QIBAO,
or QI BAO

Qibao is in the Minhang district of Shanghai. It is a designated tourist area and is very colourfully lit at night. It can be reached by taking the #911 bus to its most Western terminus and then walking two blocks.

HUAHAI XI LU
FROM THE UPPER LEVEL OF BUS 911

From the six hundred block of Huahai Xi Lu or Huahai West Rd. You can catch a West bound, number 911, bus. They are easy to find, they are double decker.

Go to the top floor, there is more head room in the upper floor, and try for a front seat. If you have long legs you might have to sit sideways and occupy two seats but there probably won't be many other passengers, so it will be all right. Some of the busses have lots of leg room, in the front seats, while some don't

The first thrill you will experience is the tree branches that are about to come through the windshield at you. If you are the nervous type, you should sit on the left, or driver's, side of the bus, furthest from the trees. Huahai Lu is lined with trees, that aren't regularly trimmed, and the scars on the ends of the branches testify that the busses do, sometimes, collide with the branches.

But not to worry, just before you hit the trees, nine times out of ten, the bus will pull out into traffic, before he breaks the upper windshield on a branch.

Now comes your second thrill of the trip. As I said, into traffic. To be far enough from the curb, to avoid the trees, the bus may now be on the wrong side of the center line. Not to worry, that big truck coming at you, on your side of the center line, will get back on his own side of the road, just as soon as he finishes passing that scooter, which in turn will get back, closer to the curb, as soon as it finishes passing, that bicycle, which in turn will get back to the curb, as soon as it finishes going around the lady sweeping the leaves off the street.

And, yes, Virginia, there is room for the bus to fit under the overhead advertising that curves up over the street. And, no, he didn't just run into the back of the taxi that stopped for the light. It just looks like he is over top of the car's trunk from up here. In reality there is at least six inches between the grill of the bus and the back bumper of the cab.

Oh, I regress. Before I invited you along, on this joy ride, I should have asked you, if you are prone to; car, bus, plane, sea, or ship, sickness. This Lu, and subsequent streets to come, is fairly uneven, with small dips and spots of construction, that are amplified by the height you will be siting at. So we will roll, and sway, along the way.