Chris Morejohn

Photos ©Lilly Morejohn

Being temporarily in tropical climes I got to thinking of my brother Chris who lives in the Bahamas, sometimes on the boat he built (named "Hogfish Maximus"), sometimes in the house he made (called "Tightspot"). Jack of all trades he is also an incredible artist, sculpting wondrous images of fish and other animals that he finds in the world around him. At the moment he is somewhere in the Caribbean sailing to Grenada so it is a little hard to pin him down if you want to place an order. But I will continue to pester him to get his website running. Otherwise you can find his work in the various art galleries scattered around the Bahamas. That's my niece Lilly holding the parrot fish. 

Thailand mera lästips

Bilda förlag fortsätter sin serie intressanta bildningsböcker från Asien med en ny Thailand-titel:

Thailand: mer än sol och stränder av Bertil Lintner

Inbunden, Bilda förlag, 2008, 206 sidor

Beskrivning av boken från Bokus webbsida:

"Thailand är så mycket mer än det varma solskenslandet, så mycket mer än finkorniga palmkantade sandstränder och megastaden Bangkoks skyskrapor och tempel. Och thailändarna är så mycket mer än servicepersonal i turistnäringen.

Bertil Lintner, bosatt i landet sedan 1979, ger en bred introduktion till landet som har blivit 

svenskarnas andra hemland. Ett perfekt komplement till guideboken, för alla som vill veta mer om thailändarna, deras familjeliv, vanor och tänkesätt, mat, årstidsfester, språk och religion. Läs också om naturen, historien från Siam till Thailand, minoritetsfolken och vad som händer i landet i vår tid. Och om sju thailändska "underverk" som är okända för de flesta turister!

Rikligt bildmaterial av Susanna Asklöf . "

Sightseeing av Lapcharoensap, Rattawut

Inbunden, Norstedts (2006)

Beskrvning:

"Den unge thailändske författaren Rattawut Lapcharoensap debuterar med en samling berättelser om ett Thailand utanför turistbroschyrernas paradisbilder. Här möter vi ett land som är präglat av kulturkrocken mellan öst och väst. I till synes enkla, men känslomässigt komplexa berättelser skildrar författaren med en osviklig iakttagelseförmåga och humor vad det innebär att leva i denna del av världen. I den första berättelsen "Farangs" gör sonen till en hotellägare misstaget att förälska sig i en västerländsk flicka, vilket leder till en dramatisk uppgörelse med flickans uppblåste amerikanske pojkvän. I berättelsen "Sightseeing" reser en ung man med sin nästan blinda mor till de paradisöar hon längtat till, långt bortom turistorternas skräniga vardag."

No. 1 What's this gizmo?

Photo ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn

Can you guess what this tool is used for?

Happy New Year 2009!

Fire-dancer, Klong Prao Beach, Koh Chang, Thailand Photo ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn

Gott nytt år! Happy New Year! Xinnian kuaile! Wishing all of you the best for 2009!

More geckos

Drawing ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn/Burton Booz

Here is the original drawing of the tokay gecko before manipulation (see below "Geckos galore"). Burton (11 years old) did the pencil drawing, I colored. 

Dwarfs and coconuts - Merry Christmas 2008

Photo ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn

This year Christmas began for me with a gang of Vietnamese dwarfs dressed up as elves and Santa's little helpers. No kidding. They had been hired by the Hotel Equatorial in Ho Chi Minh City to goof around in the lobby. The hotel receptionists and waitresses all wore little red and white mini-skirts and Santa hats and had a great time chasing the dwarfs around. The little people themselves seemed to be having a good time too, giggling and running about with high-pitched screams and kicking balls with all their might at the hotel guests. Outside in the 35° heat the city had put on it's Christmas best with lot's of colored lights and scrawny decorations. Motorcycles zipped by with their drivers hugging Christmas trees. When Christmas actually came around on Koh Chang Santa himself came striding under the coconut trees dispensing cookies and good cheer. Amazing how he gets around the planet.

Monks and moms

Photo ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn

One of the strongest memories I have from my first trip to Bangkok in the late 1980s was the incredibly slow traffic along Sukhumvit Road, creeping along in a public bus for literally hours with no sight of my destination and elephants walking beside us faster that the bus. Nowadays a trip to Bangkok is a pleasure due to the speedy, clean and efficient Sky Train. I spotted this sign on the train a few weeks ago and from a distance first thought that it said "Please offer this seat to moms". How nice. 

