Alright, plenty of pictures and updates here.  I’m just gonna knock them out one at a time.

The streets here are wild.  Many of them have sidewalks, and many of them don’t.  Streets are typically shared by buses, pedestrians, scooters, bikes, and cars.  Motorized vehicles honk when they want to get through, and given that they’re all in such a rush, the streets are filled with honking.  It’s rather chaotic, though also fun and exciting.  Crossing the crosswalk pretty much means you’re signing your life away, because no one will stop for you even if you have the right away.  It’s rather annoying, but there’s really nothing to do about it.  When in Rome, right?

A vast difference between China and America is the gap between the lower class and the middle and upper classes.  The lower class here is very, very poor, while the middle and upper classes are prospering.  The lower class here is very, very resourceful, though.  The locals are absolute rock stars at recycling old parts, stacking too many things onto too small of a bike, and running little specialty shops.  I think America could learn a few lessons from the Chinese resourcefulness.

We visited a famous electronics store, which was a wild experience.  The store was huge — many stories tall, consisting of small booths selling anything you could imagine.  Everyone bargains for a price, making for a fun and sometimes frustrating experience.  Oh and also, most items sold are fake.  They have fake iPods that look identical but have different software.  Very sneaky!

The Maglev, which is the train that takes you to and from the international airport, travels at 267mph.  It’s NUTS!

The subway here is ridiculous.  People pile on to the trains as if there were an infinite amount of space inside.  Additionally, travelers entering the train don’t wait for travelers leaving the train to leave.  Instead newcomers pile on as fast as they can, usually creating a huge pileup with the leaving travels.  It’s pretty fun.

Workers work day and night on up-and-coming buildings.  I’m sure there are different shifts of workers, though.  Apparently PuDong, the financial district, was all rice fields 10 years ago.  Now it’s all skyscrapers and suites.

More updates soon!

Last night was my first “interesting” Chinese food experience. And by “interesting” I mean NASTY. Take a look:

Jellyfish. Ewwwwww. It tasted OK but the texture was awful — crunchy and slimy.

Frog. The frog was actually good, like chicken, but there wasn’t much meat. The good news is that the meat was riddled with bones and other nasty things that I don’t even want to think about.

Rabbit. The rabbit was hands down the best. Its texture was that of chicken, but the taste was slightly more interesting. It reminded me of “Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers,” where Samwise and Frodo are cooking a rabbit with Smigel. I thought I was Frodo, bearer of the Ring, before realizing I was eating frog and jellyfish, at which point I escaped my fantasy and nearly sprinted to the bathroom.

Crazy Szechwan pepper. Little suckers were good and manageable. Apparently these aren’t allowed in the US.

In addition to trying some wild food, I was also able to finally see a squatter. Though I’ve still yet to experience one, just the mere sight of it was shocking, sparking all sorts of amazement and curiosity.

Bonus story: Christophe and I bought four DVDs for less than $3. The DVDs say “Bluray” on them, despite them being burnt, non-Bluray DVDs. Silly street vendors.

I managed to carry the DVDs around all night, including in this high-class club, where I strode in with shorts and sandals and Bluray DVDs in my pocket. Unfortunately the DVDs fell out of my pocket in the cab. Dangit!

I hope you enjoyed this edition of Alex in Shanghai.  I nearly got sick writing this post.