China Segment

Over the last couple of months I’ve had more than my share of posts that are a little on the negative side, and I really don’t want this blog to turn into a complete rant. I do love this country and this city in many ways, and I should make a better effort to [...]

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There is a shitload of public urination going on in Shanghai. (Pardon the pun that doesn’t quite work.) Children go absolutely everywhere, even to the point of being held up by their mothers and fathers to pee over sewers, garbage bins or eve just a crack in the sidewalk. I’m not quite [...]

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It seems like about 99.8% of people in Shanghai would prefer to take an escalator than the stairs. Yes, the exercise craze has not quite hit Shanghai yet. People here will go way out of their way to get on to the escalator. They’ll walk 30 paces instead of walking up 20 [...]

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Squatting is a rather ingrained habit among many people in China. Go out into the countryside and you’re guaranteed to see people squatting by the roadside, watching the world pass them by.
But in the uber cities of modern China, many of the migrant people from the countryside retain their ways – spitting, rolling up [...]

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One of the most popular streets for shopping and gawking is Huaihai Road. From around Xiangyang Road, at the site of the old fake goods market (now deceased), down to around Tibet Road, Huaihai is the place to be. If you want window shopping, it’s here. If you need restaurants, many of Shanghai’s [...]

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Guess what? There aren’t any.
More or less that statement is true. The army has guns, the people don’t. If you really want to kill someone you have to do it with a knife or your bare hands, hardly a task for the meek.
Consequently, I feel safe. In downtown Vancouver I’d walk [...]

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Lots of goodies in the above picture:

The ubiquitous three-wheeled bicycle cart - carrying far too much - slowly being peddled across the street by a man obviously too desperate for work.
The policeman trying to keep order among the various vehicles, all the while keeping his gloves white.
Pedestrians… not necessarily staying ‘between the lines’.
Bicycles - [...]

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Jaywalking is about as common in Shanghai as smoking. Needless to say, it’s a big problem. But unlike smoking, which fuels revenues for the government, jaywalking is something the authorities would like to stop. They’re losing so far, it would seem.
There are a lot of public awareness campaigns these days urging residents [...]

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Another example of Shanghai, the Potemkin Village.
The tree-lined streets that make Shanghai actually pretty at times still blossom with leaves each spring, but it can’t be long before many of them stop. There must be some sort of rot inside them, for city workers come around and ‘repair’ them. How so? [...]

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A note before we begin: Hong Kong wins hands down. I am biased. I love Hong Kong unconditionally just as I love Europe. Shanghai and I, on the other hand, have a bit of a like-hate thing going. So here goes, in no particular order:
Girls: Shanghai seems to have the upper [...]

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