Dear my friends,
Shanghai Literally means “above sea” – no wonder it has so much to offer as
it is the city that never sleeps – exhilarating for those who seek an
active lifestyle. To facilitate its crucial function as a gateway to
China , it's integrated logistic and transportation systems manifestly
reflect this main heart of activities. Easy and excellent accessibility
by all modes of transportation, namely road, air, sea and rails is
crucial. Not withstanding the fact that it has a super duper public
transportation system, it also has clean streets and surprisingly little
air pollution which is clearly in contrast to other major cities. The
city is also linked with thousands of bus lines apart from the
Shanghai Metro (subway) which has four lines at present. All these
facilities are made available for them to fuel demand of a highly
educated and modernized workforce. Such infrastructures are
crucially required to facilitate the movement of the labour forces
domestically as well as internationally. Not surprisingly to note the world first of its kind, maglev railway
was erected there, from Shanghai’s Long Yang Road subway
station to Pudong International Airport. It takes only 7 minutes
to travel a 30 km journey with its maximum speed of 431 km/h.
Such an advanced and sophisticated transportation mode is
necessary in view of its huge population coupled with its
attraction as a favorite tourist destination. This city also has two airports; namely Pudong International
airport, caters for both domestic and international flights, served
as one of the most important hubs in China. Whereas Hongqiao
Airport is mainly used for domestic flight purposes. To supplement its function as the gateway to China, numerous
elevated roads are also added, apart from the three railways
intersections in this grand city. You may find these elevated
roads appear in expressway-like road conditions (direction
separated lanes). These bridges/multi level highways in the centre of this great
city, featuring the Chinese character “well”, link up the flow of
traffic from every direction. This zig-zag crossing afloat and
under the elevated highways truly reflected the glory of their
local architectural designs. If you were traveling at high speed,
you may feel like traveling on a roller coaster. Tunnels and
bridges cleverly creep in to link up certain areas such as Puxi
to Pudong. Everywhere you find big crowds of people, truly reflects its
real success as a tourists destination. Normally you may also
find parades of buses bring in and out thousands of visitors,
local and foreign, to and fro this grand city. As such, parking
problem becomes a norm here. To overcome this problem, the
drivers (locally called “Shi fu” or master) of all these tourist
coaches usually stopped their vehicles at the road side of the
main destination to drop their valued passengers. Thereafter,
they have to drive to a destined parking area, which is a walking
distance away from these tourist spots. What will happen if more
and more people, whom majority at present are still using
bicycles and scooters as their main mean of transportation,
upgrade to motor cars. Although it has well equipped with all these sophisticated
transportation infrastructure, ironically we find some of their traffic
rules are not in harmony with the international traffic laws.
Pedestrians who are used to normal traffic rules, usually have to
ensure that both sides of the traffic where two lanes of flowing
directly opposite to each other, are clear before crossing, they
have to be extra cautious especially when crossing the road.
Pedestrians are legally obliged to give way to the motorists
as the latter are legally obliged to slow down their vehicle,
but not obliged to stop even when approaching a zebra-crossing
– contradictory to the normal traffic rules. I was told that the
local authority is looking into the matter seriously. I guess it
is due to their own uniqueness where pedestrians and cyclists
at one time form the majority far beyond when compared to
motorists. That may be the reason why they think it is more
appropriate to shift the legal burden to pedestrians, rather than
the motorists. With the present situation, the Zig-zag traffic flow
has complicated the above problem especially to the pedestrians. Being one of its tourists’ main attraction spots, Shanghai Bund, is the
classic image of Shanghai. Here, you will find huge crowds of
tourists flooding the area day and night. It is worthwhile to note the
elegant colonial architectural buildings and the new futuristic buildings
actually blend in easy harmony, separated by the famous Huangpu river,
being the main attraction. Naturally it never failed to attract visitors,
being individual or groups to snap their photos with such wonderful and
rare background of its kind. Taking a cruise along this famous river, which divide the majestic
buildings dating back to Shanghai’s grandest days and the latest
landmark area such as Oriental Pearl Towers and trade centre, you
may find some fun and excitement. Alternatively, taking such a cruise at night may prove romantic
especially for young loving couples. The effect of the neon lights
from those elegant buildings along the river, may be viewed as if it
is candle lights from mighty candle stands. Just imagine you are at
that scene, staring at the beauty of the lighting while you let other
parts of body do the talking with your sweet and lovely partner –
a real romantic and joyful sensation. The breeze blowing towards
both of you, may add more sensation to their already intimate
feeling. By snapping a photo with such a memorial and sweet
moment is worth far beyond the effort. For those who have already known of its port, being the largest in
the world as of December 2004, will not find any surprise to see
huge cargo ships frequently moving along this river. As such, taking
a photo with such unplanned cargo ship as a background would
become a norm here. This never sleeping city brings in and out hundreds of thousands of
visitors either domestic or foreign daily. Coaches forming beelines
along the bund is a normal sight to the local people. Beggars; young
and old, able and disable, are also seen trying to take advantages of
the crowds. James Oh
Founder and Group CEO | 
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