Would you Breastfeed While Riding a Moped? All things Astonishing in Shanghai, China

In the four months I have been here, I have seen some hilarious things. I have seen a mom breastfeed while riding on the back of a moped. I've seen a mom breastfeed on the subway. I've seen hundreds of kids wearing their pants with the open crotch because that's what they do here (the picture does it better justice than any words I have to describe it).

I've seen workers sleeping at every job-even at my job! No, it wasn't me (I'm working on it though . . ). I went to get one of the IT guys to help fix a computer. I opened the office door and yup, they were asleep. They had that look like "what the heck do you think you are doing? I already did my 15 minutes of work for the day."

I've seen many a man and boy peeing in the open street, the subway, and out the window of their house (oh, its pretty funny, until you catch a whiff. Yuck!). I've seen men spit on carpet and old women do some fat spitters on the street. I've seen a crew of 25 construction men moving straw, washing windows, and sitting around while one or two women get on with the heavy labor, breaking up the asphalt with pick axes and sledge hammers.



I've seen a falcon living in the 20th floor of an apartment building (My apartment building actually). I've seen an old Chinese man take his instrument and wash it in the pond that the men and boys just finished peeing in before putting it back to his lips and playing again--okay, that one had me laughing after I stopped convulsing.

And today, I saw a fancy wedding party go into Papa John's for the wedding meal and then come out to take wedding photos on the street (see video below). Ahhhhh. East Asia. Ahhhh Shanghai.

But, my personal favorite? That would be the first week I was here in Shanghai. A man in his late 40's was wearing a shirt that said, and I quote, "I LOVE TO FART".


The red picture above was for Budweiser. Budweiser had a display of musicians made of beer cans for a few weeks--kind of cool. Then, this next picture asks the visitors to not touch the water. Too bad the sign was in the middle of a large field of grass. What? Did they mean "don't touch the acid rain water on the grass or your hand will get burned?" In that case, we needs signs on all the water faucets that say "drink if you want to die. Let the taste of this awful water be your guide." I have drank the water twice by accident, and yes, the taste definitely lets you know that you will have a rough future (if any) if you drink more.


Here is our resident falcon man and his bird, who scares an elevator full of people daily when that thing starts flapping its wings (that bird is fierce-ask the mouse he just ate). I hope to be there with my camera the next time it happens.

Are you brave enough to bike around Shanghai, China?

From Left to Right: Lorie, Aiduku, and Marla

Before I moved to Shanghai, everyone said there were too many bicyclers and people on mopeds and it was pretty dangerous to ride around on a bike. After being here for close to 4 months, I disagree. Walking is definitely more dangerous. At least on a bike I can choose to hit other pedestrians and mopeders, livening up the accident instead of just getting run over myself--that's no fun.

I have been hit by bicyclers riding on the sidewalk a couple times. What they do is peddle really slow and then run over your heel. Its like getting hit by a shopping cart at the grocery store except you are out walking on the sidewalk. It really takes talent on a bike.

I decided to rent a bike to see how bad it really was. I've been thinking about buying one because they have special bike lanes on all the roads and you can ride places quicker than taking a taxi when traffic is bad. Brent and I joined a group of three for some dangerous play last Saturday, the 14th of November.


I called a local bike shop (just googled "rent bikes Shanghai") and was able to rent 5 bikes and have them delivered for about $12 a person for the day. You can rent trucks here just like taxis. The bike company had a truck deliver our bikes to Century park for just a few dollars. We didn't find out until we got to the park with our bikes that you have to pay to visit the park and you can't ride bikes there! Looks like Century park is an adventure for another day . . . .

As for the bike ride, mine fell over twice (mostly from trying to film while riding-not recommended). Lorie (the blondie) also had a crash. Hers was from trying to crack nuts for a snack to eat while riding at the same time.Wow. I'm seeing a pattern here. hmmmm....

We biked on the new side of Shanghai called Pudong. It's much quieter than where Brent and I live in Puxi-the original Shanghai. We live in a very buy commercial area that is more the combat biking scene.

Our bike ride was great. Quiet and peaceful. I raced a few delivery drivers from Sherpas on there little electric bikes (they weren't as into as I was).

I apologize now for the movies. Biking and filming is a bad combo (for you and for me). The weather was a little cold, about 45 Fahrenheit with a little wind. The temperature in November was hot for the first week and now we are into winter weather. Usually around 35 - 45 and with rains every other day or so. Not bad when your coming from Alaska.

We put our new Chinese law-aversion skills into practice. We are getting accustomed to Chinese ways quickly. They post many signs for rules like "don't bike here," but we know better. We followed the other bikes across all the areas with "no biking" signs. We even rode and waved to the cops and security guards as we went by. Its a bit like Singapore here when it comes to crime, homeless people, and disturbances. They happen. All the time. The government just hushes them up or covers them up. (I also cannot read the newspaper so I hear about these things even less).

I just found info online that says Shanghai is starting a bike sharing program where you can rent a bike for $1 yuan an hour through a company called forever bicycles. I also found a cool website that lists bike sharing across the globe for all you travelers. Check it out here. Sounds good to me!

Tourists for the day

After a couple weeks in Shanghai, living at the Resort owned by the school, we (Brent, me, and all the foreign staff) went on a day tour of Shanghai. We took a bus to the pearl market, the French Concession (where the former communist party was founded), and Pudong--home of the Jin Mao tower--4th tallest building in the world. Now when I say we went on a day tour, that means we spent about 4 hours in traffic and then 2 - 3 hours checking out Shanghai. We also went to the famous Yu gardens (tourist mecca for bargaining and buying everything you could ever imagine you don't need).

As you can see from the pictures, I was the happy, unwitting foreigner, 1 week from the start of International school (more to come on this subject ahaha). My favorite is the picture of me and Brent sitting at the traditional tea drinking table chatty it up with the tour guide. He was hilarious! He told us that the average Chinese person with a college degree made aroun 1000 rmb a month. That's like $150 dollars. Whew!