Firewalls, monitoring and the bus incident

Ah the great firewall of China, it's there to protect myself from undo harm I have been told.  Arrg, it's so frustrating not to be able to get email, post to my blog, or find information on the internet because the government is protecting me!  I have been able to (as you can see) get around it once again, but I cannot tell you how as most of the internet communication/emails/etc., are being read - perhaps even this blog since it has the word Shanghai in it.   As I am not here to stir up trouble (that's for the censors) perhaps they will just leave me and my internet connection alone.  Read away dear PRC, there isn't anything here except my musing about life in your "fabulous" country.

So onward to a new blog!

I ride the buses occasionally and find it an interesting way to get around Shanghai.....if I can get a window seat.  The ride is nice and high and I get a great view of the city.  I only use the bus system during off peak hours, 10am - 3pm as it's much too crowded at rush hour and it is not a pleasant experience.  Also the price is right .30 cents to get around town.  On this day I was heading over to an area called Hongqiao with my friend Brenda.  She said she knew which bus went from her place to Hongqiao.  Her place being a 25 minute walk from my apartment.  I enjoyed my walk and we grabbed the bus as she was told, by her good friend, was going to our destination.  The bus signs are all in Chinese and cannot be deciphered but there are a few ladies who just jump on various buses to see where they go and then report to the rest of the group.  It's not a great system but it leads to interesting experiences.

On this day our bus was involved in an accident/incident.  Our bus was in the correct lane and the car, as seen below, was trying to cut in front of the bus but undershot the mark and scraped right up against the bus.

In China the understanding is,  which ever car is bigger is at fault. Clearly, this was not our bus drivers fault.  Also I am told, any damage to the bus the bus driver is required to pay to fix it! 

 Yes, that is a police car right up along side the incident, and no he did not get out and help, he just drove away.  The bus driver was already outside arguing with the driver in the car so it was hard not to miss that there was something going on.  I suppose no one wanted the police involved and the police don't feel obligated to help out unless you ask them.......even then they are not very helpful.

Here you can see the situation.

 And as the two are arguing the cop is driving away.

 He finally gets free!

And the damage, not too bad.

I really think that the guy in the car gave up the fight after I started taking pictures.  He stopped arguing and began to figure out how to pull away without more damage.   I could be wrong, but the bus driver was smiling as I began taking pictures and while we had been waiting about 15 minutes for this to resolve, it only took another 5 minutes after the picture taking started for it to be over.  There is some sort of fear of being reported, I don't understand it but once things get documented people begin to worry.  And I was documenting away with my camera.

Finally we were back on the road and as I was looking around I realized we were near Tony's office, not in Hongqiao.  I mentioned this to Brenda and she said she was sure this bus would take us to our destination.  The bus came to it's final stop and we were on the opposite side of town.  We found out later that the bus route had changed.  We grabbed a cab and scooted to Hongqiao, we had been en route for 1 hour and 30 minutes.  Time for lunch!  As you can see by the smile on my face I am quite happy that we are going to be eating soon!

It was another fabulous meal at Amy's, I have posted about Amy's, in December, when the kids came to visit us.  Here are the remains of our meal.  I forgot to take the picture of the lovely steaming dishes as they came out, it was quite good!

It was beef and broccoli and dry stir fried green beans! After walking about and some window shopping we went to the Pearl Market.  Yes, a whole building, 3 floors, dedicated to selling pearls and jewelry.  One of my favorite places in town!  Once inside the mall we were approached by 2 couples who asked if this mall accepted US$ or credit cards.   We suggested that they would have better negotiating power and get a lower price with RMB vs US$.  We asked where they were from (Arkansas) and directed them to the ATM.  At which point they then asked us if they over paid on their taxi ride - $200.  We asked where they came from and then told them yes, the ride should have cost no more then $15.   We immediately felt sorry for these guys.  Visitors from the cruise ship with 8 hours in Shanghai and no tour guide.   We took them to our favorite shops and told them what they should pay for various things.  They were very grateful and we were happy to help them out.  

All in all an interesting day.