Talk about chutzpah

Piracy in China has been moved up a notch according to an Associated Press story that reports some budding entrepreneurs in the city of Kunming have opened fake Apple stores.

An American who lives in Kunming in southern Yunnan province said today that she and her husband stumbled on three shops masquerading as bona fide Apple stores in the city a few days ago.

She took photos and posted them on her blog that show staff in blue T-shirts with the Apple logo chatting to customers in a white-walled shop with minimalist decor and signs advertising the iPad 2.

These three stores are not among the authorized resellers listed on Apple Inc.'s website.

The 27-year-old blogger, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the set-up of the stores was so convincing that the employees themselves seemed to believe they worked for Apple.

"It looked like an Apple store. It had the classic Apple store winding staircase and weird upstairs sitting area. The employees were even wearing those blue T-shirts with the chunky Apple name tags around their necks," she wrote on her blog.

"But some things were just not right: the stairs were poorly made. The walls hadn't been painted properly. Apple never writes 'Apple Store' on its signs — it just puts up the glowing, iconic fruit."

A worker at the fake Apple store on Zhengyi Road in Kunming, where most of the photos were taken told The Associated Press that they are an "Apple store" before hanging up.

And we thought the best they could do was fake great Louis Vuitton bags. I learn something new every day.

How many people on the moped?

It is not surprising this doesn't happen every day and maybe it does and never makes it into the paper but yesterday a woman and her infant baby were killed and three others were injured when the electric moped the five rode was hit by a truck at a busy intersection. That's right - five people on an electric moped.

The woman's husband, their daughter and nephew were rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment and are now in stable condition.

The woman, 28, and the 11-month-old infant she held in her arms, died on the scene after the truck knocked down their moped and ran over them, witnesses said. According to the woman's husband, surnamed Mu, the family was taking the baby to a nearby hospital to have a vaccine and they were stopping their moped at a red light when the fully loaded construction vehicle hit them.

What is most amazing here is that five people on a moped is not a rare occurance - you see it all the time and marvel at the way they all can even fit on to it.

Which brings me to the rule of the road - pedestrians have no rights whatsoever here in Shanghai. Vehicles rule, even mopeds. If you are crossing on a green light, that means nothing to cars turning right or left. If you are in their way, watch out - or more likely lights out!! You don't play chicken with these guys either. They are on a mission to get somewhere and nothing stands between them and their destination. Buses included. Two days ago Theresa and I saw a bus round a corner on a red light going at least 70KM an hour. If anybody had been crossing they were toast.

So there you have it. My upbeat post for today.

Only in China you say - pity!!

Had my first chance today to see how in some instances business gets done in China.

We are bringing back to Toronto some chrome shelving next week (we don't need it in Shanghai) and since it requires professional packing we decided to see if China Post could help us out.

Henry our trusted driver and I walked into the local China Post office which I might add was packed with people mailing letters and parcels. After a quick chat and the exchange of two packs of cigarettes (one for the clerk, one for his boss) our racks were packed bundled and given back to me with a smile.

It isn't necessarily right but boy it sure works when everyone is on the same wave length. No postal strikes here in China and the two gentleman we dealt with were as happy as can be. Next time I visit a Canada Post office in Toronto I just might bring a pack or two of Rothmans and see where it gets me.

You too can earn $6.00 a day

While busy catching up on some e-mail I hear a tap on my window and what do you know - it's window washing time here in Shanghai. What's really quite funny about this is the guys start at the top of our building - 40 stories up, with I assume clean water and given the technology of their transportation, there is only one way to go and that's down. By the time they get to me on the 21st floor I can only guess what the water is like that they are using to clean our windows. I guess that's why window cleaning is done four times a year. These guys work a solid 12 hour day and make about $6.00 CDN. That's 50 cents an hour - if window washing could be sent offshore I wonder how many building owners would opt for that option. Pretty much puts in perspective why everything else is being outsourced to Asia.

A needle in a haystack

Well not quite a haystack but rather my shoulder. Today I experienced acupuncture for the first time. I have a rotator cuff injury/frozen shoulder that is being treated with traditional Chinese medicine and some good old western anti inflammatory medicine. The sensation of the acupuncture needles was interesting. Kind of like a mosquito bite but not exactly. I will keep you updated on how it's going. In the meantime today was quite a nice day in Shanghai till about 5:00 PM when the smog rolled in. Almost like a sandstorm - you could see it coming and then whammo - what was visible from a distance simply disappeared. You gotta wonder what's to become of all this.

Here's one way to get rid of those pesky real estate agents

We are back in Shanghai and thought you might enjoy this.

Although potentially serious, luckily no one was hurt. Yesterday a man yelled "there is a bomb on the train," and sent Metro Line 2 passengers scrambling in panic. Today he was detained by police in neighboring Jiangsu Province and has been charged with fabricating terrorist information.

Police said the man surnamed Zheng had a fierce dispute with his real estate broker while riding the train around noon yesterday. To get rid of the broker, Zheng suddenly shouted "there is a bomb on the train" and pointed at the broker as the bomb carrier.

Zheng then ran from the rear of the eight-carriage train to the front, alarming other passengers as he ran. More than 50 panicked passengers followed him.

In the stampede, many passengers fell to the floor and were trampled on by others. Some suffered bruises in their hands and legs. Cell phones, transportation cards and handbags were seen scattered on the ground. When the train stopped the people fled the cars while others unaware of what happened got on and picked up and kept the handbags etc that the fleeing passengers left behind. The train pulled out of the station before anyone could tell the driver what happened and was not stopped till several stops later. What can I say - this is China!!