Amateur Photographer on the Loose

We were eating at Malone's, so it must be Saturday. A rainy Saturday, which was welcome. The humidity has lifted slightly with the rains which has been a welcome relief. Rain did not appear to limit the number of people that were on the streets or shopping on a Saturday afternoon.

There was a new stop for us today. Nichole Tiggs Williams, a recent UND Masters of Public Administration graduate, arrived last week to teach oral English for four months. We headed for the fabric market as she was looking to have a bridal dress made. From a person who in another life has tailored and designed clothing, I was in my element. The cashmere and silks were eye candy. The construction was impeccable. Hand-done padstitching for lapels, Hong Kong finishes on lining seams, all were flawless. Double-sided cashmere wraps could be custom made for 1200 RMB, a suit of worsted wool for 400 RMB, or a man's cashmere topcoat for 600 RMB. All were bargains. Something caught my eye as I was leaving so I may have to make a trip back. The bridal custom shops were close by so we visited several. Simplicity of design in bridal wear is not the common theme here. It seems the more, the better. We found out that the average price of a wedding here is around 100,000 RMB and Jessica (the Dean's secretary) was at a wedding last weekend that cost 600,000 RMB (remember to divide by 7 to get a rough conversion to U.S. dollars). It gives new meaning to the word elope.

Nanjing Road was one of our walking stops; this is a major shopping environment for locals and tourists alike. I was on the lookout for the sign that Josh had helped design and install for Daktronics in 2006. And then all of a sudden, I was at the corner and its dominance was clearly visible. Such a proud feeling came over me to witness something he had contributed to in another part of the world that literally billions of people will see throughout the years to come.

In our walk back to the Metro, I couldn't help but take a photo of a Nike wanna-be. Another illustration of 'what is yours, is theirs' philosophy. It is not the Nike swoosh, but it wants to be as noted by the slogan, "Anything is possible;" 'just do it,' right?