Shanghai Metro - An Entire World in one Subway

Were you on the Shanghai Metro today?

I bet you were. You didn't even know it, did you?

Somedays it feels like I live in a city of 30 million people. Twenty-five million registered and a projected five million unregistered.

Most days it seems like I live in my little part of town, which is less "modern" and more "local Chinesey" that's a word, trust me. 

Today it felt like the entire planet came to downtown Shanghai!

People EVERYWHERE, ya'll!  

I should've known when it took me 20 minutes to find scooter parking at the Metro station. 

TWENTY minutes to fit a tiny scooter somewhere!? I'm well acquainted with moving other people's scooters to scooch yes, that's a word too my bike next to their's in order to make room, but it took me 20 minutes just to find bikes with enough distance apart to make space! 

I nearly drove home and walked back. Thankfully I'm far to stubborn for that nonsense.

I tried to get a better picture of a more packed subway car; then I just got arms. Thus, imagine this and smash at least 50 more humans into that sucker. Then you'll get a better idea.

How to handle the pushing culture: 

1. Know correct times to plant your feet.
• This keeps those slamming into you from moving past.
• It also prevents you from being knocked over.
• Basically, if you've never learned how to play defense in basketball, you should do so prior to visiting China.
2. Pretend you're walking on air. 
• Envisioning this helps prepare the mind for the unique experience when everyone is shoved up on all sides of you and even though you don't understand how you're moving forward.
• I call this the "magic carpet affect."
3. Know when to have your elbows in or your elbows out. Both are equally effective for getting the job done. 
• Elbows out - provides space and lets people know you're not going to budge.
• Elbows in enables you to wind through people more readily. 
• Both are phenomenal pushing tactics.
4. Carry a backpack 
• Make sure it's a backpacking type with a drawstring and a brain, not a schoolbag kind with a typical side zipper. Schoolbags must be worn on your front due to stealing, which are not as helpful. The kind with the drawstring up top and the brain that closes over the drawstring are great because they can be worn on the back. You gotta think this stuff through people! 
• Weight the backpack down. That way all you have to do is turn to the right or left and people jump out of the way!!
5. Adapt the every-person-for-themself mindset.
• You do anything you have to in order to get onto and back out of that subway car.
• Little children shouldn't be there anyway. They've gotta learn sometime.
• Grandmas are probably the ones pushing the worse. 
• Younger women need to wear better shoes. Live and learn.
• Grandpas and men are stuck on their phones or staring at you. Their loss for not being in the game.
• DO NOT LOOK and JUST MOOVVVEEEE. 

The whole point of getting out today was for the upcoming International Day at school. Sara and I thought we'd have a fun outing to the Fabric Market to get a couple things. Her mom and ayi joined us. I was thrilled! Until I quickly took note of their exhausted faces having fought crowds for hours prior to my meeting up with them. I didn't even get a picture with them it was so hectic!

As we dodged people left, right, in front, and behind us we wondered what chaotic madness we'd see inside the small five story building filled with tailors and fabric vendors.

IT WAS BLISS!

People didn't get the memo I guess. It's because you guys were here! Tourists.

Shanghainese and laowais foreigners were smart and left for the long weekend. I was supposed to be caving actually. Sadly, something happened to my eyes and I needed to get that figured out instead. It may or may not be due to potentially fake contacts a friend got for me. I didn't know they were fake, okay? I just needed contacts since mine were taken back in January. Let's not talk about it. 

I was in desperate need of some R&R anyway. This wasn't R&R in case you were wondering, but we needed a Dutch costume for school so we figured we'd be productive since I was in town!

The majority of people in the city today were from other provinces. Sara told me this because she said they weren't speaking Shanghainese. They didn't know about the Fabric Market. 

Thank goodness!  

Instead of the costume, I ordered a couple dresses! A traditional Chinese dress and a less traditional one. 

Sara's proud of my bartering skills and likes to take pictures of the process too. She beams at me when the workers tell her I'm good at bartering. I'm glad I make her proud! 

SO MANY PEOPLE! EVERYWHERE!

How do you know the weather is getting warmer in China? Men start hiking up their shirts up above their bellies and just chill like that. 

ALL the time. 

It's a thing.

Sara and her family parted ways with me after the market. They were smart and grabbed a taxi. I figured my chances of getting trampled in the subway were slim so I took the Metro. The whole being-a-head-taller-than-most-people works in my favor constantly in this culture. Less fear of being trampled being one of them! Pushing being another. 

This wee one had the right idea! I followed suit and grabbed some shut-eye after nearly falling onto some old man's lap. He was none too thrilled until I smiled at him apologetically. 

Alas, the adventure of the day was not over once I dug up my scooter. These men created a traffic jam in the scooter lane by just hopping off their bikes to chat. Thanks peeps.

Once they started moving, I kept a close eye on those nails. The last thing I wanted was to figure out how to call AAA for a scooter tire repair!