Hot Hot in Shanghai

---

went for an adventure to the bund river today. tourist hq and scam central. the taxi ride in took about an hour, cost 6 dollars and was one of the scarier things ive experienced in my life. id had the taxi drivers described as drving in controlled chaos, i would have to emphasis the chaos part myself. they seem to operate on bullying/chicken tactics combined with a need for maximum speed and zero safety. one thing i did notice was that you dont see any cars with dents, so for all the madness it seems to be quite safe. a different story being a pedestrian, when the green man lights up it really means you are aloud to start dodging traffic and make a mad dash for the other side.

id taken two steps from the cab before being offered a gucci bag or a rolex, id already bought my 5 dollar prada glasses tho, so had to pass. before coming id heard about a scam where some nice young student types strike up conversation with ya then invite you to their art exhibition and trap you into buying super expensive crap art works. glad id heard of it, because as soon as i hit the walkway along the bund i got engaged in a nice chat with three young chinese students - apparently visiting shanghai from beijing to celebrate the olympics. which is slightly backwards given that the olympics are in beijing and not shanghai. i enjoyed the nice chat, they were super polite, spoke great english and told me i looked like a movie star, ha. When they gave me the invite to their traveling art exhibition i said ciao and went on my merry way.

took a boat tour up the river and looked at some monster buildings. very impressive, towering monsters - the rivers are packed with barges carry all kinds of weird stuff.

upon dis-embarking i met a nice man called jay who showed me around the area and explained about the history and signifigance of some of the local sights. i waited for the catch, while enjoy another nice english conversation. he showed me to nanjing st which is a massive shopping st with all the desinger brands, very cool. He told me he was a history researcher, hmm. He then invited me up to his office to check out his students art exhibition, ha. i turned him down flat, but offered to buy him a beer for showing me around, he wasnt really keen. his business card reads "youre a friend of my life, im a window of china to you, a window to the difference and common, a friend to be comfortable and warm" muhuha.

it was 37 degrees so i found a funky beer garden place that overcharged me and then i caught a taxi back to the hostel. wasnt nearly as terrifying with a couple of beers in me. noticed i got nicely burned, damm.

its now midday and extremely hot again, im gonna avoid some of the midday heat and then check out the shanghai museum.

---

Photos

across the bund
some kinda future city

flash boat
too flash for me!

nanjing st
prada handbag?

Comments

[Casio]

Nice
Sounds like typical Shanghai so far. Watch out for ladies that say "i love you" and grab your arm though maybe they won't do that with you?

[the mother]

hmm mm
hope you make sure you are wearing your clean undies when venturing forth in one of those taxis!!