Mr Whippy

It is always good to know that no matter how far around the world I go I can always get a 99 with a Flake and strawberry sauce..lol

I saw this icecream van on HuaiHai Road, one of Shanghai's busiest streets for shopping. MacDonalds and KFC I'd understand but I didn't think Mr Whippy was a multinational!

Bicycle! Bicycle! Bicycle!.....da da da da..da da

I want to ride my bicycle,

I want to ride my bike,
I want to ride my bicycle,
I want to ride it where I like

Any Queen fans out there? Those or you who are may recognise the lines above from one of their songs, or you may not....lol But yes this post is about the bicycle in China, well Shanghai at least.


Transport via pedal power is probably one of the most important inventions for China, and other developing countries, as it's use is so wide spread I shudder to think what the effect would be on the environment if it didn't exist. But the bicycle/tricycle isn't just used for transport as many goods are carried this way and services provided.

Bikes come in many varieties from the standard style to electric motor assisted types. Mopeds and scooters are also very popular and, unless they are old, are often run on LPG to save money and the environment. On most roads bicycles, tricycles and mopeds are catered for with lanes of their own and, although some roads (usually the busiest highways) are restricted access for bikes, often oneway roads are two way for bikes. Having your own lane doesn't stop the cars and buses from making use of it if it looks empty or you are the only bike in it!


Parking isn't a problem either, everywhere there are designated parking places for bikes and many have attendants who, for only 5 mao, will keep an eye on you bike. Often though the parking areas are simply the pavement, which makes it a bit dangerous for pedestrains.





If you have a problem with your bike it can easily be fixed at one of the many roadside kiosks. The kiosks will specialise in either bycycle or moped repairs and will even pump up your tyres for a few mao.

Bikes are used to carry almost anything, be it on two or three wheels,












and often health and saftey is not the main concern, I have seen plates of glass being carried flat on the back of a tricycle with edges exposed to cyclists flying past and even saw one guy struggling in the middle of a crossroads with a demi-john of petrol which was falling off his bicycle's panier rack!


But all said and done , you need alot of bottle to cycle on the streets of Shanghai.

New posts coming soon

Sorry for not making any new posts in the last week or so but I have been quite busy moving to a new apartment as our old one was flooded by a storm we had a week last Wednesday and we could not live there any longer, too many squatters, what with the ants and mosquitos.

Anyway, Yaning and I have found a really nice place not too far from the old apartment. It is much cleaner, will be warmer in winter and most importantly is mosquito free! (Pictures to follow) The flat is also in a good area which is full of artisan based shops and laid back bars. There was a national holiday last week so we spent it unpacking and getting ourselves sorted. There are still a couple of jobs to do to make the place nicer, like cover the inside of the kitchen cupboards with plastic to prevent dust and deter the roaches, but other than that things are in order.

Our landlord is a bit of a pain though. Trying to get him to do anything is quite hard, he had some stuff in the flat we did not want and it took a week of calls to get him to move it, plus we are not on the phone and there is legislation stating that only the owner of the house/apartment can engage a phone contract so we have to wait for him to sort that (plus wait for the usual beaurocracy to take place to make it happen) before we can have a home phone number and maybe internt access at home. We even had to get the letting agents to convince the landlord to get us connected with a home phone as he didn't want to have it done, according to him no one uses them anymore as we all have mobile phones, what he really meant was that he didn't want a bill in his name in case we skipped town!

At the moment I am using the internet access at Yaning's office to make posts and check my email so things may be happening a little slower until we get online at home, but I hope to make a few posts soon that I wanted to make over the last couple of weeks so keep checking the blog for updates.