Shanghai Smells

It is now only appropriate to accompany the Shanghai sounds with the smells. I sometimes don't know which is worse. On a hot summer's day (30 degrees celcius) down a back alley, the smell is definitely worse. Downtown and developed Shanghai is pretty clean and surprisingly green. However, again..I have to revisit those lovely back streets (the old Shanghai). They are the smell culprits! I didn't lie when I said you hear bodily functions..well you might as well hold your nose in order to stop from the disasterous whiff of X, Y, and Z you are going to encounter.

On my walk to the train station every morning, I take the "smelley" shortcut. I told my roommate that is what I named the street. She fully understood and said she normally takes that road but jumps on the back of a moto-taxi to by-pass the smell. Smart girl! The "smelley" shortcut is thankfully only a 5 minute walk to the train, but I pass by about 10 hole in the wall restaurant stalls, a shack-community, and a new construction site. So when you think about it - the 3-combo deal on one small street is never going to be a pretty picture. Sometimes I wonder why people are even eating in those small shack restaurants. Even my Chinese roommate is sensible and warned me not to stop at those places. Well, granted there is a community of 1,001 shacks then they need to eat somewhere because some don't have kitchens. I even see people washing hair and brushing teeth when I walk down that street in the morning. Enough said.