Geckos galore

©Ingrid Booz Morejohn

One of the joys of the tropics are all the friendly and sometimes not so friendly creatures that want to share your days and nights with you. Geckos are the best and centipedes, spiders, scorpions, mosquitoes and cockroaches are the worst. Here in our bungalow on Koh Chang we have very few mosquitoes, only one poisonous centipede in the bathroom and no cockroaches but oodles of geckos and one big tokay gecko. The geckos make their own sound that is a little bit like their local names ching-chong or chick-chack but the large, colourful tokay has it's own distinct mating call - a tight, high pitched tok - kay, tok - kay, tok - kay from which it gets it's name. The sound is repeated and if you hear it speak 7-8 times some say it means good luck. The tokay gecko is the second largest gecko species, nocturnal and native to SE Asia. They are looked upon positively by most people in Asia, so much so that the Chinese consume them for medicinal purposes. They feed on the many small insects and rodents that might want to pester you, so please welcome them. But they do poop a lot!

Illustration: Drawing of a gecko (with only four fingers, they actually have five) that my son Burton and I did together, painted, then fooled with in the computer. 

Thailand lästips

Resa i Thailand av Britt-Marie Bergman Saengkhamchu

Detta är en resehandbok som jag kan varmt rekommendera. Den är dessutom på svenska. Boken är skriven av någon som både är bosatt i Thailand, har en stor kärlek till landet och folket och är gift med en thailändare. Britt-Marie och hennes man Ging driver också en liten lägenhetshotell på ön Phuket. Läs hennes blog och webbsida (hon är en jäkel på att blogga och skapa webbsidor):

http://gingmalee.blogspot.com/

www.resaithailand.se

www.resailaos.se

(Boken ingår i samma serie som min egen guide Resa till Kina. Resa i Thailand är inbunden och ges ut på Ica bokförlag. 192 sidor.)

Beskrivning av boken från Bokus webbsida:

"Thailand - mer än bara bungalower. Thailand är vita, solvarma stränder och sammetsmjukt vattten. Det är festivaler, marknader, tempel och elefanter. Det är också läcker mat, fantastisk natur och vänliga människor. Här är boken för den som vill ha en härlig semester och som vill veta mer om exotiska Thailand.
Britt-Marie Bergman Saengkhamchu guidar genom natur, kultur, matvanor och historia. Hon berättar om de klassiska sevärdheterna och de bästa stränderna, men också om egna favoritställen och pärlor som västerländska besökare sällan upptäcker. Här finns praktiska tips om hur man prutar och väljer boende, hur man reser, vad man äter och hur man undviker kulturkrockar.
Hon berättar om den thailändska hälsningen wai, hängmatterytmen, att förlora ansiktet och andra saker som är typiska för den thailändska kulturen: Varför ska man låtsas som det regnar om någon fått ett löv i håret? Varför bör man inte ge bort lotusblommor? Vad är det som är så roligt med att turister äter guava?
Denna utgåva är reviderad 2008 och utökad med ett avsnitt om Ban Krut och ett om Trang, ett relativt nytt resmål som blivit populärt bland dem som söker stillhet. Avsnittet om Khao Lak har utökats, och hela boken har uppdaterats genomgående.
Det här är idag den enda boken på marknaden som beskriver landets befolkning och vilka kulturella skillnader som finns mellan thailändare och skandinaver."

Eating recommendations Bangkok - Koh Chang

A touch of Sweden - teddy bear rice serving at Kharma, Kai Bae Beach, Koh Chang

Photo ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn

It's difficult to get really bad food in Thailand, but then again there is so much to choose from it's nice when you get nudged in a certain direction with a helpful recommendation. So here is my humble selection of good eats experienced this last trip to Bangkok and Koh Chang:

Bangkok
Bla dip (Skytrain stop Ari, corner of soi ari samphan 7, praram 6 rd. tel 02.279.8185) This is our absolute favorite in Bangkok. Fusion Japanese-European-Asian to die for. Very affordable, huge portions and the guys wear super-cool fedoras. So popular sometimes difficult to get a table, but you can wait outside in the garden until a take is ready to take you to culinary heaven.

Koh Chang

A Bella (Klong Prao Plaza)

Italian, good meat dishes with real, cream sauces, yummy! and anything Italian too.

Kharma (north end of Kai Bae, near Chang Park Resort)

Great tasting, home-cooked Thai, mixed-western and Mexican food in BIG portions, run by Swedish Veronika (från Gävle) with her partner Arty.  Obs! Svenskar välkomna här, Veronika serverar även jättegoa köttbullar och annat svenskt och delar frikostigt med sig av information om ön och annat. Supertjej. 

Zivas (upper Kai Bae)

Greek, italian, yum-yum

Rock Sugar (middle Kai Bae)

Great for steaks!

....and most important, midway on Kai Bai there is a local family food-shack/restaurant with extremely cheap, scrumptious thaifood and the meanest banana shakes around. (Hint, hint: What this gizmo?). Look for the restaurant with no sign in English, but with a little print-shop located inside the open-air restaurant. Warm, friendly family. You can't go wrong here.

