Biking

So I've told you all I've purchased a bike within the first three days of being here, and it has by far been my best purchase ever. My bike is a metallic red (similar to my car), with a few blue Hawaiian flowers on it. The handlebars are gray, with hand breaks. The bike has no gears, but makes up for this with a sweet black basket and a little bell. The bell does not have as dramatic effects as a car horn, but it does the trick. The angry "ring ring!" can go a long way.

In the morning I bike to school and home. The bike ride takes about 5 minutes on a good day, but can take 10 if the weather is bad. Supposedly it won't snow here in China, but when it rains it is really a pain to get to school. I could take a cab for 11 kuai, or a motorized bike with walls and a ceiling thing for 3-4kuai, but since I'm trying to save money I hope to do so by minimizing extraneous purchases. So, if I want groceries, it makes sense to spend 20 kuai on a week's worth of veggies and fruits from the local market rather than go to the foreigner's store and spend 300 kuai on the same items because of shear convenience.

Back to the rain issue. So, I have this basket, and am armed with a raincoat and umbrella, but this does not protect the basket or the items in the basket. Here they sell this ridiculous looking poncho shown here:















I mean seriously. The picture on the right does not even begin to show how ridiculous people look in these things. Attached to the front of the poncho is a clip that links to the front part of the basket, in order to protect the contents. The design of the poncho is pretty genius, despite the lack of fashion sense.

I bought one last weekend and had the pleasure (note sarcasm) of having to use it today. Oye what a pain.

Chinese traffic is also pretty dangerous. There are lines designated for car roads and bike roads, but people rarely pay attention. Sometimes I've even found cars driving down a bike road on the wrong side of the street No one gets mad, they just get out of the way. The same works for traffic lights... The light turns from red to yellow to green, but during the yellow phase people from both directions tend to go at the same time. The light also goes from green to yellow to red. Bikers bike down the wrong side of the road all of the time, and drivers cut each other of left and right. It's really frustrating at times but I'm being careful. It's better to be careful then stupid and hurt.

There are also lots of mopeds here, but they don't have the same elegance as ones in Italy. Maybe that's because Shanghai is much dirtier, larger, and rushing to be more modern, while with Italy there's a sense that part of their leisure loving life culture is frozen in time. It could also be because going on a moped through Italy is 100x more enjoyable than the scenery around here, but I still prefer a bike or car to a moped.

I think the reason why the drivers here are ridiculous is because they drive the same way they bike. It is mostly defensive, but people also try to cut in and get ahead, but not in a malicious way. When people honk the horn (which is REALLY irritating), it's not like in the US where people curse and yell and scream, but more of an informative honk, or a "I'm restless get out of my way please" honk. Cars even honk at bikes sometimes which isn't that enjoyable.

Mind you, I still love biking to work. I see parts of the area I wouldn't be able to find by foot, and a bike helps me get to places faster too. I still believe that everyone in China still really needs driving lessons, or some kind of crash course on basic rules of traffic and which side of the road to drive on!

Tonight: 42nd street! Geoff's performing. I'm psyched.