First of all, let me try to describe to you what it is like to be in a taxi driving through Shanghai. After you flag down the driver, and show him/her the directions (written in Chinese characters), he pulls out into traffic. This involves a lot of honking - both from the taxi driver and the people already on the road, and possibly a couple of bikes/ motorbikes dodging around the taxi, coming within a couple of inches. This is where it gets crazy. I have tried to find some method to the madness, and I think it may be starting to make sense. Here is what I have figured out.
Shanghai rules of the road (as far as I can tell)
1. The lines are only rough starting points. Merging is a continual process - merging back and forth into different lanes, possibly sharing the lane with half another vehicle beside you, and honking when they come close to nicking your vehicels. When lanes end, drivers may want to start to think about merging. However, they may not want to merge quite yet, and instead wait until the car is basically scraping the wall beside them. You may even find it necessary to drive in the opposite lane, against the opposing traffic.
2. Pedestrians do not have the right of way. You will have to dodge cars, trucks, motorbikes, and bicycles to cross a street. They will not slow down. If there is a green pedestrian crossing signal, you are less likely to have to battle cars and trucks for road space, though you will still need to manoever around bikes and motorbikes.
3. Don't make eye contact. If you acknowledge that you have seen the other car/truck/bus/bike/moped/pedestrian, you show your weakness. They will then definitely go first.
4. Honking is necessary and just basically a lot of fun. If someone is starting to drift towards your lane, your driver honks. If your driver wants to go somewhere and there is someone already there, he honks. Then the other car honks back. If there is a bike or motorcycle beside the car, the driver honks. When the driver is trying to turn and about 50 bicycles and motorcycles and mopeds are going straight through the intersection, he honks as he dodges them.
5. Seatbelts in taxis are not compulsory. In fact, most don't have seatbelts. Hang on.
6. Helmets and safety clothing are not required, but a poncho is. People are biking wearing sandals, and ripping through on their motorcycles/ mopeds/ bikes without helmets, sometimes with children perched on their laps. They also all have these fun ponchos that go over the front of the moped; when it rains, everyone looks the same.
7. Don't stick cameras, hands, arms, or any limbs out the windows. They may be detached, squashed or otherwise maimed by the vehicles beside you or whizzing past you.
8. Sidewalks are not safe. Watch out for cars, motorcycles, and bikes. The good news is that the city planners have taken this into account. Therefore, there are speed bumps on the sidewalks.
9. Don't hit anyone. We saw only one accident in Shanghai, where one guy pointed to the fender hanging off his moped as he yelled and gestured at another guy. There were about 4 policemen standing around them. We just kept walking...
Other highlights of our time in Shanghai:
-Being met by my friend Kelly, who did everything she could to ensure that we would be safe and comfortable, including setting us up with a Chinese cell phone (complete with random Chinese text messages that I keep getting), helping us book rooms and tickets, writing out necessary words in Chinese characters, and together with her husband taking us out for some authentic (and VERY delicious) Chinese food.
-Looking at the map, and deciding that we could walk to the tourist area of Shanghai... it didn't look that far. After walking for about 4km and not recognizing anything on our map, we hailed a taxi and showed the driver the Chinese characters for where we wanted to go. Turns out we read the map totally wrong, and were a good 25 minute drive away. Oops.
-Getting to the area we wanted to be, and trying to figure out why the map was completely backwards to the way the river actually curved, checking the compass again to make sure we were facing the right way. And then, I realized that north was the red arrow, not the black one. Oops.
-Walking along the river and being accosted by Chinese guys asking to take pictures with us.
-Wandering through narrow alleys, full of laundry hanging across to dry, people sitting on their steps chatting, things stored against the walls,and tiny hole-in-the-wall kitchens selling noodle soups.
-Finding memorable things to get our bearings: "Oh, that's where the little boy was taking a pee by the bikes", "isn't that the sketchy alley?", "There's the Apple store where everyone was lined up to get the iPhone4", "I know where we are - that's the chicken feet store!"
-Going up to the top of the World Financial Centre (it's REALLY high!) and seeing all of Shanghai beneath our feet (through glass...so freaky!)
-Learning to say, "You're welcome" in Chinese (after asking about 5 different people how to say it and then promptly forgetting it), walking down the street saying it to each other to practice, and using it whenever we could.