Fantastic REAL coffee can be had at:

Papa Deli & Bakery (south end of Kai Bae Beach) 

Very good whole wheat bread and sandwich baguettes. Wow coconut pastries!

Mochaccino (south end of Kai Bae Beach) 

Coffee plus Internet, oslagbar kombination.

Doi Chang (White Sands Beach)

Fair-trade coffee with a smile from Northern Thailand

Thailand - again

Klong Prao Beach, Koh Chang Photo ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn

 

Back in Thailand for a dose of good friends, great food, warm weather, wonderful smiles, holiday shopping and a pleasant place to celebrate the Christmas and New Year Holidays. Winter in Chengdu is bone-cracking cold, dripping wet and depressingly grey so the motivation to flee the city is great. Those living in south-west China and with spare change (and time) are spoiled for choice: Hainan Island, southern Yunnan, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos (no beaches though!), Vietnam, the Philippines, are all warm destinations this time of year. Wintertime in most of south-east Asia is perfect, very little rain, sun, sun, sun and not too hot. The kids love it and we parents are easily convinced. Thailand is still the choice of many even though the numbers of travelers this year is down due to the recent political problems and closed airports.  A perfect time to travel actually as it means less problems getting accomodation during peak season, better rates, etc - but of course, terrible for all who rely on the tourism industry for their daily survival.

For many years the coastal areas of Thailand have sold themselves as a total tourist package where the visitor can thoroughly relax, indulge their every fantasy and forget all worries at home. But every time I come to Thailand it still takes a little getting used to the extent that people throw their cares (and clothes) away. And I'm not talking of topless women here (on the island of Koh Chang), but big, fat men with bulging beer bellies, hairy chests and armpits, frighteningly tight speedoes, butt-crack exposing low-slung Billabongs  and tattoos galore. The average age of the Thailand-tourist is no longer twenty-something so the beach beauties mentioned above (like myself) are way past their prime. Exposing yourself on the beach or around the pool is one thing but extending this fashion to every waking moment of the day and any place you go always makes me wonder what the ever-smiling local people think of us crazy foreigners who often treat Thailand like a disposable commodity with no culture of it's own.  So fellow Thailand travelers, please keep coming to Thailand, but remember to close your shirt or put on your sarong when you're walking through the lobby or eating in a restaurant! 

Recension i Kinaportalen av Kinesiska symboler

Här kommer en positiv recension av Kinesiska symboler från www.kinaportalen.se. Jag tar den med på bloggen trots recensentens stavfel, feluppfattningar och slarvig svenska. Tack för positiv entusiasm!

"Hur många gånger har jag inte undrat vad alla dessa bilder i Kina på fiskar, drakar, grisar och små barn har för mening och funktion! Förutom att vara vackra förstås. Såpass mycket har jag vetat, att de inte ENDAST är vackra. Fisken, har jag också hört, står för välstånd. Och drakarna som alltid står utanför bankbyggnader - är de någon slags skyddshelgon?

Nej draken - eller drakarna bör man säga, för det finns en massa sorter, inte minst drakbarn - är ett urgammalt kinesiskt sagodjur. En kombination (i sin vanligaste form) av kamel, hjort, hummer, tjur, ödla, groda, karp, tiger, val och örn!!
Och det är faktiskt inte draken som står utanför bankerna, utan en XIEZHI eller QILIN, andra sagodjur som tydligen är väldigt snäll, pigg och vegetarian.

Om sådan djur och en massa andra kinesiska symboler och deras historiska och semantiska ursprung (mycken symbolik kommer av likljudande tecken, såsom kåldomar, CAI, som låter som rike, CAI, och därför symboliserar rikedom), har jag nu haft möjlighet att läsa om i en ny fantastiskt välskriven och informativ bok.

"Kinesiska symboler" är skriven av Ingrid Booz Morejohn, som också skrivit "Res till Kina" och "På kinesiskt vis" (recenserad här), och är en mycket läsvärd liten skrift. Den är lättläst men samtidigt mycket givande och kan läsas av alla - både den som redan kan en hel del av Kina och den som skall dit på en kortare semester. Envar bör få stor behållning av dessa betraktelser.

Priset (161 sek hos Bokus) är också helt rimligt."

Fika! Laos

Min dotter frågade mig en gång vad jag egentligen har för hobby. När jag inte svarade med detsamma sa hon "dricka kaffe!" och nog hade hon rätt, en god kopp kaffe är något av det bästa jag vet. Gott kaffe kan man hitta både här och där men om man har lite längtan efter något svenskt och man samtidigt befinner sig långt borta i Laos vad gör man då? Fikar på Scandinavian Bakery så klart! Här finns både gott bröd, bullar, smörgåsar, baguetter, kanelbullar och småkakor men även gamla trotjänare som dammsugare, semlor och rulltårta. Mandelmassan görs på cashewnötter och i disken kan man även köpa svensk godis som gelé hallon och lakritssnören. Sune Wissmar från Järfälla heter mannen som öppnade bageriet (det första europeiska) i huvudstaden Vientiane 1994. För inte så länge sedan öppnades filialen i Luang Prabang och nyligen startade hans son Daniel Swedish Pizza and Baking House i Vientiane. Tillsammans har de 90 anställda, bara det ett beundransvärt och nyttigt sätt att hjälpa lokalbefolkningen med välbehövd sysselsättning och arbetstillfällen.  

