Since we have neither the space nor the money to buy a real Piano at the moment, I decided to present my wife a MIDI-USB keyboard that she can use on my PowerBook from Apple. She loves to play but has left her ’standalone’ keyboard at her home in Xi’An for her mom. So I went out to find one, and let me tell you, that was not easy. First I went to one of the chain stores, ‘Jolo’. After faking to play the piano in front of fifteen employees and repeating the words ‘USB!’ and ‘MIDI!’ they finally understood what I want and told me the famous words ‘mei yo’, don’t have. So I headed to the Hong Kong tower, since there is a huge complex for electronic gadgets. First floor, nothing. Second floor, nothing. Third floor, nothing - but a guy who spoke a bit english told me to go to ‘Jingling Lu’, where there are many music stores. So I went there, and started fighting my way through one shop at a time. Finally, I found a shop, but when they presented me some extreme high-quality USB keyboard for 5.000 Renminbi, so I left the shop laughing. Eventually, I found a much cheaper one from ‘ESI’ with 49 keys called ‘KeyControl 49′ in a smaller shop on the same, long street. What’s the message? You can find anything in Shanghai, but you’ll need a lot of time and good legs. Thank god Valentine’s Day is only once a year. Oh, and my wife loved the present.
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