The Lover's Tears

23rd June 2009, 6.31pm

After having been in Shanghai for a grand total of 3 hours, I have learnt that:

• The air smells oddly like decaying cement
• It is possible to break into cold sweat while crossing the road (Ref: when the taxi nearly runs a person over and before the person has fully recovered from the trauma, a loud honking monster of a bus comes along, with apparently no regard whatsoever for pedestrians and traffic regulations)
• Mosquitoes attack clean-smelling people
• The Shanghainese people tend to sound angry when they talk, even when they’re actually not (E.g. the security guard who was trying to tell me that I had to pull the door instead of pushing it; the evident lack of communication saw me pushing the door very fervently indeed)
• The city is a curious mix of old and new; She is like a child tottering in her European mother’s heels, unsteady in her gait, but nonetheless choosing to barrel forward furiously with a petulant determination. A facade I’m not sure anyone is taken in by, save the occasional brash tourist who is only too happy to partake in a such a happy revolution and to be awestruck at the wonders of Progress