Boxing Day

Boxing Day is the day after Xmas on 26th December. The exact etymology of the term "boxing" is unclear and there are several competing theories, none of which is definitive. The tradition has long included giving money and other gifts to those who were needy and in service positions. The European tradition has been dated to the Middle Ages, but the exact origin is unknown and there are some claims that it goes back to the late Roman/early Christian era; metal boxes placed outside churches were used to collect special offerings tied to the Feast of Saint Stephen. 

In the UK, it was a custom for tradesmen to collect "Christmas boxes" of money or presents on the first weekday after Christmas as thanks for good service throughout the year. This is mentioned in Samuel Pepys' diary entry for 19 December 1663; This custom is linked to an older English tradition: in exchange for ensuring that wealthy landowners' Christmases ran smoothly, their servants were allowed to take the 26th off to visit their families. The employers gave each servant a box containing gifts and bonuses (and sometimes leftover food). 

This year we are spending Xmas at home having been away the last 2 years. Last year we were in Shanghai, China visiting friends and this photo was taken at the beautiful Waldorf Astoria Hotel on The Bund. The hotel is located in an old heritage building which has been wonderfully restored as you can see in this image.

Yellow Bank River

The Huangpu River, literally "Yellow Bank River", is a 97km-long river in China flowing through Shanghai. It is the last significant tributary of the Yangtze before it empties into the East China Sea.

Huangpu River is the largest river in Shanghai, and Suzhou Creek is its main branch.

It is an average of 400 meters wide and 9 meters deep. Shanghai gets most of its drinking water from the Huangpu, which thus plays an important part for the metropolis. It divides the city into two regions:Pudong (east) and Puxi (west). The Bund in Shanghai is located along the river.

Yummy Yam

Another image from the back streets of the Old City in Shanghai showing the yam (or sweet potato) seller in action.

Yam is the common name for some species in the genus Dioscorea (family Dioscoreaceae). These are perennial herbaceous vines cultivated for the consumption of their starchy tubers in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Oceania. There are many cultivars of yam.

The sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) has traditionally been referred to as a yam in parts of the United States and Canada, but it is not part of the Dioscoreaceae family.

Although it is unclear which came first, the word yam is related to Portuguese inhame or Spanish ñame, which both ultimately derive from the Wolof word nyam, meaning "to sample" or "taste"; in other African languages it can also mean "to eat", e.g. yamyam and doya in Hausa or "to chew" in Dholuo language of the Luo of Kenya and Northern Tanzania.

There are over 100 ethnic groups and languages in Nigeria, and each has different language names for Yam, "Isu" is the Yoruba translation or "Iyan" when it has been prepared to be consumed as a main course for dinner. The yam is a versatile vegetable which has various derivative products after process, it can be barbecued; roasted; fried; grilled; boiled; smoked and when grated it is processed into a dessert recipe. Yams are the staple crop of the Igbo people of Nigeria, in their language it is known as ji, and they commemorate it by having yam festivals known as Iri-ji or Iwa-Ji depending on the dialect.

Yam tubers can grow up to 2.5 m (8.2 ft) in length and weigh up to 70 kg (154 lb).

The vegetable has a rough skin which is difficult to peel, but which softens after heating. The skins vary in color from dark brown to light pink. The majority of the vegetable is composed of a much softer substance known as the "meat". This substance ranges in color from white or yellow to purple or pink in ripe yams.

Yams are a primary agricultural commodity in West Africa and New Guinea. They were first cultivated in Africa and Asia about 8000 B.C. Due to their abundance and consequently, their importance to survival, the yam was highly regarded in Nigerian ceremonial culture and used as a vegetable offered during blessings.

Yams are still important for survival in these regions. The tubers can be stored up to six months without refrigeration, which makes them a valuable resource for the yearly period of food scarcity at the beginning of the wet season.

Yams are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including Palpifer sordida.

Bó bǐng

Bings are usually a casual food and generally eaten for lunch, however, they can also be incorporated into formal meals. Both Peking duck and moo shu pork are rolled up in thin wheat flour bao bing with scallions and sweet bean sauce or hoisin sauce. Bing may also have a filling such as ground meat. Bing are commonly cooked on a skillet or griddle though some are baked.

Some common types include:

• Cong you bing (蔥油餅; scallions and oil bing)
• Fa mian bing (發麵餅; yeast-risen bing)
• Laobing (烙餅; branded bing)
• Shaobing (燒餅; roasted bing)
• Jian bing (煎餅; fried egg pancake, similar to crepes), and a popular breakfast streetfood in Hong Kong.
• Bó bǐng (薄饼; literally "thin pancakes") refers to a thin circular crepe-like wrapper or "skin" (薄餅皮) wrapping various fillings. This is sometimes called "Mandarin pancake" or "moo shoo pancake" (木须饼, mù xū bǐng) in American Chinese food contexts.
• Yuèbǐng (月餅; mooncakes) a type of bing usually produced and eaten at the mid-autumn festival
• Luo buo si bing (萝卜絲餅, shredded radish bing) is a type of panfried bing consisting of a wheat dough skin filled with shredded radish

Bings are also eaten in Korean culture, the most common being jian bing, which are consumed together with seafood.

