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Hey Folks!

Well after a week of hot sticky weather accompanied by rain which doesen’t really cool you off the summer is officially here. Basically it is now extremely hot and sticky (36 degrees!) but without the rain. I had the office AC cranked down to 22 degrees and on full fan to make it bearable.

I must say that one of the most difficult part of these types of hot sticky days is getting home from work. Now I have about a 10 minute walk from the my office to the nearest subway station. The first 3 minutes are fine as I am still in the building, but once I step outside I get slapped in the face with a hot humid cloud of air. The air is so thick it is as if I can take a handful and put it in my pocket.

Baby in Shanghai in Summer outfit

At 18:00 90% of all working class people in Shanghai are on their way home from work. We are talking a good few million here, who at the same time occupying Shanghai’s public transportation vehicles including buses, taxis, motorcycle-taxis and especially the subway. I used to try to take taxis home which are usually fast and affordable, but during shanghai rush hour you are very very lucky if you find a vacant taxi and even if you are that lucky you will find yourself sitting in horrible traffic all the way home. The only advantage is that you have a secured seat, air conditioning, peace and quiet and can open a window at your leisure unlike as you will read below – the subway.

As I have given up on even trying to catch a cab on the way home, I usually head straight for the nearest subway station. Now let me tell you the Shanghai subway system is one of the best I’ve seen. It is clean, fast and efficient all except for one problem – too many people! On the way to the subway station its extremely crowded, as you get in to the subway station it becomes even more crowded as people get in line to cross the gates. Now, due to the Expo there are security systems that scan all bags at the entrance to every station so you can imagine how that backs everything up.

Subway security Check

Once you get past the security check and the gates you go down the escalator/stairs to the boarding platforms. If you are lucky the people are all lined up according to first come first serve to board the subway. If not its a first come first serve brawl to see who will make it on to the next car including pushing shoving and yelling. I must say that it has become more and more organized, only sometimes you have to wait 3-4 cars before you get on.

Lining up to get on the subway in Shanghai

Once you get on, if its rush hour, most likely you will find yourself standing very intimately with your fellow subway -carmates. Often on one side you will have a smelly armpit and on the other someone who smells of alchohol yelling on their cellphone. I do my best to get pressed up against the door or the wall in the back. I never imagined I could learn to appreciate being pressed up against the wall of a subway car.

Crowded subway car

Now many people have to transfer at “People’s Square” station, the main hub station of the Shanghai subway. Walking through this station during rush hour is a great way to feel the power of the masses in China. Believe me, you have never seen so many people in one place at one time. There are many arrows guiding you to the place you need to get to but you must walk “with” the the people, meaning in the same direction at the same pace. It is very difficult to pass people by and even more difficult to walk against the flow.

 Once I get to my destination I have a regular motorcycle-taxi guy whom I call one I reach the station and then waits for me at the entrance. He cuts past all the traffic and makes what a 20 minute drive in a taxi would be into a 4-5 minute drive. Although he drives like a maniac it costs me only $1.5 and saves me lots of time.

Motorcycle taxi in Shanghai

This ritual takes me around an hour every day and has become more difficult with summer but its what I have to do to get home every day. With the extremely high population of 20-30 million people in Shanghai one can see how getting from one place to another can be difficult here. Considering those circumstances though I think that they are doing a great job in making things as efficient as possible.

Till next time…

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 3rd, 2010 at 10:48 and is filed under Mandarin Chinese. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.