Tom's World

Pardon this little bit of self indulgence, I couldn't help getting all of these pictures of me with my name in the background. Kinda cheeky I know, but it is still a little weird to see your own name on all of these strange signs.

One of the popular purchases for tourists in China is a personalized stamp which has your name in chinese characters carved into the end of an ornate wooden or stone tube. This is then rubbed into red dye and used as a signature. It is unique as the carvings of Chinese characters are very intricate and difficult to duplicate the same way twice. So people use these in lieu of real signature when signing important documents or contracts. My name in Chinese (or the simplest characters I could find that almost sounded like my name) means To (Dirt/soil) - Ma (horse) - and Shway/Su (water).

So in China, I am know as Dirty - Horse - Water.