Traffic & Weather Together, on The 8s...

This is a marketing campaign used by WCBS 880 NY radio. I'm using it because it creates a nice outline for this post:

Traffic

There's a lot of it here. And as I mentioned before, the roads are anarchical. I compare most places to NYC, and continuing that with Shanghai, this is a more aggressive NYC without pedestrian right-of-way. Cars cut one another off (forget about signaling) and barrel though walk lights without regard for pedestrians. The pedestrians are equally aggressive, but are clearly aware that no vehicle - bus, truck, car or bike - will stop for them.

There are a lot of bikes here, and some small bike lanes. The trains run above the roads and are as modern, if not moreso, than U.S. trains (which is no surprise). I don't have any pictures for this post, so I'll save a discussion of the roadways and buildings for a day when I have pictures. I went to a mall and a park the other day, so I'll try to get those pictures from someone else since I didn't have my camera. If you're into shopping, that post will be for you.

Weather

So far, We've had one sunny, one cloudy and one rainy day. It has been in the 70s or 80s morning through night, and it is very humid. Not Amazon humid I'm sure, but it's bad enough that even the hotel sheets and air are a little damp, and outside - even in the cooler areas - it can be very difficult to bare. The notion of walking around without sweating is pretty laughable to us all at this point.

8s ... and 4s

The number 8 is similar to a Chinese word for "goodbye," but more importantly, apparently the number is good luck. In fact, phone numbers cost more to buy when they have more 8s in them! The opposite is true of the number 4, since that number is associated with death.

8!