Getting around in Shanghai

Is it possible that Shanghai's weather is even warmer than Hong Kong's? Maybe it's just more humid. One step outside the door and I'm literally already breaking a sweat. And getting anywhere involves considerable walking. I'm starting to feel a little like Issa, the Japanese Haiku poet:

One bath
After another
How stupid

It's pointless. Even inside in some places the temperature is quite warm. I know because I brought my little REI compass/thermometer combo ... as warm as 85 F inside in places. (As an aside, the compass has kept me from getting lost on more than a few occasions ... highly recommended).

Sitting here in the same internet cafe, like yesterday, I keep thinking it's raining outside. Girls come in retracting their umbrellas, and each time I have the same thought: "oh no, I forgot mine." But it's protection from the sun, not rain.

I'm still trying to get around without getting in the way of bicycles, mopeds, motorcycles, three-wheeled motorized things, cars, trucks, buses, and other pedestrians. I still can't get used to the incessant beeping, buzzing, and honking of horns from those employing every mode of transportation. Well, haven't been honked at by a pedestrian ... yet.

I really don't know, but I have the sense that all the honking isn't coming out of frustration; it's just a practical way of dealing with a complex and crowded transportation system. It has the feel of a musical choreography being played out ... they're just saying: "I'm here," sort of like in the US when bicyclists say "passing on your left" when overtaking pedestrians.

That said, the street vendors and beggars (?) here are much more aggressive than in Hong Kong, where flyers are foisted on passersby but there's no physical contact. Here, I've had to stop and say more than once, "get your hands off me."

The campus area is more tranquil by comparison, and attractive even if the occasional building is a little drab. And there are lots of trees. It could be the campus of any major university in the US ... except for the statue of the Chairman at the entrance, and the traditional Chinese garden with stepped bridges, bamboo, and the little gazebo-thing in the pond (what's it called?). Leading to it is a little zig-zag bridge that is supposed to be more difficult for unfriendly beings to cross (if I remember correctly from verse by my poetry friend Tom).

I have tentative meetings set up for Monday at the School of Software Engineering, and with the Vice Dean there. I really don't know what to expect, but I should prepare a few things and gather my thoughts this weekend in addition to seeing sights. I still haven't figured out how to get to Tiantaishan ... need to finish this blog and work that angle too.