Life and Travel in China

Regarding the boycott of Chinese T-shirts and other products due to the situation in Tibet. Ironically, such T-shirts are cheaper in India and Pakistan, because cotton is cheap there, but not in China - this is another stereotype. So the best we can do is boycott polyester T-shirts. And if we want to boycott things manufactured in China, please also remember about i-Pods, Playstation consoles and Nokia phones, because these and many other "branded" products are produced in China, near Shenzhen. I will gladly provide the address to those who do not believe. Of course, I mean original products, not fakes.

Today my wife was listing what inventions come from China. When she said paper, I replied - maybe if it weren't for paper, laptops would have appeared in the world earlier. Now we write on laptops, such a stupid joke.

Yesterday I got married for the second time! During a performance at the Splendid China open-air museum, I was kidnapped from the crowd of spectators. I was dressed up in a straw hat, given a fur coat for my back and a shotgun. I was offered a glass of Chinese vodka, and when I grabbed the glass and shouted to the audience in Chinese: "Cheers - ganbei", everyone was happy. Later, my "guardian" and I ran from the stage to the back. There, I was introduced to a beautiful young girl in traditional Chinese clothing - "This is your wife." I was very happy, I couldn't complain. I was dressed up in a wedding outfit. We went out together, my wife was covered with a red scarf. They asked me to unveil it. She of course pushed my hand away. She repeated it again and I shouted in Chinese, "Why!? You don't love me." The audience burst into laughter. Eventually the advances were accepted and we danced together at my wedding. At the end, I was taken to the back room, given a small gift and taken away from the traditional newlyweds' clothes. I looked at my "chosen" once again and said, "You are my wife now." The young artist just smiled. It all happened in the show village of the Yi minority, the Splendid China open-air museum in Shenzhen. Unfortunately, the marriage certificate was not valid, but about fifty spectators had fun at my expense. And I did my best to get this wedding going and establish contact with the audience. It was happening, it was happening...

I was at the lingerie fair in Shenzhen. The fair was nothing special and nothing new in this industry, but it was more about the models and photos. However, it turned out that there would be few lingerie shows on the last day, but there were many photographers. Among the three models, there were about two hundred guests with cameras and photo phones :-). Unfortunately, I didn't have a flash, the photos turned out bad, I couldn't even look into the viewfinder, I did everything by feel, with my hand, over the heads of several people who were standing in front of me. The underwear was not very fashionable, some of the designs were really old-fashioned, but of course the Chinese pretended that it was a French or Italian collection (produced in China, of course). The prices of such underwear are usually half the salary of a Chinese worker. The quality is reasonable, but nothing special, and the designs probably date back to the interwar period. I regret that I wasn't there on the first day, because there were professional models, several different shows and even an actress from Hong Kong.

Radio ZET reported that the Chinese would boycott Carrefour stores because they support the Tibetans. They reportedly sent text messages to Chinese phones telling them not to shop there from May. I don't know how much truth there is in this, because me, my wife or my friends did not receive such a text message. Still, it's even better if they boycott it, I won't have to queue at the cash register! And Carrefour in China is quite decent, because there are a lot of imported products and quite decent prices.