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I wake up at around 8:05 this morning, about 15 minutes later than normal days. Wendy has left for Xiamen already without my awareness. What a strange world! She flies there to interview some guys in Xiamen and will get back by late flight tonight. It all happens in a day. Maybe at the time I wake up, the plane carrying her already left Shanghai and was flying over Zhejiang.
Rushing to dirty kitchen, I start to wash. As I described before, the place I live right now is a poor, miserable, and old apartment without telephone. The washroom was occupied by the new SIEMENS Extra 1550 Front Load Washing Machine. Thank God that the decoration of the new apartment is almost finished and I am expecting new life very soon.
At around 8:10 AM, I stepped out of the door. The wood door with simple lock is a little bit better than no lock, but I don't have any high expectation for this kind of lock. Once I left my key in my Meilong home. I hired a lock picker to help me. He put two sticks into the lock and about 3 seconds later, the door is open - he opened the door quicker than I do with my key. Howstuffworks.com provides a tutorial about how lock picking works.
After that, I know when I lock the door of this kind, it take effects only on physiologic aspect. It does not prevent any thief from breaking it.
Shanghai becomes warm these days. It is really warm. The temperature raised to 26°C already, according to the Living in Shanghai Talk Show at Shanghai Radio Station. I started the car, pull it back and went into the Jinxiu Rd. There is bad sign that more and more cars appeared on the road. This is not unexpected. Even Jian Shuo Wang got a car, why shouldn't others? I just feel the traffic of Jinxiu Rd. increased dramatically in the last one month after I moved here. Maybe because more and more people are moving to Pudong area, while before, there is almost no people living there.
Within 10 minutes, I am at the entrance of the Nanpu Bridge, heading to Puxi. After Lupu Bridge opens, there is almost no traffic jam on Nanpu. I only need to be patient to drive slowly at the ramp. As soon as I get onto the bridge, all cars speeded up and I switched to shift 5 for full speed.
Since I am using a Hangzhou plate, I cannot use the elevated high-way at this time. The ban is lifted after 9:30 AM. I chose the Lujiabang Rd. -> Zhaojiabang Rd. -> Tianyaoqiao Rd. route. Shanghai's traffic is not that bad. On this road, I never met traffic jam so far. There is only a longer red light at the interaction of Wanping Road.
Around 8:50, I am at the turning point of #30, Tianyaoqiao Rd. I pulled my car to the right. There are so many passengers and bicycles on the way. I have to be extremely careful to drive. If I drive a little bit faster, I may hit a pedestrian. If I drive a little slower, more and more people will get into the way before me so I have to wait endlessly. According to the newly announce Road Safety Law, if a car hit a pedestrian, no mater whose fault it is, the driver have to be responsible for the accident. Before the new law, the pedestrian has to share responsibility of the accident. News reported a driver hit a jaywalker to death and he paid 400,000 RMB to the family of the victim, although he had no fault.
8:52 AM. I parked the car at the underground parking lot of Metro Tower. The Metro Tower only charges 600 RMB per month for people working in this building. That is cheap! I heard the 66 Plaza charges 1800 RMB per month...
Well. This is a typical morning of my life. It may be a typical morning of many people (who have cars) in Shanghai – a city with 19 million people.
Posted by Jian Shuo Wang at May 27, 2004 6:33 PM
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and this link: http://home.wangjianshuo.com/archives/20040527_shanghai_morning_in_a_car.htm
Very nice article providing a glimpse into driving in Shanghai. Hope to see more on other daily life subjects.
Posted by: WilliamW on May 27, 2004 5:41 PMHi, a couple months ago I have read your blog which gave me a deep impression. Today I looked through the blog named Living in China, and found out that your blog is so famous that people from 109 countries or religions have visited your blog. That shows that your website is really attractive and insteresting. cool! I've added your website to my blog. :)
Halle
I am more and more interested in having an own car ... i read your blogs about car carefully. Hopefully one day we can exchange experiences. :)
Posted by: Run Liu (external link) on May 31, 2004 9:36 PMUnbelievable! Wake up at Jingxiu Rd. at 8:05, and arrive Metro Tower before 9:00? I'm jealous on you.
Posted by: dbjiang on July 13, 2004 5:37 PMSomeone out there can tell me where I can read the new law in english, please ?
Posted by: Carsten on July 13, 2004 6:53 PMThere's not an official english edition yet, maybe never. :-(
Posted by: dbjiang on July 16, 2004 4:49 PMhi, your blog is cool, nice, i really want to know more about your thoughts at future. so never stop your blogging, and plz left more comments on your blog, thanx.
Posted by: real personal chatting blog for finding friends (external link) on May 31, 2006 7:16 PM