Travels Through China
I bought a new jacket last week. The label says Georgio Armani. But the buttons say Inamra Oigroeg. No Kidding.
But who am I to complain - it cost me around $30, and it's really warm. I have learnt through observation that if you plan to be in your own photographs there are two important rules you must follow:
- Place your feet at an odd angle to each other
- Look relaxed. This can be achieved by placing your arm on a nearby object. If you are seated, your legs must be crossed. Cigarrette is optional.
Speaking of bargains, I bought a new guitar a coupla days back. It's a Fender Squier Telecaster, in a hard case. For $165. Strewth! And it sounds great too. I might be playing it tomorrow night, and I am going to try to assemble a reggae band here. Any suggestions of songs for our repertiore are welcome.
Yesterday I visited one of two old synagogues here. This one, near the northern shore of the Huangpu, is called Ohel Moshe. It is an Ashkenazi schule built by Russian Jews and is now set up as a memorial to the 30,000 Jewish immigrants who came to Shanghai in the early parts of the 20th century as an escape from persecution in Europe.
There is a man, Mr Wang, who works there. He is now 85, born in 1919. He grew up in the area and worked amongst the Jews and has many stories to tell. In the schule is a replica of an address book from the period - a guide to which immigrants had settled where. I found someone with my surname in there. I never knew I had family who had come through Shanghai. But with the turmoil of war and the fading of old memories, there is so much we will never know.
This is a view from the third storey of the synagogue, overlooking the old Jewish Ghetto of Shanghai.
In two days it will be the Chinese New Year, entering the Year of the Dog. There are decorations like this everywhere.
There are many shops like this selling decorations for the New Year celebrations.
The weather here may not have warmed up, but at least it has cleared up. The Pearl Tower can be seen from all over the city.
Shanghai's architecture is amazing. The foreign occupation of Shanghai has left an amazing legacy of all different types of Western architecture all over Shanghai. This is all mixed with modern skyscrapers, traditional Chinese structures and old shacks.
This image links to an AVI movie file of me arm wrestling a six year old boy with excellent English. The film's quality has been reduced to try to save space, but it is still almost 2MB.