Mei Guan Xi（没关系）

At the behest of my friend to by a bicycle, I succumbbed and bought this bike last week. My only regret is that I didn’t do it sooner!

Mine is the shiny red one.

And it folds up too! Which is nice in case I get tired and can just put it in a taxi or head to the nearest subway.

I was a little worried with no gearing and the 16″ wheels, but luckily shanghai is as flat as a pancake so I haven’t missed those nicer options. The purchase ran about $80 which was just about the cheapest one they had, some of the nicer ones run up to $500-600 (20″ wheels, superlight frame, gears, disc brakes, etc).

So simply put, having a bike is a game-changer. I can’t say that I’ve missed having a car, but I do feel a renewed sense of freedom. Plus, it’s a decent way to get good exercise - when I’m not inhaling car exhaust that is.

Plus, I feel like this is also a good way to see and get to know the city better…check out some of the pics I took during my recent rides

French concession area is a good place for a nice relaxing ride

plus I found this cool old school motorcycle with a sidecar

Believe it or not, the following pictures are all from the same block

I found out the hard way that you get fined for ignoring this sign….luckily it was only 5 rmb’s.

These bike lanes make it much more pleasant to ride on the street - though in shanghai, you can’t seem to get away from people no matter what you do