I Really Want To Go To Bed! Shanghai Dairies

This is the 2nd post today, please go to the previous post before you read this............Ma

Just then, the official back from break beckoned me to come to his side. One hour and 35 minutes after arriving (forty-two minutes were spent in line), I was on my way to pick up my bag. Thankfully, I remembered the carousel that was announced for our pick up. A service person was taking the three remaining bags that were left from our flight off the conveyer. At least I didn’t have to wait. Everyone else was gone. (The other 2 bags probably belonged to No Visa Guy.) With nothing to declare, I zipped through customs and out to the area where I saw my name on a sign. Bags were popped into a car from the hotel and off I went.

I was amazed and a little disappointed to see how modern the highway away from the airport was. The airport was pretty modern too, and big. I remember when my family arrived in Greece in 1969. We walked off the plane into a big warehouse with long tables. That was the extent of the airport and customs. What a hoot. They did build an airport while I lived there, but it just wasn’t the same. The world has become small and has lost some of its natural wonder due to the “businification” (I just made that word up) of the world money-makers. Anyway, the highway was pretty modern, and I thought “My goodness, how we have Westernized the world. What a shame.” I guess it isn’t all bad, but I believe that heritage and culture are so important to preserve. I did see beyond the highway boundaries, however, what appeared to be large abandoned buildings, or buildings in need of repair. It seemed that the modern might have been obscuring a stark reality.

As we neared the city, what was a sunny, humid day began to disappear behind a wall of smog. I began to see building after building after building that reached straight up into the sky; hundreds of them, as far as you could see. Apartments? I saw laundry drying from every imaginable place. There can’t possibly be this many apartments. They are apartments…………..a lot of people live here……………….(17,000,000 I found out later)

Do we want to discuss driving? Never in a million years would I drive here, and I will drive anywhere……..but NEVER here. My company provides drivers for their employees when they get transferred here…….it is safer and cheaper……does that tell you anything? Let me just say this. The flight attendant from Philadelphia to London told me that the traffic lights have only been in Shanghai for about 5 years. People consider them a suggestion……….it’s true. I have never seen anything like this; thousands of bikes, mopeds, motorized bikes, pedestrians, taxis, making 4 lanes out of 2. Forget lanes---that would make a presumption of order and believe me there is not order. The cars come so close to each other that I can’t watch. People walk out in the street darting in and out between cars and bikes and other cars. The horns are constant. The streets and sidewalks teem with people; it is a raucous kaleidoscope of sounds and smells…………..It’s so cool. I get to the hotel where I am whisked away at the door by a greeter who takes me directly to my room. They were expecting me; I didn’t even have to check in at the desk. The room is really very nice, and the bathroom is exquisite (always one of my rating standards for a hotel). I have been traveling roughly 28 hours and awake (if you don’t count the poor quality of sleep on the plane) for about 40 hours. I want to rest…….I sat down on the bed………..ahhhhhhhhh………….I laid down on the bed……….ohhhhhhhhhhhh…………….I do not dare close my eyes…………..I did. Luckily, I only dozed for about 40 minutes. I forced myself up and decided that I really needed another shower before I had to go to the office. I am surprised that they had not called me already.

More to Come......