Vernon walked to work and back home again every day. It's about a thirty minute
trip, and he saw some interesting things some days.
Here's how Shanghainese trash disposal works - and furniture, produce, appliance,
and every other kind of delivery. These three-wheelers are the delivery trucks
of Shanghai.
This is the intersection of Jiang Su Lu and Dong Zhu An Bang Lu (our nearest major intersection). Vernon's commute was five minutes shorter when this light was green.
Under the big red sign is a big local market that sells vegetables, meat, fish, tofu, and miscellaneous. This is where we got a lot of our groceries.
About every 100 meters there is one of these plumbing supply places. There are some places where there are three right next to each other. This seems odd until you look up and see all the construction going on in every part of Shanghai.
Vernon usually walked down Dong Zhu An Bang Lu and then turns onto An Xi Lu, a smaller street. Here's a house along there. Nobody uses clothes dryers in Shanghai. The only one we are acquainted with is in our apartment, and after about two hours it will mostly dry two shirts. A friend compared them to a box with a hair dryer attached, which is a pretty good description.
When three-wheeled bicycles are not available for deliveries, two-wheelers have to do the job. This guy is carting several PVC pipes each about 15 feet long.
Question: After you get to work on your bicycle, what do you do with it?
Answer: You pay a bicycle attendant (see the woman in the blue jacket standing
amidts the bikes) 3 jiao (about a nickel) to watch it for you
all day.
Synopsys is on floors 14-16 of this building. On the seventh floor is a questionable but cheap cafeteria.
Buses are also a popular way to commute in Shanghai. They tend to be pretty crowded. Here's the stop closest to Synopsys.
This is a little newsstand outside Synopsys' building. Vernon bought many bottles of water (ping shui) here to avoid drinking the cooler water inside.
