Idiomatic Expression

The traffic in Shanghai is chaotic, but somehow works for the most part. Every driver is doing his best to pilot his car to its destination quickly as possible. Regardless of pedestrians crossing, cars in the space the driver wishes to occupy, or the accidents caused in the driver’s wake. The only consideration is whether the driver’s car gets damaged. One popular tactic is to straddle lanes to allow easy access to whichever lane turns out to be faster. Left hand turns are a game of chicken with oncoming traffic.

On the positive side there are some great traffic control technologies in use, including freeway billboards that use colored LEDs to indicate traffic conditions near your location and stop lights that show how much longer the green or red light will last.

I don’t have any pictures or videos to do this justice, but this YouTube Video is a good start.

XiHu or West Lake has been a tourist attraction in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province since around 900 A.D. and is the site of many Chinese legends. Over time a number of man-made improvements have been made to the lake. Including dredging to obtain the material to build small islands and causeways across the lake.

We took a hand rowed tour around the lake, which is where the majority of the pictures in this gallery were taken. My favorite is the picture of our gondolier texting and rowing at the same time. We ended the morning row with lunch at the over 100 year old Louwailou (Tower beyond tower) Restaurant featuring some regional dishes with a beautiful view of the lake.

XiHu is crowded with Chinese and foreign tourists all year long, and the road from Hangzhou city is a constant traffic jam. The human powered boats are slower than some of the larger powered boats, but it is one of the few ways to get a little space to yourself and still see the beauty of the lake. If you are in Shanghai and have a free day or two this is a must see area, but then the other 7-8 million people that visit here every year know that too.

Katherine saw her first dead person in front of the Pacific Department Store, and we observed the gawking crowds and police action as we waited for the Grand Gateway mall to open. There is shopping at each corner of the intersection, including an electronics market that we did not get too. Check out all of the pictures here (note: no pictures of the dead guy are included).

Pictures of Shanghai and the surrounding area are now uploaded. I am going to try and write something about each album starting from the back.