När jag nyligen var i Luang Prabang med en grupp beställde jag en födelsedagstårta till Annica som fyllde 50 år samma dag vi anlände. Självklart dekorerades den mumsiga tårtan med en födelsedagsgris!

Adress: 

Scandinavian Bakery finns på 74/1 Phangkham Road i Vientiane (tel+856 21215199) och mitt i stan på Sissavong Road i Luang Prabang.

email: scandi@laopdr.com

website: www.scandinavianbakerylaos.com

Blessed, damned rain

Hoi'an, Vietnam ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn

A Chinese poet, seated by a latticed garden window, might reflect upon the hypnotic quality the sound of raindrops makes upon the surface of a banana leaf, rhythmically transporting him to other worlds. In Laos Buddha statues have been created standing with their arms in a special position named "Calling for Rain". The Buddha's hands are held straight down, tightly pressed flat against his body with fingertips pointing to the ground, beseeching rain to come and help the people grow their food and survive another year. Thus the farmer considers rain a blessed thing, longed for and cherished. But too much of it can also be a curse - when it drowns fields and rots crops like the flooding that caused many problems in northern Vietnam this autumn. The tourist, on the other hand, seldom looks upon rain as anything but a bother. Something they definitely hadn't paid for when they booked their ticket (usually from very rainy countries) and an irritating annoyance put between them and unending leisurely hours in the sun - a precious luxury the tourist has come to expect and demand as his right when arriving at his (as portrayed in the travel catalogue) sunny destination. But where does the water come from that let's you take that wonderful freshwater shower in your hotel room?

Picture: The last days of the seasonal monsoon. November, Hoi'an, Vietnam. 

Thanksgiving dinner in Laos

Luang Prabang morning market ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn

Instead of roast turkey, sage stuffing, corn on the cob and pumpkin pie the local offerings this November for a home-cooked Thanksgiving dinner at the morning market in Luang Prabang, Laos were bat, bamboo rat, mouse deer, grasshopper (crunchy but a slightly unpleasant undertone of tobacco juice), flying squirrel, wasp larvae, exotic birds and Mekong catfish. Not that I pooh-pooh local delicacies that for some are the very height of gourmet dining but on a special day you just kind of want to eat the traditional food that your mum served you as a child. For some Laotian I suppose that is a juicy bamboo rat but I just couldn't quite conjure up an image of turkey feathers on the fat rat so I gave it a skip. No warbled thank-you was to be had from the rat who only hissed at me through very unattractive front chompers. (Bamboo rats look like grossly fat rodents without the long tails but with hideous rabbit-like buckteeth). What sealed my vegetarian fate that day was a little bat who stared forlornly at me from a large platter of his fellow mammals, all trussed up by their feet. He, unlike them, had not yet succumbed to his fate, his liquid black eyes unblinking. I heard later that a special northern Laotian treat is bat stuffed in bamboo tubes then left for several days to ferment....

Vietnam FILM SUGGESTIONS

©Ingrid Booz Morejohn

When I lead a tour I often recommend movies that can be watched either before the tour or after as a way of deepening the travel experience and aiding in understanding a little more about the country, it's people and it's culture. It is also a way of extending the journey when you've returned home - the movie recapturing a mood, atmosphere or even a smell or taste sensation. 

The list below is by no means complete and I have not seen every movie so can't fully vouch for either the quality or the message sent. Vietnam is also unique in that most of the English language movies about the country deal with the Vietnam war, unfortunately tending to forget that Vietnam is first a country and a people and second the setting for two of the most horrible wars of the  20th century.  I caution readers to be prepared for some very disturbing and potentially upsetting scenes. If you have further recommendations please feel free to post any film names as a comment below. (Svenska läsare: många av dessa filmer kan lånas på biblioteken hemma och i princip alla kan köpas på webbbutiker. Fördelen med att låna filmerna i Sverige är att dem då är textade på svenska.)

