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Mahjong

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Mahjongg, originally uploaded by Grumbler %-|.

China is indeed a different experience.

Not only in terms of sights and sounds but also on the way people face life.
The farther you go from the more touristic places, the more people tend to be friendler and the more curious they are about you.
You're a foreigner ,a stranger, something from outside but also a chance for some of them to practice English.

I went to Chongqing just because it was near Chengdu and because it had the cheapest flights to Shanghai, from where I wouldake the plane home. Also I was interested to see what would be like one of biggest metropolis in the world (30 million people). And a surprise it was indeed. Not only the city had a geography quite different from the other cities I'd visited until then, it was also bustling with  a frenetic activity, orders of magnitude greater than other big cities like say, Shanghai.

But if you took some time and traveled to the outskirts of Chongqing you would find a much quieter city, where people got puzzled looks on why a foreigner would be there. This is how I got invited to this house to share some tea. The family was quietly playing Mahjong and they explained to me that it was a great game since no one really wined it.

 

The ancient art of caligraphy

alt Ao passear por Beijing, deparamo-nos com um senhor de pincel na mão a desenhar caracteres no chão.

Intrigados, damos a volta, observamos os observadores que se acumulam, puxamos pela cabeça e não percebemos porque é que o senhor está a praticar a sua arte na rua à noite.

Mais intrigante ainda é o facto de não existir nenhum chapeu nem outro objecto onde se pudesse depositar dinheiro. Até que a curiosidade acaba por vencer e perguntamos a um dos observadores:

- nǐ huì shuō yīng yǔ má (do you speak english?)
- Yes
- I'm sorry, but what is it that he is doing?
- He his drawing chinese characters with water
- Ah... and why?
- For his own pleasure!!

respondido assim com um ar admirado como se não fosse natural que as pessoas praticassem a sua arte na rua apenas pelo prazer de a praticar e eventualmente de outros a admirarem.

 

 

   

What to drink, what to drink

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What to drink, what to drink, originally uploaded by Grumbler %-|.

This beverages selling machines are almoust omnipresent in Japan.

Even in small villages you can find at least one or two.. and being a "novelty" buff like I am, they where a temptation.. trying different beverages was almost turning into an obsession :-P

Apart from the drinks one would expect seing on this kind of machines (coke, water, pepsi, juices) iced coffee, cold capuccino and other assorted coffee based based beverages where available.

   

Not a work of art

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Not a work of art, originally uploaded by Grumbler %-|.

Once, when I was 6, one of my aunt Jacinta went to visit us.

She was partially responsible for my love of reading, giving me books when I was young. True, sometimes I wasn't that much appreacitive of the books she gave me, but now when I look back I wish I could smack that little boy in the head and say "shut up and say 'thank you'". Nevertheless I liked her visits and liked talking with her.

When she was leaving I said "waint aunt, let me draw you something", and I went to a table, draw this and gave it to her.

For some reason she liked it so much that she framed the crude drawing and hanged it on one wall of her lobby.

Yesterday I went to her place to have dinner with her and couln't resist on taking the picture of it.. not because it's an interesting drawing but because she kept the drawing on the wall during this last 29 years

   

Cavalo à solta

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Flying Horse, originally uploaded by Grumbler %-|.

Existem fotos assim... que mesmo antes de apontar a objectiva já a temos na nossa mente, que sabemos que vão resultar mesmo antes de a conseguir.

Só que nem sempre aquilo que imaginamos é o resultado final. Tantas vezes imaginamos uma foto, sabemos que é aquilo e depois quando vemos o resultado final o mesmo é decepcionamente e ficamos frustrados com a incapacidade de capturar aquilo que se viu, ou pelo menos que se imagiou.

Este caso foi uma excepção a tal frustração. E o mais supreendente, pelo menos para mim, é o facto de quando a tirei já tinha algum álcool no sangue. Mas quando  vi o momento não resisti, era imprescindível capturar o mesmo.

Não que a imagem em si mesma tenha exactamente algo de extraordinário.Mas existe qualquer coisa nesta composição que me cativou. Talvez a imagem  de um cavalo voador, talvez as linhas condutoras ou o jogo de luz e sombra, ou a sensação de algo menos comum numa comum noite de Santo António.  O certo é que por alguma razão esta foto me cativou o olhar.

É bem possivel que daqui a uns meses volte a olhar para a mesma e pense que está uma grande porcaria. Mas neste momento confesso que me sinto algo orgulhoso por a ter conseguido registar.

   

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