What Shanghai has that we don't . . . trivial edition

Snoozing, on a summer afternoon

*Shanghai is hot and steamy, with a tropical funk in the air, but vibrant and dynamic.
 * teddy bear bouquets: bouquets with tiny teddy bears bedded in ribbons, and baby's breath and pom pom     fillers, sold at florists.
* shoes that squeak loudly with each step, toddler sized.
* girl watching porn on her iPhone on the subway
*blocks and blocks of fenced-off construction filled with rubble-- urban renovation about which more later      or a new subway stop.
* miles and miles and miles of skyscrapers. An hour-long bus ride west didn't get me out of the zone. And millions and millions of people to fill them. Who look generally cheerful and optimistic. I realize this is Shanghai, and things might look different a few hundred miles west.
*cars upholstered with tapestry weaves depicting pairs of cartoon penguins making eyes at each other.
*use of lights to define the shape of the city-- outlining buildings, changing color and shape, moving, outlining highways in ethereal blue. You could light a building to make it appear a completely different shape than it is at night. Lights casting trees into new shapes, making them seem unreal. So that, even in the middle of the night, when things are relatively quiet, the city throbs with color.

Model at the Urban Planning Museum

* Though the government tramples on individuals' rights, by doing so they are able to create incredible changes in a brief time . . . the question is, will they be able to dodge the bullets of the apocalypse-- demographics, environmental issues, global economic issues that could throw their system out of whack?
* A girl on the subway with a keychain that was a sealed plastic bubble halfway filled with water and . . . a baby turtle. she was swinging it around.
*A man playing a folksong on a 12-string guitar on the subway car. It sounds like an American song until you hear the words. Even though the cars are crowded with many people standing, he manages to work his way through the cars and play, while the car is moving.
*In the subway tunnels, during the dark part of the ride, there is a series of video screens displaying ads. As we whip past, they adjust their picture at about the same speed as the train, so the pictures are synced; but if the train doesn't go the same speed, the picture starts wavering. 

*a kid toy seen in parks: Groucho Marx glasses-nose-moustaches with noisemakers that unrolled horizontally from both sides of the moustache: when blown, they give a toot and a look of amazed surprise;