Vietnamese (or foreign co-produced) movies:

Trilogy by Vietnamese director Anh Hung Tran:

The Scent of Green Papaya (Doften av grön papaya. Setting: Vietnam but filmed entirely on a soundstage in France! 1994)
Cyclo (Setting: Saigon, 1995)
Vertical Ray of the Sun (När solen står som högst, 2000, Setting: Hanoi, Halong Bay etc)

Three Seasons (1999, director: Ngoc Hiep Nguyen)

The Buffalo Boy (2004, director Minh Nguyen-Vo)

The White Silk Dress (2007, director Luu Huynh)

Oh, Saigon (2007, director Doan Hoang)

Journey from the Fall (2007, director Ham Tran)

Foreign produced movies set in Vietnam but not dealing directly with the war:

Indochine (1992, starring Catherine Deneuve, filmed partially in Halong Bay)
The Lover (Älskaren, 1992) (setting: Mekong Delta)

The Beautiful Country (2004)

Selection of foreign (non-vietnamese) movies that in some way deal with the Vietnam War:

The Green Berets (1967)
Go Tell The Spartans (1978)
Coming Home (released 1978)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Deer Hunter (1978)
Platoon (2002)
Born on the Fourth of July (1989)
Hamburger Hill (1987)
Full Metal jacket (1987)
A Bright Shining Lie (1998)
Siege of Firebase Gloria (1989)
Who'll Stop the Rain (1978)
Tigerland (2000)
84C MoPic (1989)
The fog of War (2003)
Path to War (2002)
The Quiet American (Den stillsamme amerikanaren. Setting Saigon 2002)
Hanoi Hilton (1987)
Forrest Gump (1994)
Heaven and Earth  (1993) 
Good Morning, Vietnam (1987) 
Casualties of War (1989) 
We Were Soldiers (2002)

Photo sales at CIWC Christmas Bazaar

I just came back from one month in Vietnam, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia and have a lot of catching up to do. Keep your eyes peeled the next couple of weeks to catch new photos, postings and travel info to these extremely interesting countries. I'll be writing about bamboo rats, grasshoppers and mouse deer, Buddhist caves and dancing apsaras, hidden rocks and shoals on the Mekong, sailing amongst the karst islands of Halong Bay, lingering sorrow in Cambodia and shy smiles in Laos, Laotian coffee versus Vietnamese and tropical fruits like Nipa palm, jackfruit and pink pomelo...

But first some good news: we had great success with selling photos at the Third Annual CIWC Christmas Bazaar: 32 prints sold! That means around 7,000 RMB (about 1000 USD) will be given to the two charities working with the Sichuan earthquake victims. If anyone still wants photos please feel free to continue placing orders. All money will go to the quake charities. Thanks for all the support!

Photo: An afternoon bath in the Mekong, Luang Prabang, Laos

Bibliotekstjänst recension: Kinesiska symboler

Det är viktigt med en bra recension från Bibliotekstjänst då den ligger till grund för de olika bibliotekens inköp. Min första bok Resa till Kina fick en mycket bra recension och biblioteken svarade med att köpa in ovanligt många böcker - 500 st. Vi får se vad det blir för respons med följande recension av Kinesiska symboler:

"Här förklaras vad som ligger bakom många av de symboler och lyckotecken man möter till vardags i Kina. Omdöme: Ingrid Booz Morejohn har arbetat som reseledare i Kina och är numera också bosatt där. Hon har tidigare gett ut Resan [sic] till Kina (2006). Hon har i denna bok om kinesiska symboler valt att fokusera på åtta grundläggande begrepp, såsom lycka, långt liv, frid och belöning. Först ger hon en mer historisk och etymologisk bakgrund till ordet, tecknet och funktionen. Sedan visar hon vilka djur, fenomen, föremål eller t.o.m. maträtter som förknippas med begreppet och alltså fungerar som ett slags överförda symboler. Här kan vi läsa att sallad är symbol för rikedom medan selleri står för framgång i jobbet. Hon lyckas med denna struktur ge mening på ett djupare plan. Ordets uttal och skrivtecknets utseende visar sig vara nyckeln till symbolvärldens uppbyggnad. Både Kinaresenärer och konstintresserade kan här finna mycket matnyttigt. En kort källförteckning avslutar boken som har ett medryckande språk. Färgfoton av människors vardagsliv ger konkretion. - Ulf Lindgren"

Bokrecension På kinesiskt vis

Här kommer första bokrecension för På kinesiskt vis, recenserad av Kinaportalen (www.kinaportalen.se):

"Ännu en bok om Kina har dykt upp på den svenska marknaden, och det är långt ifrån den första detta år. Denna bok handlar dock, till skillnad från flera av sina föregångare, väldigt lite om politik. Den handlar däremot väldigt mycket om kinesisk kultur, traditioner, normer, kutym. Och den gör det på ett mycket bra sätt - boken är välskriven, med massor av vackra och illustrativa bilder. En perfekt gåva, men också mycket läsvärd för den som skall åka till Kina på längre eller kortare tid. Det är en "introduktion" till Kina som skrivits, och bilderna är en viktig del i denna.
Att vara en en ganska kort och lättfattad introduktion har den förstås gemensamt med Johan Björkstens "I Mittens rike" som kom för 2 år sedan. Men de skiljer sig också lite. Björkstens bok behandlar kinesisk historia, och det tar upp en hel del av boken. "På kinesiskt vis" ger ingen kronologi och författaren skriver inte alls om olika historiska epoker. Däremot handlar den om historisk, traditionella kinesiska företeelser (alltifrån vett o etikett till tedrickning) och det gör den på ett mycket bra sätt.

