1) I finally arrived Xi'an!
2) I may have found an apartment there.
3) I met (and became part of) the JV family.
4) I made a lot of new friends.
5) I went to my first Chinese banquet.
6) I sang at a karaoke bar (yes, yes I did).
7) I went grocery shopping.
So let’s get to it!
In the about 19 days I spent in Shanghai, I managed to not get hit by a seemingly infinite
number of cars, buses, motorcycles/motor scooters, and bikes. I’m pretty proud
of that. If you’ve never been to Shanghai or a big city in China, it may be
difficult to understand how navigating city streets on foot without getting run
over would require much skill, but in China, city walking is almost a sport.
There is no “pedestrian right of way” despite the crosswalks
and walk/don't walk lights, so crossing the street requires a super-sensitive
awareness of one’s surroundings, taking into account anywhere from four to six official
lanes of traffic (which actually means more like six to eight “lanes”) coming from multiple directions, right
turn lanes that don’t stop for pedestrians, and motorcycles that weave in and
out of traffic. It helps to follow the Chinese pedestrians rather than whatever
the streetlights happen to indicate since quite often, drivers pay no heed to
the lights. Even the sidewalks are not “vehicle free” as they are used by
bikes and motorcycles as well as pedestrians.
Being on the road in a car is not much better. The best
analogy I have heard for car travel in China is that the traffic flows like
water—if there is an opening, someone will fill it, regardless of whether or
not the space is in an official lane, and forward movement will continue,
however slow it may be. Thanks to my skillful taxi driver, I arrived at the
airport unscathed.
I haven’t been able to get any good pictures
of the traffic though.
I did get this shot of a cool building from the taxi on the way to the airport. |
On the way to gate 5. |
Nice flat screen TV showing a football (that's "soccer" to the Americans) game. |
Opening page for the free WiFi at Pudong International Airport. |
Ciao, Shanghai! |
One of the neat things about domestic flights in China is
that you get a meal on flights that are two hours (I think) or more--the flight from Pudong to Xi'an was about 2.5 hours. Sorry, no
pictures of my lunch, but I had an aluminum tin of bow-tie pasta with a
tomato and asparagus sauce (the vegetarian option), a roll, and some watermelon. Fairly decent for airline
food.
Next up, the first pictures from Xi'an, my new temporary digs, and the great apartment hunt!
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