The Silk Odyssey
  • Blog
  • CHINA
  • TIBET
  • CENTRAL ASIA
  • IRAN
  • EGYPT
  • JORDAN
  • LEBANON
  • TURKEY
  • VISA'S & BORDER CROSSINGS
  • About

NO THANKS, I'M JUST BROWSING - SHANGHAI STYLE

10/5/2015

3 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
Picture
T plus 1 - Shanghai

I'll post the obligatory night-view-across-the-bund-shanghai-skyline pictures later, but this is far more interesting.

I chanced upon this surreal scene in the People's Park, right in the middle of the city.  Guess what these hordes of hopeful-looking middle aged people are doing?

Selling umbrellas?

Nope, wrong.

Guess again.

Job hunting?

Wrong.

So apparently they're looking for love for their kids.  

Every Sunday, thousands of parents - desperate to be grandparents - set up mini stands to try to find a nice boy (or girl) for their too-busy-to-get-hitched children.  The standard "CV" covers the vital statistics - year of birth, month of birth (for feng shui reasons), height, day job, personality profile etc (the rest I can't decipher).

I enquired further in my broken mandarin:

Me:  So, what's happening here
Hopeful lady:  Do you have a girlfriend?  Do you want to make friends with my daughter?
Me:  Err, no and no, I'm not local
Hopeful lady:  *looking even more interested*  Oh?  Japan?  Korea?  Taiwan?  (in order of preference I suppose)
Me:  Malaysia
Hopeful lady:  *slightly less interested but "ok-you'll-do" look*  What month and year are you born in?
Me:  Umm, May '84
Hopeful lady:  Very good!  The heavens are aligned and you will have an auspicious future with my daughter.  What is your telephone number?
Me:  Err, no thanks.  I'm just visiting.
Hopeful lady:  No problem!  I can call her here now.  What is your number? (by this time 6 of her friends had boxed me in)
Me:  Err, really, I have to go.
Hopeful lady:  My daughter has a passport.  What is your number?

Eventually I politely extricated myself from the mama-sans on steroids.  But yeah, mail-order brides are for suckers.  Fly to Shanghai and pick one up for yourself.

If you're a lady, do it quickly though.  There's a pretty hard-coded expiration date for you.  Sorry, that's the way it is.
Picture
Born:  1980.  No takers. 

Aww.
3 Comments
A.Lin
11/5/2015 01:59:04 am

Interesting...
Your blog gonna be my weekly read .. :)

Reply
Carmen
11/5/2015 05:57:27 am

Are you insinuating that I have > 2 years left?!

=D

Reply
Siew Cian
20/5/2015 06:02:43 am

Never know that! keep laughing here LoL

Reply



Leave a Reply.

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.