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The bus system in Shanghai reminded me very much of the system that I had encountered in Tuxpan, Mexico. The fare was 1 Yuan which was equivalent to 1 Peso or about 15 cents Canadian. At the time of this writing the exchange rate was 5.3 Yuan to $1.00. I, however, had purchased my Yuan on the black market at six Yuan to the dollar.
This is done by meeting exchangers at the entrance to a bank. After you have bartered an exchange rate that is better the bank will give you and the best you can get from the you have him follow you to the teller in the bank. You make out a deposit slip and the buyer gives his Chinese money to the teller who checks to see that it isn't counterfeit. When you have a receiptfrom the bank showing that the agreed upon amount is in your bank account you give the buyer the American currency. This way neither of you can rip off the other because you are under the scrutiny of armed guards.
Throughout Shanghai, other than bicycles and taxis, busses are the most common vehicle on the streets. In downtown Shanghai electric trolley busses are common but like most cities the busses that run to the outlying district rely on the internal combustion engine.
Busses are of two sizes, the smaller being slightly larger than the busses in Tuxpan. As in Mexico, all busses, other than the electric trolley, have standard transmissions rather than automatic.
Busses vie with each other to get into the speed lane and pass slower moving vehicles but they are no sooner out there then they spot a bus stop and have to get back to the curb lane, cutting in front of the other busses to see if they can get a passenger.
Some of the busses will stop anywhere to pick up and drop off but others will only use bus stops, for fear of getting a ticket from the police if they don't.
The main streets remind me of the freeways in Montreal where the center lanes are for high speed traffic while outside lanes are collector lanes for slower traffic. However, in PuDong the outside lanes are too narrow for vehicles, they are for bicycles and motorcycles. These get narrower at bus stops as the street curb curves away from the street, giving busses room to get out of traffic. At least that is the theory.
In reality the busses will nose in or even double park with other busses nosing in, in front of them, often blocking all 3 lanes of traffic.
It is easy to compare the Shanghai area of China to the Lower Fraser Valley of Canada. Both are built on alluvial silt and dissected by rivers, streams, canals, and freeways.
Shanghai has, in the last few years, built new bridges which are comparable to the Alex Fraser bridge between Richmond and Surrey. Each of the bridges has a small guardhouse at each end, on each side. In the guard house a soldier stands at attention, day and night, guarding the bridge against vandals or saboteurs.
Most of the major street signs and names are in Pinyin, and if you get an English street map it is fairly easy to get around.
Though Shanghai is much closer to the equator, on a parallel approximately that of Las Angeles, its climate is not close to that of California. Shanghai's precipitation and temperatures
are very similar to those of Vancouver. They have a tree with leaves very similar to the Canadian maple leaf but the tree loses its bark in the winter.
Trees, and wooden poles and posts, are painted white, with some kind of chemical, near the bottom, to prevent insects from climbing.
| PUJIAN LU in PuDong |  Typical truck found on Shanghai streets. |
Only gravel trucks and cement trucks have tandem axles. I saw many tandem trailers but most tractors are single axle. There is one type of truck that seems to be prevalent. This is a
single axle flat deck with a long deck and short sides that fold up. They don't seem to have a brand name on them anywhere and are used to carry almost everything.
I saw one such truck carrying rolls of kraft paper. The rolls were on their sides and stacked three high. There were far more rolls on that truck than what I would carry on a five axle tractor trailer.
Shortly after that I saw a similar truck, going the other direction, loaded with bundles of cardboard. Again, far more than I ever had in an eighteen wheeler going to the pulp mills in Oregon.
| BUS into SHANGHAI |  Interior of a full bus during rush hour. |
I saw these trucks while waiting for the bus to go downtown to the medical clinic. The bus ride was as I had heard about, people were packed in like sardines. Of the many trips I made on a bus this was the first time I had gone during rush hour and the first time a had had to stand.
I was worried about the long hill on the other end of the bridge. Every time the driver tried to use the brakes they would scream in protest, the bus was carrying far more than its rated weight capacity, but the driver managed to bring the bus through the turns without running over anyone.