These Bó bǐng seen in the image above were seen being made in one of the tiny back streets of the Old City area in Shanghai. This street was full of food vendors making and selling a large variety of foods and made a very colourful and lively venue for street photography ..... as well as food sampling.

The video below shows the process of making the Bó bǐng.

Three Shanghai Chefs

Taking photos of people when they are busy at work or tied up in a deep conversation is an ideal moment to capture a candid image. I love getting right into the middle of a busy food market or shopping area where people are so tied up in their own world that they are not bothered about a photographer with a large lens.

These three chefs in Shanghai were out from the restaurant taking a break and were in deep discussion about something important .... maybe discussing their work problems, or wife problems or perhaps deciding on which horse to bet on at the races! No matter what this gives you the photographer an ideal moment of invisibility to capture the moment.

Cool Haircut in Shanghai

I have seen many street barbers at work around Asia but this one was seen in the Old City area in Shanghai in wintertime with an outside temperature close to zero - perfect remedy for a cool haircut! I guess if the barber slips you are so numb from the cold anyway you wont feel a thing.

I shot this image just as the barber looked up at me and a second after this he shouted out something in Mandarin ...... and I'm pretty sure he was not wishing me a good day!

Camera Shy in Shanghai

The locals in Shanghai seemed strangely averse to having photographs taken as can be seen in this image. On numerous occasions I had locals turn away or even get downright nasty when my camera was out and armed. This lady took a defensive position by hiding behind her scarf  as she walked down one of the interesting, winding back lanes in the Old City area of Shanghai. I particularly liked the subdued, muted colours of the walls and doors and the outfit worn by the lady seemed to match very well making a good shot .... although a smile may have enhanced the shot even more.

Shanghai's 1st Apple Store

This is Shanghai's first Apple store which opened in July 2010. The new store bears a striking resemblance to the flagship Fifth Avenue store in New York City. Located next to the IFC Mall in Lujiazui Financial District in Pudong, aboveground is a 40-foot high glass cylinder (apparently with the largest curved glass panes in the world), with a descending spiral staircase that leads into the actual underground retail space. Unlike New York though, there is an inexplicably shallow moat of water surrounding the store, tripping up those who don't watch their step. 
The store itself is 1500 square meters and holds the most goodies in any Apple store the world over - over 250 unique Apple products on display for people to try, including over one hundred Macs. It also boasts one of the largest Genius Bars, taking up the entire length of the back wall. On staff there are over 175 employees to help customers, 75% of whom are native Shanghainese and 80% of whom hold graduate degrees. Apple expects its China stores to be some of the busiest in the world.

Old City of Shanghai

Away from the tourist areas of The Bund, Pudong and Yu Gardens lies the Old City area of Shanghai where a maze of small streets and alleys takes you into another time. This small street in a back lane of the Old City is typical of how life goes on unchanged since many decades ago. Only one small sink with water outside the house to do all the washing, cleaning and cooking, a tiny outside cooking area and of course no heating for the cold winter nights. You can see here the ingenious way of using straw to lag the water pipes to prevent these freezing in winter.

The Bund

The Bund is an area of Huangpu District in central Shanghai, People's Republic of China. The area centres on a section of Zhongshan Road (East-1 Zhongshan Road) within the former Shanghai International Settlement, which runs along the western bank of the Huangpu River, facing Pudong, in the eastern part of Huangpu District. The Bund usually refers to the buildings and wharves on this section of the road, as well as some adjacent areas. The Bund is one of the most famous tourist destinations in Shanghai. Building heights are restricted in this area.

The word "bund" means an embankment or an embanked quay, and comes from the Urdu word band, meaning an embankment, levee or dam (a cognate of English terms "bind," "bond" and "band," the German term "bund," etc.). "Bund" is pronounced to rhyme with "fund". The term was brought to Shanghai by the family of Victor Sassoon, a Baghdadi-Nepali Jew. There are many "bands" to be found in Baghdad, even today. There are numerous sites in India, China, and Japan which are called "bunds" (e.g. the Yokohama Bund). However, "The Bund" as a proper noun almost invariably refers to this stretch of embanked riverfront in Shanghai.

Chinese Art Brushes

I was in Shanghai over Christmas and the old city and back streets of Shanghai provided some great photo opportunities. This image shows some traditional Chinese art brushed used for watercolours and calligraphy and come in a large variety of sizes, designs and colours.