Apartments Shanghai: View from the Top

From December of 2009....

I went to check out boxing with Paul (ringwise boxing) at a new gym. Turns out the boxing gym is on the 28th floor of a building and it has an amazing view of millions of buildings and roads.

The view from the top gives you a great idea of what shanghai is really like. Bulidings, buildings, and more buildings. There are parks, but I am just amazed at how much space is filled with concrete and buildings. Buildings and old buildings. You get the picture . . . .

I took this video of Shanghai on a cold day in early December. I remember the sky was cloudy, but don't get me wrong--a really polluted day in Shanghai looks like that too. . (Ps. if you move here, find out what Neil Med is because you will need it and they don't sell it here!)

Almost any open space here, because they are rare in the city center, costs money to use. If you want to play basketball or use a track outside, you have to pay. So, most people just don't workout besides walking a lot.

I decided to push my luck yesterday. I jogged over to an elementary school and just went right over to the track. It was dark--around 5:30, but kids were still going home. The cool thing was . . . no one stopped me! It's so nice to be the foreigner.

No matter what happens as the resident foreigner in Shanghai, I just act like I don't understand what the Chinese are doing, and then whatever I'm doing suddenly becomes okay. (Seriously though . . . what country will kick you off the school track but let you pee openly in the street? I never said anything about Chinese logic . . .later though . . )

Being on the track at night was the most alone I have felt since I came to China, and it was so nice to be away from the crowds. It was dark and it was just me, the track, and the field. . . .that is until one of the students decided to see if I was a real, live, white person sitting on their field stretching. . .

The kid came within inches of my face before running away in shock. I think his friends dared him to see what I was doing. People must not spend much time exercising outdoors. Actually . . . I was told the women avoid it at all costs because they don't want their skin to darken! No wonder there are so few Chinese women in Pro Tennis....its all making sense now. Ha!