When courting my wife to be, Huang Bin had sent me photos of people crowding, pushing and shoving, to get onto busses. I had wondered why they allowed people to get on through the back door.
Most of the buses have conductors who collect the fares after the passengers are on board. Many of these conductors have their station at the back door. The conductor controls the opening of the back door and often that of the front door and notes who gets on. Often they open only the back door.
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The medical clinic, 'Community Health Care', where all doctors from the hospital must take their turn of three months is a nondescript building, hard to distinguish from the other old buildings on the street until you step inside and see the lines of people, at the check ins, trying to get an appointment.
Because my sister-in-law, Jin Xian, is a doctor there was no waiting in line for us.
Stepping past the line on the third floor we went into the room where blood samples are taken. Here several nurses worked quickly, inserting needles into arms that are passed through a hole in one of two windows.
After my wife's blood sample was taken we went up another flight of stairs where workers made desultory wipes at the hand railing with damp cloths.
The dental room was a cacophony of voices and a crush of bodies as patients milled about the three old chairs, waiting their turn. The dentists, having no assistants, would have to push through the boisterous throng to obtain instruments.
There were no electrically operated chairs and there was no vacuum system. The drills were powered by flexible cables, over pulleys, from an electric motor and there was a spit bowl beside the chair.
In less time than it takes me to have my freezing set, Bin had two fillings put in. We then went down a flight of stairs to a private examining room.
While Bin was being examined I poked my camera through a window with a broken pane and took pictures of roof tops.
Next we went to the first floor where Bin sat with a doctor who wrote her a prescription.
Unlike an office in Canada where the doctor meets with the patient, one on one, the office contained five desks with five doctors. No assistant brought the patients records. The patients do that themselves, placing them under those that are already on the desk and then waiting in the already crowded room.
From the clinic we walked downtown and went `round a round'. Our personal term for my wife's favourite past time, going round and round all the stores. Not necessarily buying anything but checking products and prices.
Communism, like capitalism, has its theories, but, like the theories of democracies, are corrupted by reality. Cities must grow because populations grow. Like downtown Vancouver, downtown Shanghai is under the destruction hammer. Everywhere, it seems, buildings are being torn down; houses, farms, stores, acres and acres of broken brick.
| UNDER CONSTRUCTION |  The `New Hong Kong Tower' in Shanghai. |
From the dust and debris new edifices arise, towering, like giant Douglas Fir, reaching for the sun.
| TOILET |  Public washroom in the Old City Temple. |
I only saw one of the old bathrooms that I had heard horror stories about. Most public washrooms are now modern, and may charge. Some of the older ones do not charge to get in but charge for the toilet paper. Most people carry Pocket Kleenex to use for toilet paper.
In most of the articles I have read, I am told, while in Shanghai, it is a must to visit the Bund.
The Bund is an area along the river that at one time was the exclusive embodiment of foreign interlopers. The Chinese relegated them to one area where they were allowed to live and carry on commerce.
The present day Bund features a quay, raised above the street level and festooned with photographers who want to take your picture for a price.
Though the day I visited the weather was cold and cloudy there were still many pedestrians, I am assuming they were mostly tourists as I saw a large number of cameras in use. There are also several ticket offices for river tours and some restaurants high above the promenade that would supply an excellent view of the area.
| DRAGON BOAT RESTAURANT |  One of the many restaurants along the Bund. |
The seawall is separated from the buildings by a very busy street. The buildings themselves are large block buildings covered with years of grime and give no indication of what they were in years gone by. Today they are mostly Chinese banks.
The river is a stage with floating performers. Boats, barges, ships, of all sizes and shapes competing with the flotsam of many towns and cities upstream.
If one was to visit Shanghai without visiting the Bund it would not be a great loss. There are many more impressive places to visit within the city which should be closer to the top of one's list, especially if time is short.
| PEARL TV TOWER |  Viewed from the side, one can see the two globes are not part of the Pearl Tower. |
The Bund does offer a good location to view the Oriental Pearl (TV) Tower, especially at night when it and the surrounding buildings are quite magnificently lit.
