A friend from China, and former co-worker with Pennsylvania House Furniture, Steve, sent me a most interesting article about the subways of Shanghai. Seems they are experiencing such high volumes, that they have had to hire "shovers" to push passengers on board.
One of the things I do not miss about China, is the traffic and particularly crossing streets as a pedestrian!
I often wrote in this blog, while I was in China, that riding and crossing roads was always a unique experience. Pedestrians have NO right of way, and the rules for right-of-way for cars is more than a little vague to a Westerner. There are few if any STOP signs..... not that they would be observed anyway! One only observes that the biggest and/or bravest gets the right-of-way.
Seeing this video so reminds me of that fact. Watch the black van on the right try to get across the intersection, and watch the bicycles and pedestrians crossing the road. All just have to learn some good timing to cross along with a lot of bravado!
I particularly like his comments about his #1 book: Lost on Planet China: The Strange and True Story of One Man's Attempt to Understand the World's Most Mystifying Nation or How He Became Comfortable Eating Live Squid by J. Maarten Troost. As Dan says in the Forbes article: "If you still want to go to China after reading this book, you are ready to move on to the next book." When I gave that very book to a friend, I wrote in the cover "to not let his wife read the book, if he ever wanted her to visit China with him." The book is really that straightforward and right on about the tough and difficult aspects you encounter when you visit The Middle Kingdom, including people constantly clearing their throats and lungs anywhere, deadly haze of smog everywhere, and smell of urine in places like the gatehouses of The Great Wall and other visitor venues. If you are thinking of visiting China, Lost on Planet China is a must read to prepare you, .... at least, some anyway. BTW, it's definitely my #1 book on China too!
Its been great the last couple of days watching the HSBC Champions Tournament from the Shanghai area. The Shenshan International Golf Club reminds me of golf in China. Some of my best time in China was on the links at the Dongguan Hillview Golf Club, with my good golfing buddies Lucas, Leon, and Mitchell.
But I am reminiscing, and I really meant to focus on HSBC. The Golf Channel is showing the tournament on a time delay (not too many viewers probably want to watch in the middle of the night). And they are even repeating several times in the course of the day.
The Shenshan course looks much like Hillview, although not with Hillview's tall berms surrounding the greens for viewing. Amazingly, Shenshan, it is said, edged Hillview for the HSBC Tournament several years ago. Hillview would probably be better for spectators, but probably not long enough to be a challenge to Tiger and others.
Speaking of which, Tiger is challenging. Phil took the lead today, so tomorrow should be very interesting with two of the world's best vying for the win.
Try to catch some of the tournament if you can. And check the homes around the course. In true Chinese spirit, the homes are impressive. A few links to see online:
The Financial Times reports conflicting information on wages in the Guangdong Province. One estimate reports wages increasing 19-38 percent in the first quarter. But other sources claim they "see the opposite."
It's Halloween season, and that means some big parties in Dongguan! Hollywood Baby Too and One for The Road will both be having special events. It's definitely one of the biggest party nights of the year. And also a little strange to see locals trying to understand why foreigners dress up in very weird costumes.