Helt klart läsvärd för den oinitierade!

Besök gärna författaren vackra hemsida: http://www.ingridboozmorejohn.com/

CIWC Christmas Bazaar Photo Update

Yesterday I got the photo prints back from the lab and I must say they look great. They are at the framers now being cut for cream-colored or black matts, depending on what color best suits the image. I made 46 prints total (from the 20 images). Ten of the prints have already been sold and I'm hoping that many more people will pre-order to get an idea of which images are the most popular. Of course, it will be much easier to judge which ones are nice when you actually see them at the Bazaar. The prints are large, standard size is A3 (2 times a regular piece of copy paper). In case the image you like best is sold out you can put your name on an order list and  I'll get the picture to you before Christmas. 

Many people have asked me to recommend a good framer here in Chengdu. I will bring a stack of business cards for a framer I recommend: Shilin Muyi near Rainbow Bridge (the big crossing downtown where the furniture department stores are located): 37 Beisi, tel: 028-86614510. Mobile: 13708007421.  There are also good framers at Songxianqiao Antique Market, underneath the highway in the souvenir shops near the Kempinski and on "framer's street", No 99 West Zhonglieci Road (near the Greenland Hotel).  

For more info about the photos see the entry below from November 3rd.

Fat Lady Rocks!

When I was trying to think up an appropriate name for this blog I thought I might call it Pang Taitai. Then I could truly call myself a blobber at Blobspot, excuse me a blogger at Blogspot. But lo and behold Pang Taitai (Fat Lady) was already taken by a well-endowed Hebei woman selling her own brand of spiffy fashion apparel for curvaceous Chinese women. Her website www.pangtaitai.com leans heavily towards the pink end of the palette and her slogan is "I am beautiful, I believe in myself". She seems to have representation all over China and she models all her designs. As anyone around me knows I can be direct to the point of bluntness, so I really like Ms Fang's straight forward and honest business approach, especially in a country obsessed with slimness and youthful beauty. If you want to put in an order for a natty tennis outfit or a rabbit fur collar down jacket her email is pangtaitai@pangtaitai.com - or why not some Power Woman black suede boots with gold details? Tell her Chengdu Pangtaitai sent you.

Presidents, Princes, Divas and Murderers

When I was a teenager my family moved to Florida. The first week in our new hometown a young black man was taken into the swamps by the local Ku Klux Clan, chained to a tree and beaten to death. This was 1976. Today Barack Obama was elected President of the United States of America. It made me cry. For the past eight years I have been so ashamed to call myself an American that I have cowardly hidden behind my Swedish passport. Today I feel extremely proud to be an American  and proud of the American people that voted for Obama. We are no longer the people of 1976. Let us hope that Mr Obama will keep us proud both of him and ourselves.

©Ingrid Booz Morejohn

The past few weeks have seen various personages pass through Chengdu. Yesterday Prince Andrew, Duke of York, turned up at The Bookworm. He was either very tired (or slightly tipsy from a working lunch) because he fell asleep in front of our very eyes. Luckily this didn't last for more than a few seconds and he went on to lend his support and suggestions to the ex-pat efforts in the local earthquake relief work. 

We opened our front door the other day to discover Yang Erche Namu on our doorstep. She was inspecting the vacant apartment across from ours, possibly thinking of renting it. (Our Korean missionary neighbors have shifted abode). Namu is well-known in Sweden and other European countries as the author (together with Christine Mathieu) of Leaving Mother Lake (Döttrarnas Rike, Bra Böcker Bokförlag), an account of her childhood on the shores of Lugu Lake on the border of Yunnan and Sichuan Province. She belongs to the Mosuo minority and at a young age left her small village to become a mega singing star in China. Her life was featured in National Geographic Magazine and she has since both written books, been a model and starred in movies. Let's hope she's not too hot to handle if she becomes our neighbor. Are Mosuos in the habit of borrowing sugar?

Temple door, Kongpo, Tibet ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn

On the darker side of things an upsetting thing happened the other day on our street. On my way in a taxi to pick up my children I suddenly saw two Tibetans stabbing each other with long knives. The taxi driver jammed on his brakes and for a few horrifying seconds we say them lunge fiercely at each other in a grim dance of death, both wanting to get the best of the other. The driver quickly decided the best thing to do was to flee the scene and we sped off in a hurry, both of us shaken by what we had seen. "Did you see that?" I asked him. "I saw it." he answered. I wish I hadn't.

