Another World

Today, I visited the country on the other side of the Huangpu River which is otherwise known as Pudong. Over there, the grass is green, the trees are green, and there are big areas of green spaces. There seem to be less people over there and the roads are very wide. While some people may think this is a paradise compared to my side of the river, I felt it was a lonely, empty, desolate place. According to the 2000 census from wikipedia, Pudong has 3,187,400 people living there. While that number is staggering, I still feel that it is a deserted area. Perhaps like something out of a horror movie where aliens have come and sucked away half of the population. Needless to say, I do not like Pudong. 

While in that other country, I had an interesting observation when I was leaving the metro. There seems to be a new campaign to have people stand on one side of the escalator and walk on the other side. There was a girl standing with a sign at the foot of the escalator that demonstrated this revolutionary idea. However, when I looked up at the people on the escalator, I found that they were just standing there haphazardly. I gave a look of pity to the girl trying to spread the work, and stood on the escalator as the sign suggested. At the second escalator, I met the similar situation. I remember noticing in Hong Kong how everyone seemed to be doing this. I thought Shanghai was so far, but it seems this is a new thing that is in the works of changing.

There have actually been a lot of improvements such as these since we have lived in Shanghai. For example, taxis and other drivers honk the horns far less than in the past. Crosswalks are crossed in a more orderly fashion. People wait in line at McDonald's, while getting on the school bus, and when getting on the metro. Additionally, there has been some success with getting people to wait until people have exited the train before boarding. These changes have made the city much more friendly to live in, and I am sure in the years to come there will be even more changes.