Oranges, and other fruit and veg, are often sold on the streets from the back of bicycle pulled carts. Street selling of all sorts is very common here, and the fact that an enterprising person can set up shop almost anywhere selling their wares is one thing that I love about China - no hideous EU type red-tape nonsense.
And so on to an oddity: these plastic fruits were the floor of a cafe I ate at. It's a popular trend in China to decorate the floor with say, a collection of plastic fruits, or astroturf, then cover it with a sturdy sheet of clear plastic. It can occasionally mean that you get a very disturbing vertiginous sensation, thinking you're going to fall into a hole that doesn't actually exist.
Finally, a strange incident that occurred in a park on Sunday. I was approached my a man who wanted to practice his English and then asked to take my contact details. When I was putting my number into his phone, I accidentally pressed the wrong button and ended up staring at his wallpaper: a photo of Osama bin Laden. I was so surprised that I nearly dropped the phone. I've been left wondering if he's just a random loon, or if some Chinese people secretly admire him. What makes it more puzzling is that neither him nor his wife/girlfriend appeared to be Muslim, and he seemed eager to know Westerners and to know about the West.
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J, you are probably right about London Bridge. If you look up its history in Wikipedia, it says, that this Viking song is similar to London Bridge is falling down. The bridge was a wooden one, wasn't it? So it would have been destroyed several times. Anyway it's nice to see that a bridge can be the subject of many comments. The old English was probably of Celtic /Saxon origine, wasn't it?The English of today is a mixture of Celtic,Latin,Saxon, French and Viking Norwegian too. Thanks for your comment. Oh and that story you told about the Chinese, approaching you and having Osama bin Laden on his wall, is a bit scary. Take care.
ReplyDeleteJ here's the whole history of LB:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.rhymes.org.uk/london-bridge-is-falling-down.htm
I'm all for oranges, but thes sounded absolutly odd :-)
ReplyDeletePS Thank you for the comment! The Chinese authorities do not have a good reputation in these matters.
Oh, I love that floor! Do they have toilet seats with nails in them as well?
ReplyDeleteDid you mother ever teach you " do not talk to stranger"!! Still be careful, we do not know what is out there.
ReplyDeletethat floor thing would drive me nuts!
ReplyDeleteThat is kind of odd on the Osama thing.. maybe he's just secretly attracted to him? Nah.. strange.
I've discussed this with various Chinese friends and we've come to the conclusion he was just a loony tune. It might sound odd that a random stranger approached me just to ask me what films I like, but in this city it happens to foreigners all the time. (Either that or people want to take photos with you.) Sometimes it can be a little annoying, but he's the only fruitcake I've encountered. There are so few foreigners here, and many Chinese people are desperate to practice their hard won English skills with us.
ReplyDeleteThe fruit as floor decoration was new to me. What a charming thing!!
ReplyDeleteWow! What a tale. The oranges are great, plastic fruit on the floor a bit odd and the fellow sounds pretty much off. Whew.
ReplyDelete