I'm settling into life in Shanghai and my adventures continue. There are many things that are fun to do and life remains very interesting. Work is a constant challenge but we are winning some battles their too. Here are some observations of everyday things I see...
Crossing the street - The total lack of consideration for others by walkers, bikers, motorcyclists and drivers continues to amaze me. Of course, came up with one way to at least protect myself. When crossing the street, you can expect someone to ignore the green walk sign and from either direction, but mostly from your left. To combat this whenever I approach a crosswalk filled with people, I just move to the far right. My thinking is that if someone is going to push through making an illegal turn, they will have to go through 8 - 10 people to get to me. I call it my "people cushion"
Umbrellas - I am amazed by how many people carry umbrellas here. There is always a chance that a random thunder boomer will pop up and when they do, they can be pretty strong. I get that. What I didn't understand was the frequent use of these same umbrellas to deflect heat on these fairly warm days. (Did I say it was hot here?) Even that wouldn't be a problem except the average person is 5'4" to 5'6" add in the amount above their head they carry their umbrella and you have the approximate location of the eye socket on your 6'3" tall person. Since most people can't see above their umbrella, they don't make any adjustment to its location as I pass them going in the opposite direction. So what's the plan? First, I wear sunglasses at all times. Second if someone is carrying an umbrella that infringes on my vertical space, I just raise my forearm in front of me and deflect the eye attacking umbrella away. It would be humorous, if this wasn't a full time hazard you need be aware when you're walking here.
Shopping malls - China has many large shopping malls to help quench the locals thirst for all things Western. These are great rest spots for me on some of the scorching days when I walk around the mall to get my body temperature down to a reasonable level. One thing I noticed is that although these malls all have three sets of doors to allow entry and then another group of three sets of doors 10 feet further in. These are all manned by typical mall rent a cops. On top of that, they purposely don't coordinate the doors so the two open sets are directly across from one another. So you have a large two way stream of people weaving through each other for egress and ingress. Hopefully, in the event of a fire, someone could make a quick adjustment.
Police Presence - Not much; The only armed people I have seen are around armored cars making deliveries or taking cash from some businesses. These guys do have serious looking weapons. I don't dawdle and throw out my street crossing rules because I don't like to be anywhere nearby in the event someone wants to do something stupid. IT is nothing like the feeling I had in my many trips to Mexico in the 90s, where every mall had a guard with some kind of automatic weapon and looked old enough to be entering middle school.
This is a fake weekend. I will be at a knock off market looking for bargains and then to and the electronics market with more of this type of stuff. Should be interesting. I'm passing on the eyeglass and fabric market some others are visiting. I will also be enjoying a Peking Duck meal with a group of co-workers on Saturday. Sunday, I have some photography work I want to do. Next week, I go to Hong Kong for the day to renew my Visa. (Don't ask, remember this is a third world country.)
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