Daily Showers in Shanghai

Daily Showers

It’s like mother nature is trying to cleanse the heavy layer of pollution floating around Shanghai with a daily dose of strong thunder showers. Every afternoon the skies darken, the thunder rumbles, and the rain pours down. But then the next day the vaguely brown haze is back again. Keep trying mother nature!

In an effort to do my part for mother nature, I’ve taken a bike out around Shanghai a few times this week. This may sound like no big thing, I went to Davis after all, but that’s only if you haven’t seen the traffic patterns in China. And by pattern I mean Pollock-painting style patterns. The green walk sign? That’s not a guarantee, it’s a caution notice. A red light? That’s not definitive, it’s an if-you-feel-like-it kind of thing. Of course, with my bike background and the danger involved in cycling round Shanghai, I wore a helmet each time. Between the magenta helmet and my blond hair streaming behind me, I was a beacon of foreigness. People were pointing at my head, and for once it could have been more than just my hair. And that was just fine with me. Safety first!