Shanghai and Me

There hasn't been an entry in this blog for quite some time. I have been to Shanghai to do some work on a shipyard. Shipyards are good at cutting and welding steel in order to build vessels. They are not the best place to go for internet access and I could not find an internet café. Maybe I did see one, but I have no idea how the sign for internet café looks like in Chinese. At least at the end of the stay, I could decipher "China" and "Shanghai". Luckily, Jackson Lim had taught me how to count to 9 with one hand in Chinese (this is different to the European way, e.g. if a European orders two beers using his fingers, he will get seven in China). I always got the number of merchandises I wanted.

Shanghai is not the best place to go for tourist purposes. Within a couple of days one has seen what’s worth to. The huge amount of new skyscrapers is amazing, I have to admit. Although, only a few are interesting from an architectural point of view. Surprisingly, there were some Art Deco buildings. On one of my long walks through the city, I discovered a breathtaking Marine Hospital in a small side street. However, the general tendency in the construction business is towards the sky:



Another surprise was the huge number of green areas. If there is the possibility to make 2 square meters of park, the Chinese build one and they keep the city clean like Zürich once was. This is me in one of the bigger parks - that is, the People’s Park:



Zürich’s car drivers like to complain about the urban cyclists (although, Zürich’s cyclists obey the traffic laws as far as reasonably possible). Zürich’s car drivers should try two survive in Shanghai’s traffic for more than five minutes without a scratch on their precious tin can. Shanghai’s traffic is hideous. Everyone - that is, zillions of cars, busses, lorries, two-wheelers, cyclists and walkers (I haven't seen inline-skates, skateboards and kick-boards) - behaves as reckless as possible. Even on the Huangpu River is rush hours 24/7 (without navigation radars and position lights). This is a snapshot of Xuijahui Square on a lacy weekend:



As it could have been expected, all the world brands have already arrived in Shanghai before me:



Yesterday, I arrived in Melaka at the Strait of Malacca in Malaysia. I'm not yet quite sure what my task here will be. Nevertheless, I reckon I'll find out on Monday. Until then, I'm enjoying the pool.