday, when I returned to the apartment, I found this little bag with these ornately tied and wrapped bamboo leaves with something in them. These were sitting on my dining room table. Next to the bag on my table was a sheet of paper with Traditional Chinese and English. So I read it and it was a story about:

The Dragon Boat Festival

The festival is traditionally celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month on the lunar calendar, and is therefore often called the "Double Fifth Fesitval" In Chinese, the holiday is called Duan Wu Jie.

The Dragon Boat Festival commemorates the life and death of the famous Chinese scholar-statemsman Qu Yuan, who lived some three centuries before the birth of Christ. Qu Yuan was a loyal minister that served the King of Chu during the Warring States Period. Qu Yuan was a highly respected and trusted advisor to the King of Chu. He fought the corruption of other officials of the court.

Initially, Qu Yuan was favored by the King, but over time, his wisdom and ways antagonized the other court officials. Eventually, the intrigues of his rivals exerted enough ill influence on the King that Qu Yuan soon found himself out of favor and was banished from Chu. While in exile, Qu Yuan composed many poems expressing his sorrows and concerns for his country and the people. Amongst his most famous poems is "Encountering Sorrow" a poem that describes his search for a good sovereign that would listen to good advice regarding government.

When it was known that Qu Yuan had been lost forever, the local people began the tradition of throwing sacrificial cooked rice into the river for their lost hero. However, a local fisherman had a dream that Qu Yuan did not get any of the cooked rice that was thrown into the river in his honor. Instead, it was the fishes in the river that had eaten the rice. So, the following year, the tradition of wrapping the cooked rice in bamboo leaves was begun. The cooked rice wrapped in bamboo leaves later came to be known as Zong Zi (pronounced ZongZ).

There is another version of the story. When it was known that Qu Yuan had been lost to the river, the local fisherman had a dream that the fishes in the river were eating Qu Yuan's body. The local people came up with the idea that if the fishes in the river were not hungry, then they would not eat Qu Yuan's body. So the local people began the tradition of throwing Zong Zi into the river to feed the fishes in hope that Qu Yuan's body would be spared.

It was a good thing that Kurt and I talked to Jason Yang in the office because we were intending on making a trek to the river and to throw the rice in the river. But as it turns out, the custom has begun to actually steam the bamboo leaf shrouded rice in a rice cooker and eat it. It was good that we talked to Jason because as usual. you can learn a lot more about a country, a custom or a tradition when you live it and talk to the people who know.

All for now......Take care.

"A three hour tour . . . A three hour tour"

So, it's a Saturday again in Shanghai and what am I gonna do today besides laundry? I pull out my map of Shanghai and decide that I am going to go to the Shanghai Aquarium. It's about noon and I flag a cab outside the Diamond Court Service Apartments, where I am staying, and show him the map which has Chinese symbols. He nods his head "yes' and says "hoda, hoda" which means "okay,okay" and off we go. Being adventurous I decide to have a conversation with the cab driver and it goes something like this:

Me: Ni hao?
Him: Wo heng hao, ni na?
Me: Wo heng hao!!!
Me: Jintian tenshi shoo foo!!!
Him: shu te, shu te
Me: Beijing tenshi heng,heng,heng rur!!!! 37C
Him: San sh chee?
Me: Shu te, shu te!!!

Translation is at the end of this entry!!!!


I think he was greatly surprised that I knew Mandarin. We arrived at the Aquarium, I bought my pass and began to take a tour. As a matter of fact, it was a "three hour tour" Hmmmmmmmmmmmm,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,At this Aquarium, the Shanghai Aquarists, have been working with several species and have developed ways to breed and grow jelly fish, sea horses and others. You will see in this picture an example of one of the jelly fishes that have been raised by the Shanghai Aquarium. They have Yangtze river habitat as well as Oceanic habitat. There was also a display of dangerous/poisonous fish which included the Puffer fish, Poisonous Pink Crab and the Cowfish. Many of these contain a neurotoxin which either makes it inedible or require very special preparation to make them nonpoisonous. There have been many deaths as a result of bad preparation as cooking at high temperature will not reduce the effects of the neurotoxin. My tour ended with a trip through a 155 M tube that had many different sea and ocean scapes with all kinds of sea life in it. It was a good visit to say the least.



Me: How are you?
Him: I am very good, and you?
Me: I am very good!!!!
Me: Today, the weather is comfortable.
Him: Yes, yes
Me: Beijing weather is very very very hot!!!! 37C (106F)
Him: Thirty Seven?
Me: Yes, yes!!!!!

One of the world's great literary works - compliments of China

While in Guangzhou on a trip to visit a potential supplier, I stayed at the Garden Hotel in Guangzhou. This is about 800 miles south of Shanghai. If I were to describe the weather there, it would be about like Miami. Upon arrival, I was struck by the gold cladded mural behind the reception desk both in size and in the intricate detail of the work. I was also very curious on what it meant. So I asked the receptionist at the hotel. She did not speak much English so I pointed to the huge mural and gestered for her to write what it was about. This is what she wrote on a piece of paper:

红楼梦


With the help of my friends here in China, I have learned that this is a very famous story in China. It is the story of hóng lóu mèng or "A Dream of Red Mansions" This story, is said to be one of the great literary works of the world and was written over 250 years ago and employs very detailed calligraphy as well as plot and story. The literary work is over 1900 pages long and portrays in great detail the life and history of Pao-Yu a young aristocrat, his relatives and maids and their lives on the estate during those times. There is much poetry in this book, as the charecters spend much time in the garden of the estate compsoing poetry. These young people actually form a poetry club. This book, according to the literary critics is rich in the history and Chinese culture. Every Chinese person that I have talked to about this has consistently said that: "This is a very famous Chinese story".

There are people searching to see if they can find an English version of this book. If one is found, I will let you all know. The read could be very interesting and very enlightening.

You can see all types of dancers here in Shanghai.................

So, what does a guy do on a Saturday in Shanghai....well he goes to see some dancers, and these are not just ordinary dancers, these were dancer's like I have never seen dancers before. Now there is lots of opportunities for entertainment, but you will have to admit by looking at this photo, that this scene was extremely unique and interesting. This is not the greatest picture but pictures are never real great when taken in a dark theater!!! The scene is a traditional Chinese dance scene. Except that these dancers were at the Shanghai Museum of Science and Technology. Do you remember when I wrote, in the case of the sidewalk design for the blind and some other things, that the Chinese people do everything, I believe, with a purpose and a plan? At this museum, there are halls devoted to the environment, the human body, genetics, space and space travel and robotics. These dancers are all robots performing a traditional Chinese dance to Chinese music and it was pretty neat to see. Not only were there these dancers, there were robots that played games like gobong with adults and children and you could even test your skill at shooting a bow and arrow against a robot. All this, I feel with a plan to get children excited about technology and manufacturing as well as the long term science associated with the environment, genetics and space travel. It is a very definite long term view........and a pretty good one at that!!!

Best to All