Thursday, April 28, 2005


With China's booming economy and its society looking more and more Western (looks can be deceiving), it presents many opportunities for western businesses. And, especially in heavy construction, the opportunities appear nearly endless. Which is the reason that I traveled to the site of this weekend's MotoGP round in Shanghai: to attend Asia's largest heavy equipment expo.

My journey began last November in Baltimore, first stop San Francisco, then onto Shanghai. Nearly 10,000 miles, multiple in-flight movies, lots of bottled water, a bunch of TV-dinner-looking meals, a half dozen or so music CD's (note to self: buy an iPod for the next trip), many laps within the 767 to combat loss of circulation, and about 18 flying hours later, I touched down at Shanghai's Pu Dong airport.

Quite a nice, new, modern airport terminal, with a full-on cable-suspended roof that was designed by a French architect who, incidentally, had a similar design fail (so I'm told). Which is why I wasted no time collecting my bags and making my way to a taxi.

New York has nothing on China when it comes to taxis, since cabs are an absolute necessity in Shanghai. A majority of the population cannot afford cars, motorcycles, scooters, or sometimes even bicycles. The taxis are compact cars, operated by smartly dressed, white-gloved young men who are armed with a heavily tea-stained bottle of loose tea. The interiors of the cabs are adorned with white cotton seat covers (which reminded me of someone's grandparents' living room), and come complete with a Plexiglas partition between the front and rear. Now, I'm not talking about the inch-thick bulletproof stuff used in good, old American city cabs. No, it's more like the flimsy plastic sneeze protectors that hang over your local salad bar. Posted on the Plexiglas are the obligatory "rules of the cab" documented in both Chinese, and a loose English translation. Maybe too loose because it says in English, "Drunks and mental patients must be accompanied by a responsible person to be allowed to ride in taxi". It's good to know that someone is keeping tabs on those types of people.

Although the Chinese have their streets clearly marked with a variety of signage, lane paint, traffic police, etc., it's purely for show. Once actually motoring along in the cab, I began to experience what one might consider "free driving". The taxi drivers place their left hand firmly on the steering wheel, while their right hand alternates freely between the stick shift and the horn. Now, in our country, if you blow your horn as much as they do in China, you would either wear your horn out, or get your ass kicked by some road-raging maniac. For the Chinese, blowing the horn is like them saying "excuse me, but you won't mind me cutting you off so that I may squeeze my car into a space that currently could only occupy a car the size of a Hot Wheels toy car."

Once I got past the thrill-ride experience of being in a cab in Shanghai, I finally opened my eyes and realized that the "new" Pu Dong area of Shanghai west of the Huangpu River resembles the skyline of ... where the Jetsons live. There must be a building code that stipulates that all new construction must be ultra-futuristic. At any moment, I was fully expecting to see George come buzzing by in his saucer (one hand on his controller, and the other alternating between the hyperboost lever and the horn).

I finally made it to my hotel in one piece for some much-needed horizontal rest, and I got up the next morning to explore (I had a day to goof off before the Expo began the following day). I decided to venture west across the Huangpu, to what is considered the older part of Shanghai. There are only a handful of ways to cross the river, and the one I chose was the infamous "Pedestrian Sightseeing Tunnel". A "sightseeing tunnel" you might ask? What can there possibly be to see in a tunnel? Picture Disneyland meets Willy Wonka, on acid, and you're getting close.

Once I came down from the trip, I found myself immersed in the middle of the Nanjing Road, which is where China collides head-on with capitalism. So many knock-offs: North Face jackets, Louis Vuitton purses, KFC's and McDonalds, and so little time. By walking down any of the side streets off the Nanjing Road, one could feast upon delicious regional cuisines, all for literally a few dollars (including beers!) You need some rebar? Your shoes repaired? How about some PVC pipe? Wait a minute, what about a fire hydrant? You name it, you could find it here, and all tucked into the smallest, most compact, and densely populated downtown area you could imagine.

It was here, while experiencing a massive sensory overload, that I made my nostalgic GP discovery. It was someone's home (quite likely the home of several someones, in fact), and it was adorned with window treatments depicting Michael Doohan's Rothmans-liveried Honda NSR500. Could it have been the home of one of the few Shanghai GP fans who will be attending this weekend's race? Or was it something of practicality, some discarded posters put up at a time when one was looking for a reprieve from the sun. I'd like to think the former, but in all honesty, it's hard not to believe the latter.

Here's hoping the occupants of that home get many more years of use out of old Mick.

A Face In The Crowd is a reader-written column on SuperBikePlanet.com. To submit yours, e-mail it to superbikeplanet@gmail.com