On the East bank of the Huangpu River, across from the juncture of the Suzhou Creek, at the North end of the Bund, the Pearl Tower is supposed to represent a string of pearls and is often pictured with two large pearls at the base. In actuality the two large pearls are geodesic domes and not on the same property as the tower. By walking along the Bund you can see the tower with and without the balls at its base.
The giant balls are the conference rooms of the International Convention Center and the building in between is the Shangri-la Hotel.
| PEDESTRIAN TUNNEL |  A display of coloured lights makes the trip short and pleasent. |
There is, however, one bright spot at the Bund and that is the new under river pedestrian tunnel that connects with the International Convention Center in PuDong.
The tunnel consists of two tracks upon which ride small, bubble like, glass Gondolas. The experience is worth the price of Y20. (Y30 return).
The gondolas only have three fold down seats but there is room for ten to stand. Once into the tunnel the gondolas move fairly quickly though you don't notice their speed as you are enraptured by a light display throughout the tunnel. Before you realize it you have passed under the barges and freighters on the river and are approaching the escalators that will take you to the surface.
I attempted to take pictures but the car does not move smooth enough for a time exposure and a flash only bounced back off the window and gave me a big glare.
Near the top of my list of pleasant experiences in Shanghai would be the Old City Temple. In the heart of the city an old temple has been turned into a conglomeration of modern tourist
shops with a restaurant above the central pond.
WINTER `06 Why is it I can never go on a trip without having to visit my dentist when I get back?
Link to Pictures of the Old City Temple in Shanghai.
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Yesterday while eating some ice cream one of my upper molars fell apart. Everything from the gum line down is gone. Of course everything from the gum line up is still there, which probably means surgery to get the root out.
Actually, when I was chewing something the night before I felt something stick to the top of my tooth but couldn't find anything, yet it seemed high. That's probably when the crown broke loose.
The next day, when I was eating ice cream, it, and the teeth to both sides of it, probably contracted enough that it could lift out between them.
After lunch on the way back to my nephew's mother-in-law•s house we saw a dental clinic that was open, on a Sunday afternoon.
I was apprehensive about getting the work done in China, or anywhere other than my dentist. I am a chicken when it comes to needles, and I know that my dentist gives painless needles. And maybe they don't have topical in China.
On the other hand I don't want the tooth to infect. That is real pain, and the tooth is impossible to take out until you clear up the infection. I went through that earlier in `06.
My nephew's mother-in-law knows the dentist. She went in and negotiated the price Y68, then she called me in.
I went in. When I sat in the chair I was happy to see the young lady dentist reach for a bottle of topical, or something similar. Actually I think it is more potent. She barely covered one side of a Que-tip and she barely placed it on my gum, in three different places. Within a very short time she was sticking the needle in. I thought, `whoa, the topical wasn't enough and it hasn't had time to take effect'. A couple of times I made a little noise, and/or movement and she said, –Sorry”.
But it had nothing to do with her. I never felt the needle. She was as painless as my regular dentist. Thank goodness.
From my back side, where I couldn't see her approach, she put a tool into my mouth and hit the end of it with a small hammer. That jarred my head but I felt no pain. Then she put the pliers on my tooth and wiggled it around, then pulled, but to no avail. Back to the hammering, and back to the pliers, nothing.
A male doctor came in and repeated her procedure, twice. Heavier on the hammer, and harder on the wiggle and pull. Finally, it came out.
She put a small pad of gauze over the hole in my gum and told me to hold it there for 30 minutes.
I asked her to put a stitch in but she said the hole was too small, I asked for a stitch anyway and she wouldn't do it.
I went through this a couple of years ago with a specialist who removed a tooth and didn't stitch the hole. The hole didn't heal to the next tooth and eventually I got infection in the next root and had to have that tooth pulled. I don't want to go through that again., I have very few teeth left.
But it is too late to put a stitch in it now and the hole is still there.
Damn dentist think they know everything.
When I went to pay the bill it was Y90. They charged me extra because I was bigger and they used more freezing than for a Chinese patient.
So much for having a Chinese person go in first to negotiate the price.
Darn, why didn't I ask one of my family to take a picture of me in the dentist chair, with the dentist working on me. Like I did of the doctor in Mexico.
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Link to Pictures of Medical Center in Shanghai.