Photos for sale at CIWC Christmas Bazaar

Ballet class, Shanghai

Corn harvest, Lijiang, Yunnan

Moon Gate, West Slender Lake, Yanghzou, Jiangsu

Red Corridor, Wuhou Temple, Chengdu

Black Dragon Pool, Lijiang, Yunnan

Thailand

Lotus Pond

Tagong, West Sichuan

Women's Feast, Dali, Yunnan

Bamboo, Wuhou Temple, Chengdu

Autumn, Jiuzhaigou, Sichuan

Three Pagodas, Dali, Yunnan

Cormorant fishermen, Li River, Guangxi

Chopsticks

10,000 Buddha Peak, Emei Mountain, Sichuan

Tashilhunpo Monastery, Tibet

Lijiang, Yunnan Province

Lotus seed pod

Tibetan nun, Lhasa

Tibetan monk, Sumtsenling Monastery, Zhongdian

All of the pictures you see here are going to be on sale as prints at the 3rd Annual CIWC Christmas Bazaar at QSI International School (Meizhou Huayuan) on December 6, 2008. All proceeds from the sales of these images will go to two charities that work with earthquake relief projects in the Sichuan area that was devastated by the May 12th, 2008 earthquake : Ecologia and Sichuan Quake Relief. 

Ecologia needs 70,000 RMB to help a village rebuild homes and help families begin a cottage industry where they can earn a living. The remaining money earned will go to Sichuan Quake Relief – working on many projects in the quake area to help relieve the suffering of those living in the area.

More about the charities:
Ecologia http://www.ecologia.org/ 

Sichuan Quake Relief http://sichuan-quake-relief.org/ 

Each print will come mounted with a matt (passpartout) and cost 250 rmb. There will be 20 prints on sale.  If there is a special picture that you like please make a comment here below or send me an email: ingridmorejohn@gmail.com. Additional prints can be ordered and delivered before Christmas. The goal this year for the entire bazaar is to raise 100,000 RMB for charity. Please come and help make this possible!

NOTE! ALL IMAGES ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn

Chinglish

©Ingrid Booz Morejohn

I'm as puerile as the next foreigner and can't resist the temptation to upload "interesting" signs I come across. Please forgive me. 

Fruits - Chinese Jujube

Photos ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn

When I was a child a jujube was an oblong candy (not unlike a coated jellybean) that you could buy in movie theaters. Jujubes are actually small fruits the size of walnuts, loved by Chinese all over the country and eaten in both fresh and dried form. In English they are sometimes mistakenly called Chinese dates. (Lat. Ziziphus jujuba, svenska: jujubär eller bröstbär). The jujube (of which there are many species) is a spiny shrub or small tree belonging to the buckthorn family (sv. brakvedsväxter) and can be found all over Asia and the Middle East, from Syria to China.  It was originally cultivated in India as early as 9,000 BCE.

A fresh jujube tastes like a mild, sweetly aromatic apple without the tartness. The consistency is slightly squishy and mealy and not as firm as a crisp apple. Inside is a small, hard stone, not unlike an olive pit. A young jujube is a shiny green, which quickly turns to yellow with brown splotches. As the fruit dries it goes from brown to a dark red. The nutritional value is high with large quantities of vitamin C.  Like so much food in China jujubes are considered medicinally beneficial. They are said to stimulate appetite and increase life-giving qi, they can also prevent coughs (därav det svenska namnet bröstbär), sore throats and alleviate stress!

In China food is not only looked upon as sustenance and medicine but often as a symbolic vehicle. Foods are served or eaten not only because they taste good or are healthy but because they sound like something else that has a positive meaning. Likewise some foods are avoided if they can be connected to something negative. There are many visual rebus constellations with jujubes, here are a few:

It is traditional for friends to place dried red jujubes (zao) and peanuts (huasheng) in the bridal bed in order to wish the newlyweds a speedy (i.e. early, zao) arrival (birth, sheng) of sons. 

Jujubes (zao) together with chestnuts (lizi) symbolize the early (zao) "establishment of a family" (li). In certain dialects where zhi is pronounced zi this pairing together with a litchi (lizhi) conveys a wish that the recipient shall "establish a family" (li) with as many sons (zi) as early (zao) as possible.  

At Chinese New Year's a sticky rice cake called a niangao is served to wish the guests greater (or higher, gao) prosperity and success year (nian) after year. If the cake is decorated with a red jujube (hongzao) the extra message is for this happy result to come as early (zao) as possible. 

...and of course the deep and warm red of the dried jujube is the luckiest of colors.

You can find more entries like this in my new book "Chinese Symbols" ICA, 2008.

