-Super intense security at the airport, no surprise. Even on the return flight, when I was just transferring planes, they processed me at immigration.
-Bullet train! It connected the airport with the city. Come on America, we can do this.
-Walked around a random neighborhood during and after the morning commute. Airports are always pretty sterile environments, so it was here that I felt like I first came face to face with the people who constitute this nation subject to the world's (or at least the US's) obsession. This surface level interaction both confirmed and broke down the image I had of life in an authoritarian state. In coverage of the economy, politics, and the environment, the media implies that Chinese people are dour an automated. So it was relieving to see people smile and act in the same quirky ways as the rest of us. Case in point: mature adults practicing diablo sticks, a trend I haven't seen since middle school on the Ocean City boardwalk. And they weren't even that good at them.
But there was something undeniably gray about Shanghai though. Maybe it was just the cold and misty weather, but even the nice new buildings gave of a very austere feeling. Perhaps this was heightened by the contrast to Bangkok, where a glittery rainbow has exploded all over every block.
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