Today's weather: High = 9 Low = 0
Sunny
I almost rang in 2013 with a nap. After getting off the airplane on the evening of the 30th, I caught a taxi home and had to be alert as the driver, quite typically, was not familiar with the roads. They usually make a beeline for the Lupu Bridge which is the most common way to reach downtown Puxi, as the vast majority of travelers are heading in the direction from the Pudong airport. But it turns out I live further south in Puxi near the Shangzhong Road Tunnel, and that is where I expect the taxis to go.
Otherwise, heading into downtown and heading back out adds money to the taxi fare and I'd be better off just using the maglev train -- which I was deliberately avoiding, as just wanted to get home in the most direct way possible, i.e. a taxi. With a bit of directing the guy, I got him back on course without adding too much to the meter, and in turn, he was impressed with my Chinese and familiarity with the streets. He discounted the taxi fare and said to call him if I needed a future ride to the airport. A nice gesture.
The next day of teaching was a writeoff, as to be expected. The holiday schedule is not pleasant, in the sense that we have to work Dec 31, get Jan 1,2,3 off, then work 8 days in a row after that. Basically, on that day of Dec 31, nothing got down and it was essentially babysitting. I could care less, but at least I got paid.
After that, a massage with two other colleagues, then a long nap. I woke up at 10pm, just in enough time to hop on the folding bicycle, stuff it in another taxi to Hengshan Lu, then attend the midnight church service. It was an excellent event of ringing in the new year, followed by a bicycle ride home at 2am. The bicycle of course was a good call due to the scarcity of cabs on New Years Eve and practically the entire city wanting one to get home.
From past experience, it's always a nightmare getting cabs on New Years Eve, and I still remember what happened 4 years ago while living in Songjiang at the time. Not a fun story, which I'd rather not repeat here. Anyways, it was much easier tonight just biking past all the madness and then suddenly, all the crowds pretty much just disappeared past the downtown area.
The subway wasn't much use, as it closes down at 11pm just like any other night. You'd hope they would run the trains late at night just once for this special event known as New Years Eve, but that is wishful thinking. The trains purposely stop running at this time in order to generate jobs and income for the taxi drivers.
Sunny
I almost rang in 2013 with a nap. After getting off the airplane on the evening of the 30th, I caught a taxi home and had to be alert as the driver, quite typically, was not familiar with the roads. They usually make a beeline for the Lupu Bridge which is the most common way to reach downtown Puxi, as the vast majority of travelers are heading in the direction from the Pudong airport. But it turns out I live further south in Puxi near the Shangzhong Road Tunnel, and that is where I expect the taxis to go.
Otherwise, heading into downtown and heading back out adds money to the taxi fare and I'd be better off just using the maglev train -- which I was deliberately avoiding, as just wanted to get home in the most direct way possible, i.e. a taxi. With a bit of directing the guy, I got him back on course without adding too much to the meter, and in turn, he was impressed with my Chinese and familiarity with the streets. He discounted the taxi fare and said to call him if I needed a future ride to the airport. A nice gesture.
The next day of teaching was a writeoff, as to be expected. The holiday schedule is not pleasant, in the sense that we have to work Dec 31, get Jan 1,2,3 off, then work 8 days in a row after that. Basically, on that day of Dec 31, nothing got down and it was essentially babysitting. I could care less, but at least I got paid.
After that, a massage with two other colleagues, then a long nap. I woke up at 10pm, just in enough time to hop on the folding bicycle, stuff it in another taxi to Hengshan Lu, then attend the midnight church service. It was an excellent event of ringing in the new year, followed by a bicycle ride home at 2am. The bicycle of course was a good call due to the scarcity of cabs on New Years Eve and practically the entire city wanting one to get home.
From past experience, it's always a nightmare getting cabs on New Years Eve, and I still remember what happened 4 years ago while living in Songjiang at the time. Not a fun story, which I'd rather not repeat here. Anyways, it was much easier tonight just biking past all the madness and then suddenly, all the crowds pretty much just disappeared past the downtown area.
The subway wasn't much use, as it closes down at 11pm just like any other night. You'd hope they would run the trains late at night just once for this special event known as New Years Eve, but that is wishful thinking. The trains purposely stop running at this time in order to generate jobs and income for the taxi drivers.
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