A New Era Continued (featuring bears)

So, I'm going for a different feel for a bit.

I've still got some long form stories within me to tell, but those are on hold. In fact, I'm working on writing them also, but I'm writing various things.

For the time being, I'm going to start doing roughly a post every day about some smaller topics, usually involving one picture and a small story. I know this is actually pretty typical of blogging for most people, but it runs against mostly what I've done so far, so to me this is micro-posting.

Hopefully it'll involve a nice change of pace for whoever's reading this, and for myself as well.

And on that note, if you read this at all, leave a comment from time to time! I'm writing this blindly and only continue on the rumors that people are actually reading this.

That being said, here's micropost one:

Shanghai's a funny place. Of course, that much can be said of Asia in general, but Shanghai is where I've been living for almost a year, and so naturally I've witnessed much more of it here than anywhere else.

You never know when you're going to come across something that, by nature is entirely unexpected, and that defies logic and justification.

Of course, its not particularly unusual to come across stuffed bears for sale to take advantage of fleetingly amorous couples, but usually its at a store, or a carnival, or something along those lines.

In Shanghai, though, hustling entrepreneurs have every base covered, and have you figured out better than you know yourself. Along any street that happens to have nightlife, even if its pisspoor nightlife, after 2am its possible to come across the cart featured above. Yes, that's right; all around the city, mixed in with the rose ladies and kebab grillers and rice friers, you can certainly come across the approximately ten men who circle the streets with racks of teddy bears, sized for your exact desire, up to and including bears that are bigger than your average Chinese girl roving around your average Chinese club, who's probably being negotiated with and sized up by your average sleazy Westerner who might actually think its a good idea to buy one of these things.

Then again, there's also the "what the fuck?" demographic. I don't know about you guys, but there are definitely times when I see something offered for a small price that was so unexpected that I'll chip in just for the novelty of it. Judging by the basic ideas of market dynamics, I'm sure I'm not the only one, and so the teddy bear men roll on.