…………GC Asia…………….

Whoa whoa whoa, hold on a minute. What is going on here? We took a flight from Bangkok to Guangzhou and had 2 hour layover. It’s a little smaller city than Shanghai - just 5 million less for total of 13 million, and we faced our first Chinese experience. Our flight to Shanghai got delayed … by 1 hour … and I felt that the people were going to strangle the airport personnel. They were pissed! Also personal space wasn’t a factor with them. You go to the bathroom, and especially for guys you should hope there is no line, because the line starts immediately after you. Couple times I gave space to people in front of me on counters or in stores like 2-3 feet and guess what – I got cut, by more than one person. I was thankful for my size in those situations, because as soon as I made an indication to those people to go back in line, they looked up, saw I am a foot taller and acted sorry and went behind me. When the plane started boarding, I thought people were afraid it will leave without them -  the line was so long and clustered. We were the last ones to get on board.

We got in Shanghai and things didn’t change much. These are not anymore the calm southeast Asian people – this was about life and death situation any minute. At least that is what it felt like. I took a cab to my hotel and it was during the day – driving is not their best skill. At one point on the two lane highway a guy from the left lane decides to cut off a car and get off the exit suddenly, people slammed on their breaks, horns, normal stuff, but the guy that was driving behind him decided to cut off too, but it was too late and he hit the left front blinker/light of the car in the right lane with his door area. He didn’t stop or get off the exit, instead he just slammed on the gas and took off and we are two cars back watching this with the cab driver. So the hit car pushes hard too and starts the chase! And we are following all this! Finally 3-4 minutes later he catches on, passes him, gets in front and slams on the breaks, both cars stop and the arguments started, by that point we were too far ahead to see if there is any physical activity but I wouldn’t be surprised.

The Pudong area where our hotel is, is generally calm and newer. Many westerners live here but still plenty of locals. You think driving in Manhattan is hard and crazy – try navigating a cart in the local supermarket! It’s not a joke and takes a lot of time to go around the store. People just don’t care about anyone and block off the tiny isles and look at similar soaps for 15 minutes. You are trying to turn around and go the other directions since there is no way for you to go forward - too bad - it’s the same the other way. So you got to wait and hope they don’t hit you too much with the carts. Pictures are uploaded. I think this is the most hectic experience I have ever had – much worse than riding a cab in New York, tuk-tuk in Bangkok or the subway in Moscow.