Smoking in China

Photos ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn

What do you do when you've just got to have a smoke at an airport and they already confiscated your lighter at the security check?? In Chengdu's Shuangliu Airport you head for the outdoor "lighter dispenser" and fire up. Under lock and key a line of disposable lighters are at your disposal (and children's eager fingers to play with). When the lighters run out of fluid they just unlock the cabinet and put in a new one. "Fiffigt!" as we say in Sweden.

Biblioteksutlåning och statistik - Resa till Kina

Glad nyhet - fick precis ett brev från Sveriges författarfond att min resehandbok Resa till Kina lånades 4570 gånger under 2007. Liten nedgång från 4674 lån 2006 men jag hoppas den har gått upp igen under OS-året 2008. Jag har inte riktigt kommit upp i Astrid Lindgrens lån (över 1 500 000 om året) men man ska inte vara otacksam. Tusen tack alla ni som lånade boken, nu finns två titlar till att ta hem. Jag hoppas att Kina-intresset sträcker sig även till dessa böcker och till denna blogg!

Resa till Kina var med som bokval i både Böckernas klubb och Månadens bok i maj 2006. Bland facklitteratur för vuxna kom den på 14:e plats som mest såld bok till biblioteken under 2006. Sedan utgivningen 2006  har den sålt i ca 10 000 ex. och är nu inne i sin andra upplaga som kom 2008 med uppdateringar och nya bilder. 

Recension i Bibliotekstjänst (BTJ) 2006: 

En guide till Kina och dess resmål såväl i Beijing som i andra delar av landet. Även om kinesisk mat och dryck, om konsthantverk och shopping samt praktiska tips inför resan. Förteckning över alla platser i Kina som finns på UNESCO:s världsarvslista. Omdöme Ingrid Booz Morejohn har mycket gedigna kunskaper om Kina. Därtill är hon en mycket skicklig fotograf och har bland annat dokumenterat landets alla världsarvsplatser. Hon har rest åtskilliga gånger till Kinas samtliga provinser och hon är väl insatt i kinesisk konst och historia samt språket. Beijing presenteras utförligt, därefter alla viktiga platser i östra och västra Kina, Inre Mongoliet, Sidenvägen samt Tibet. Alla sevärdheter beskrivs ingående med intresseväckande uppgifter om natur, tempel, moskéer, kyrkor (det finns många kristna) och utfärdsmål. Kina är ett land med många bottnar, vilket bland annat skildras i provinsernas olika matkulturer. Varje sida har utomordentligt vackra färgfoton; vart och ett är ett konstverk i sig. Boken kan läsas av alla Kinaresenärer för resa i grupp eller på egen hand. Alla som redan har varit där kan med stort nöje läsa denna bok. Praktiska råd finns, dock ej för inkvarteringar, vilket gör att denna bok är mer tidlös än andra aktuella reseguider. Register och litteraturhänvisningar ingår. - Birgitta Gren

Things Chinese - Wedding photography

©Ingrid Booz Morejohn

Outdoor wedding photography is all the rage in China and has been for some years now. The stylists are very creative with their poses and the photographers find the most interesting spots to place their willing victims.  If you are a tourist in China it would be a rare day that you don't come across at least one bride and groom trooping stoically around some beautiful destination accompanied by make-up artist, stylist, photographer, whiteboard carrier etc. Not only do they pick classic locations like Jiuzhaigou, Yellow Mountain and The Forbidden City but sometimes even trashy sites like broken down houses or industrial locations to contrast the flashy wedding attire. Unfortunately divorce statistics are as high in China as in the West so I wonder who gets the pictures?

I will be adding to this entry the more I come across interesting "objects" to upload...

Play day at Tumenzhen with Sichuan Quake Relief

All photos above ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn

On Oct 11th my family and I went with a group of foreign volunteers  from Chengdu  up to Tumenzhen Village (on the other side of the mountain from Hanwang) to play with kids at the local school. This was organized by Sichuan Quake Relief that has been doing a lot of very good work since the catastrophe that hit this area of the province earlier this year. Most of these children had lost their homes in the May 12th earthquake and are now living in makeshift tents and temporary shelters scavenged from what is left of their houses and property. The school only had one building left but the government had provided two new prefab buildings that were functioning nicely. 

As soon as we got to the school word spread quickly and children and adults began to pour in from all directions. Games, finger painting and music lessons were organized and all the kids (Chinese and foreign) joined in immediately with great enthusiasm. Several hours went whizzing by and all too soon it was time to leave. As we all warmly said our good-byes it was a sad sight to see all the children start to walk back to the ruins of what at one time were their homes. 

A lot of progress has been made since the earthquake but life is still very grim for the tens of thousands of people in this large area of Sichuan. Winter is coming up and it might be a very cold one. If you would like to volunteer, work with or donate funds, please contact: www.sichuan-quake-relief.org. Read there weblog posting for our outing.