As part of the work I’m doing here, I’m headed to Japan next week. Tokyo, to be more precise. I’m going to try and get caught up on my Shanghai adventures tomorrow and Sunday. Longhua Temple, Cemetary of the Unknown Martyr, and Hangzhou are the ones to get done. Tonight’s offering is just catching up on more pictures… Click on the first one below to bring up the gallery. Comments with each picture.
Zai Jian! (See you!)
This woman had been less than subtle in her efforts to get a picture of me. I pretended not to notice her for a bit, but it went past the ability to ignore anymore. So I got out my phone and took a picture of her…
Tradition in China is to give out eggs with a newborn child – one of the engineers brought these in for everyone on the team.
The Grand Gateway Mall is what I walk under every morning when I get off the train on the way to catch the shuttle. It’s 7 floors, has about 500 different store fronts. 1.1 million square feet of retail. And there’s maybe two empty retail spots… This is only one corner.
The Chinese are a very happy people, but no so much the crossing guards. Not sure why, but they really take their job seriously and yell at anyone that doesn’t strictly follow their instructions.
Having been in Rome, Shanghai’s driving style isn’t the worst I’ve seen, but it certainly is unique. A right turn on red seems to have a rolling right-of-way to traffic with a green light and if your front tires are ahead of the nose of a car next to you, it’s OK to change lanes. I’ve learned that anytime I cross the street, you have to check all directions for cars, bikes, scooters, and just about anything with wheels. They do NOT yield for pedestrians. But, unlike the Italians, the Shanghainese do not believe themselves to be F1 drivers.
These raised dots and the longer lines are all throughout the subways and on most streets. Their purpose? To help those who are blind or with other sight difficulties to navigate. The lines mean keep walking straight. The dots mean you have to turn.
The subways also all have monitors that tell you how much time is left before the next train gets there.
Advertisements for Surface are all over the place. Good to see.
With most of the taller buildings being relatively new, they skipped the square block mirrored skyscraper approach and the buildings are each unique.
…I’m a geek. As I was looking at some of these buildings, they started to look like Transformers. This building won. Why? Next picture…
This one wins because it can fly…
Older parts of Shanghai are slowly getting removed to make room for the new skyscrapers and other developments. This alleyway was pretty much in between the last two buildings. A bastion of history against the onslaught of progress…
According to the Chinese zodiac, I am a rooster. But what the placemats at the Chinese restaurants in the US don’t tell you is that not all years are the same. Each of these figures represents a generation of roosters. The ones wearing red towels indicate this should be a year of conflict. My guy is the one in the back right, so this should be an interesting year. I’m supposed to wear red myself as much as I can to help keep away the conflict. It’s not uncommon among the locals to even invest in red undergarments…