Shanghai Pt. 2

No, I do not want to buy a goddamn watch.

I am having a t-shirt made saying that, which I will wear for the rest of the trip. Honestly--does anyone ever buy one?

Today was the west side of the river, The Bund, home to colonial Shanghai. The walking tour shown in the book couldn't have anticipated the construction  and subsequent detour, around which can only be described as a huge dump. Seriously--people combing through piles of wood and other assorted crap. I don't think it was planned, but rather simply appeared, the by-product of ceaseless construction in preparation of the WorlD Expo in 2010. Eventually you come to the riverside, and the parks and the promenade--and the hucksters. I am now the proud owner of two crappy handcut silhouettes because I couldn't say "No thanks" fast enough. 30 seconds and 30 feet later I was pleased to meet you 2 university students how are you where are you from are we cute? No. Sorry ladies, but I know where you're from: Scamopolis, I think. I guess I should expect to standout, as it can't be too hard to spot a foreigner, but really, it gets tiresome after a while.

So i walked down East Nanjing Rd, and I don't think the Champs Elysee has anything to worry about. Just imagine a bigger, busier State Street Mall and you'll get the idea. Being Sunday, there were a lot of people out, but the again, there always are. And I don't think Sunday is a universal day of rest, since all the high rise construction sites were hard at work.

All those people have to move around somehow, and when the sidewalks get too crowded, well, let's just walk in the street. Down the side, in the turn lane, wherever you're comfortable. Car coming? Just walk around it. Cause he's sure not going to stop for you. Pedestrian? Just drive around them. Only sheer numbers seem to cause anyone to stop, as a splattered pedestrian or two probably won't be noticed, but mass carnage at an intersection might be. Traffic signals are a suggestion at best, and "yield" and "right of way" seem to have no Chinese translation. As if that's not bad enough, there are mopeds everywhere, but they're electric or propane pwered. Which means they make no noise until they're right on top of you.

I ate at ElementFresh, which is a natural, healthy, semi-vegetarian restaurant just down the block. Very good food, and not expensive. Popular with both Chinese and foreigners, since everything is in both languages. Chopsticks came with my stir fried vegetables and tofu, and for absolutely no reason I used them. Vegetables, rice, peas--single peas--were no match, and the knife and fork stayed wrapped in their napkin. Most of the Chinese used them, though. . .

Then I found that the SuperBrandMall has something like a Super Target in the basement. Food, beer, appliances--I'll never starve. And with that bottle of beer costing 43 cents, I can probably forget the Invisible Scotch.

Very tired; at least the jacuzzi was hot today

Yup. 43 cents.