-Teaching a Chinese lady to say, "teeth-th-th-th-th" instead of "teesh" by sticking my tongue out. We both were laughing a lot.
-Eating mystery food at a little place on the side of the road, where a lot of Chinese people were eating. It tasted good, though. :) And not getting sick - even better!
Shanghai rules of the road (as far as I can tell)
1. The lines are only rough starting points. Merging is a continual process - merging back and forth into different lanes, possibly sharing the lane with half another vehicle beside you, and honking when they come close to nicking your vehicels. When lanes end, drivers may want to start to think about merging. However, they may not want to merge quite yet, and instead wait until the car is basically scraping the wall beside them. You may even find it necessary to drive in the opposite lane, against the opposing traffic.
2. Pedestrians do not have the right of way. You will have to dodge cars, trucks, motorbikes, and bicycles to cross a street. They will not slow down. If there is a green pedestrian crossing signal, you are less likely to have to battle cars and trucks for road space, though you will still need to manoever around bikes and motorbikes.
3. Don't make eye contact. If you acknowledge that you have seen the other car/truck/bus/bike/moped/pedestrian, you show your weakness. They will then definitely go first.
4. Honking is necessary and just basically a lot of fun. If someone is starting to drift towards your lane, your driver honks. If your driver wants to go somewhere and there is someone already there, he honks. Then the other car honks back. If there is a bike or motorcycle beside the car, the driver honks. When the driver is trying to turn and about 50 bicycles and motorcycles and mopeds are going straight through the intersection, he honks as he dodges them.
5. Seatbelts in taxis are not compulsory. In fact, most don't have seatbelts. Hang on.
6. Helmets and safety clothing are not required, but a poncho is. People are biking wearing sandals, and ripping through on their motorcycles/ mopeds/ bikes without helmets, sometimes with children perched on their laps. They also all have these fun ponchos that go over the front of the moped; when it rains, everyone looks the same.
7. Don't stick cameras, hands, arms, or any limbs out the windows. They may be detached, squashed or otherwise maimed by the vehicles beside you or whizzing past you.
8. Sidewalks are not safe. Watch out for cars, motorcycles, and bikes. The good news is that the city planners have taken this into account. Therefore, there are speed bumps on the sidewalks.
9. Don't hit anyone. We saw only one accident in Shanghai, where one guy pointed to the fender hanging off his moped as he yelled and gestured at another guy. There were about 4 policemen standing around them. We just kept walking...
Other highlights of our time in Shanghai:
-Being met by my friend Kelly, who did everything she could to ensure that we would be safe and comfortable, including setting us up with a Chinese cell phone (complete with random Chinese text messages that I keep getting), helping us book rooms and tickets, writing out necessary words in Chinese characters, and together with her husband taking us out for some authentic (and VERY delicious) Chinese food.
-Looking at the map, and deciding that we could walk to the tourist area of Shanghai... it didn't look that far. After walking for about 4km and not recognizing anything on our map, we hailed a taxi and showed the driver the Chinese characters for where we wanted to go. Turns out we read the map totally wrong, and were a good 25 minute drive away. Oops.
-Getting to the area we wanted to be, and trying to figure out why the map was completely backwards to the way the river actually curved, checking the compass again to make sure we were facing the right way. And then, I realized that north was the red arrow, not the black one. Oops.
-Walking along the river and being accosted by Chinese guys asking to take pictures with us.
-Wandering through narrow alleys, full of laundry hanging across to dry, people sitting on their steps chatting, things stored against the walls,and tiny hole-in-the-wall kitchens selling noodle soups.
-Finding memorable things to get our bearings: "Oh, that's where the little boy was taking a pee by the bikes", "isn't that the sketchy alley?", "There's the Apple store where everyone was lined up to get the iPhone4", "I know where we are - that's the chicken feet store!"
-Going up to the top of the World Financial Centre (it's REALLY high!) and seeing all of Shanghai beneath our feet (through glass...so freaky!)
-Learning to say, "You're welcome" in Chinese (after asking about 5 different people how to say it and then promptly forgetting it), walking down the street saying it to each other to practice, and using it whenever we could.
-Teaching a Chinese lady to say, "teeth-th-th-th-th" instead of "teesh" by sticking my tongue out. We both were laughing a lot.
-Eating mystery food at a little place on the side of the road, where a lot of Chinese people were eating. It tasted good, though. :) And not getting sick - even better!
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