Walking in Shanghai
I am going to have to force myself from starting every blog entry with "Wow", but that's the appropriate expression. I am feeling a little better now that I have been out and about and have a sense of the street. This city is breathtaking, and it's not just the smog. Guess where I am right now. Yes, that's right, at the Starbucks on the corner of Jiangsu and YuYuan roads. Sitting out side, sipping the Venti, and watching all the peoples walk by. I knew there where 1.1 billion people in China, I just had no idea every single one of them was in Shanghai. Must be a convention in town or something.
I think I will hold off on riding the subway today. Just finding the station has been tough. Walking the local streets without getting lost will be my first goal. The crosswalks are crazy, Red lights are a mere, ignorable suggestion. There are so many people on those little motor scooters that treat pedestrians as a slalom course. This is crazier and more dangerous than New York. NYC is leisure world compared to this place.There are some crosswalks where you need to be certified to even attempt to cross. If you don't have the proper paper work, they put up a hand and shake their head, which translated means, don't even think about it white man. You go practice on the kiddy intersections first. This is Shanghai.
I walked down a street named Yuyuan Lu (I think "Lu" means street) and it was an example of the reason I wanted to come to Shanghai. Tree lined with very old buildings, packed with little hole in the wall shops. This is the lusty, romantic, mysterious Shanghai that I have always pictured from the days of the notorious opium dens and smugglers. The city that was know as the "Paris of the East" in the 1920's.
Walking down Yuyuan Lu lead me to Zhongshan Park. A big green space surrounded by tall buildings and gray skies. Reminiscent of Central Park, only smaller. I sat for a while on bench and enjoyed being in China. There where lots of people doing Thai Chi, and two separate, large groups of people taking ball room dancing lessons. Fabulous.
I think I will hold off on riding the subway today. Just finding the station has been tough. Walking the local streets without getting lost will be my first goal. The crosswalks are crazy, Red lights are a mere, ignorable suggestion. There are so many people on those little motor scooters that treat pedestrians as a slalom course. This is crazier and more dangerous than New York. NYC is leisure world compared to this place.There are some crosswalks where you need to be certified to even attempt to cross. If you don't have the proper paper work, they put up a hand and shake their head, which translated means, don't even think about it white man. You go practice on the kiddy intersections first. This is Shanghai.
I walked down a street named Yuyuan Lu (I think "Lu" means street) and it was an example of the reason I wanted to come to Shanghai. Tree lined with very old buildings, packed with little hole in the wall shops. This is the lusty, romantic, mysterious Shanghai that I have always pictured from the days of the notorious opium dens and smugglers. The city that was know as the "Paris of the East" in the 1920's.
Walking down Yuyuan Lu lead me to Zhongshan Park. A big green space surrounded by tall buildings and gray skies. Reminiscent of Central Park, only smaller. I sat for a while on bench and enjoyed being in China. There where lots of people doing Thai Chi, and two separate, large groups of people taking ball room dancing lessons. Fabulous.
p.s. the posting dates and times for these Shangahi entries are west coast times, the time here in China is 12:51 PM, Monday.
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9:35 PM
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