Born to Be Wild

As many of you know, I am residing in Shanghai until the middle of December.  In order to maximize my time in China, I have planned many of my weekends to insure that I can see many of the important sights around the country.  One of the first items on the agenda was to become a bit more acquainted with Shanghai.  Shanghai is a magnificent city that has benefitted (and sometimes suffered) from several diverse foreign influences.  As I researched how to rapidly become more acquainted with the city, I stumbled across a unique tour company called Shanghai Sideways (www.shanghaisideways.com).  Though I am not typically a fan of the organized tour, this seemed to stand apart for several reasons, primarily the format.

I boarded the motorcycle promptly at 9am on Saturday, which was piloted by Floride (which is NOT pronounced like the toothpaste ingredient...oops) to embark on a tour of the city.  The tour was absolutely fascinating.  I was able to see several parts of the French Concession, Old Shanghai, and The Bund.  The tour showed not only the city’s architectural diversity, but also the socioeconomic diversity as well.  There were times that we would pass an exotic Italian sports car on one side of the road, and on the other, individuals would be doing their laundry on a washboard.

Below is a brief video that provides an overview of the ride.

Needless to say, the tour exceeded all of my expectations.  There was equal time spent on and off the motorcycle, which allowed for a more up-close view of Shanghai.  We were able to see a Chinese Wedding (which uses more fireworks than July 4^th in Manhattan), street food (no digestive symptoms yet), and experience the traffic of Shanghai up close (thank Heavens Saturday AM traffic is light). 

Oh, one more thing.  Having simply survived hours in Shanghai traffic, I feel like I have a new lease on life and have made an important decision.  Effective immediately, I am selling everything I own and buying a motorcycle to tour Asia…don’t try to talk me out of it.