Scary Buses and a Hostel Mystery

As mentioned in a previous posting, traffic patterns and road rules are very unpredictable - changing moment to moment and according to situational need.  Two way roads become one way streets in an instant, sidewalks double for an extra traffic lane, signal lights at intersections hang on to the slightest hint of relevance, traffic cops blow whistles and wave in vain. Bicycles, mopeds, motorcycles, Vespas, cars, trucks, and buses all jockey for position on roads not designed for the volume of traffic they host.  Pedestrians run for their lives with their heads on a swivel, suspicious of the electronic green man trying to convince them to walk in the crosswalk.  It's a safety nightmare and an adrenaline junky dream all packed into one horn honking experience.  Today we rode a bus to Shanghai.  Our friend says, "Shung-high", so we'll go with that.  The bus ride is mainly a boring experience in an ideal world of traffic rules and such, but much more exciting in our world of transportation high-stakes adventure.  There are, of course, the usual freeway pick ups and drop offs where people enter and exit the bus on ramps, bridges, and overpasses.  I sometimes wonder where they go as they jump the guard rail and disappear into the high grass,  but I'll probably never know.  There is also, as per the norm, the usual weaving and bobbing in and out of traffic, cutting off cars, trucks, and other buses, and a great deal of horn honking.  As we approached Shanghai, I noted a large amount of construction in preparation for the World Expo coming to town this year.  There is an annoying blue "Gumby" type guy serving as mascot for the Expo, posted EVERYWHERE.  I'm sure his cartoon word bubbles say equally annoying things, but I am at least spared that  since they are written in Chinese.  With the construction comes weird traffic patterns, congestion, and what appears to be some form of driving insanity.  I'll just describe the final 5 minutes of our journey to give you a taste.  Approaching our exit, we cut across 5 or 6 lanes of traffic in about a quarter mile stretch.  There was a jam up at the exit entrance with a bicycle, moped, three cars, a truck, and our bus all trying to fit into a one lane exit and no one giving way. Squeezing down the ramp, we went around a car in the left turn lane on the right that was waiting at a red light and we turned left while the light was red.  The driver then took a swig out of a Baijiu bottle (translated white liquor), and proceeded up a one way street - the wrong way.  He then ran another red light and turned us into the bus station via the exit. He then drove against the traffic pattern in the parking area, narrowly missing 3 pedestrians.  When he finally stopped the bus, there was a collective sigh of relief.    We gathered our things, thankful to be moving about Shanghai by metro.  Our friend had made reservations at a youth hostel yesterday, so we followed the directions riding two trains and walking a short distance to the address. Leaving the busy shopping district of Nanjing Road, be travelled down a few dark streets toward our destination. It is not the friendliest part of town.  Arriving we found a sign on the door the read, "Closed for Construction".  The place was gutted with building materials strewn everywhere. There were two old guys inside who spoke a lot of Chinese and laughed a lot...at us.  After a few moments of collective brainstorming a young woman showed up offering us a hostel just around the corner. We never did figure out who our friend talked to yesterday or why she wasn't told the place was closed for renovation.  Weird. We were, however, thankful for a place to stay in the big city.