Scooting Around Shanghai

Life moves faster than you’d think in an old city like Shanghai.  This city of 18+ million people seems to always be on the go—night and day.  I had read that we’d see quite a few bicycles on the streets of Shanghai…and we have.  We also expected to see lots and lots of bicycle riders—young and old.  What’s been surprising is the plethora of motor scooters that fill the streets.  The riders seem to be on a mission more so than any other Chinese—except maybe the taxi drivers who always seem to be honking their way to a destination.  On the sidewalks here, here are mini-parking lots for bikes and scooters where you’d pay a parking fee, just like in an auto parking lot.  Aboard the scooters—men, women, teenagers, the middle aged and even the elderly.  Sometimes, you’ll see a scooter rider wearing a surgical mask to protect themselves from the air pollution.