This city is PRICELESS...the things we see!

 Ok, lately we have been just going on a few road trips to near by towns that Eric goes to for work.  This is a lot of fun because you get to see some of the country side and just get out of the city!  We have seriously been laughing our butts off because of some of the things we see!

Exhibit A:
So as we were driving down the road one night we saw something AMAZING!   Ok, so as we were driving at night, in the dark, way up ahead I could see something so I said, "Eric, I think there is a semi up ahead...we are coming up on it fast...be careful I think it is stopped on the road!"  Eric says, "oh my, that semi is VERY overloaded...what, WHAT???" And this is what we saw!!!!

Yup, two guys, TOTALLY loaded down with styrofoam!  It was loaded on one of those motorcycle carts!  I thought it was a semi, Eric thought it was an overload semi because of how tall it was!  We had to pull over to the side of the road not only because we were laughing so hard, but because we HAD to get a picture!  Oh the funny things you see here!
 
This is the actual picture of the same motorcycle cart, only it does not have a load on it!  These people are crazy smart in how they load their carts!  So the one above had it packed so high that it went OVER their heads!  CRAZY!  IT hung over in all directions!  Remember, we thought it was an overloaded semi from a distance because it was so high and long!

Exhibit B:
On our way to church on Sunday, we always take the same route and there is an infamous spot that we always see people peeing along the road.  Well today, an older gentleman, about upper 50's was relieving himself not only along the road...an incredibly busy road...behind a bus stop...but in a huge landscape of beautiful flowers!!  C'mon, on the FLOWERS!!!  So, as I tried to pull myself away from looking because it is still a foreign sight/concept to me...his pants proceeded to fall down to his knees!!  He NEVER FLINCHED!!!  He didn't bend down to quick grab them or anything!  He just kept going about his business!  UNREAL, RIGHT!!!  My jaw hit the floor with disbelief! I almost get mad at myself for being so shocked, but really...how can you be so free and not care about people seeing your underwear???  Still not ok with this, and I guess if I start, then I need to come back home!!!  So, Eric was laughing so hard and trying to watch that we needed to calm down, because he was trying to drive us to church, and stay in his lane! Wow!

Exhibit C:
We were visiting an "Old Town" in Qingpu this past weekend.  This is the city that Eric works in, but this is the really historic part of it, not the new commercialized part that he works in!  Anyways, I saw this little old cute couple and I had to take their picture!  As I got to thinking, this country ages you!  I know that this is what we will look like in about five years of being here!  They are cute, but I really don't want to age this quickly!

Eric with his hiked up undies and me with my gray crazy hair!  Yup, those are his undies hiked up a good 3-4 inches higher than his shorts! They are just adorable aren't they!  So happy!


Exhibit D:
So as I have said before, Chinese workers do not strap larger things on to the back of their trucks.  Here is an example of that.

This is the material that you make nuts and bolts out of.  This is not strapped down to the truck because it is very heavy material, thus it won't shift or move!  Funny how they have the back tailgate strapped shut though with small ropes!  Simply AMAZING!  Oh, and I didn't get a picture of it, but they were transporting a large excavator and it wasn't strapped down to the large flatbed that it was on either!  Once again, very heavy and it would never roll or move while in transport!

Exhibit D:
Ha, ha...ha, ha...I really can not stop laughing about this one!  I thought I had honestly seen it all, but...clearly not!  When I looked quickly I thought this car was driving down the road with it's front left tire missing!  I said, "seriously people, how do you do this!"  Once again, this is what it really was after studying it for a bit!

 A three-wheeled car!  C'mon, seriously now!  GENIOUS!!  Why not, right!!!  And just look how many people these little buggers can hold!!!  At least...six...or is that seven!  It was a lot!  It is funny, seems like the smaller the car, the more people they put inside!  Hee, hee, so funny!

 How does this thing NOT TIP OVER???  Eric said that he has seen these things a lot out in the country, but they are not aloud to drive them in Shanghai!  You think??

So, I'm sure that my brothers Cory and Mike, will soon be building one of these, because honestly...don't they look like fun!  When I saw it, I immediately thought of Michael and Stacy riding around Silver Lake in one of these jillopies (sp?)!!!   So funny!  Oh the fun that could be had in one of these, well at least a lot of laughs for sure!!

I will continue on my quest to find weird and unusual things that we see around!  Honestly, it is quite fun to go for a "Sunday" drive around the neighboring cities, you NEVER KNOW what you might see!!

OH, I almost forgot!  Eric almost wet himself today because as we were driving we saw a TRUCK!  No lie!  A real truck and it was a FORD!  Not only was it a truck (something you NEVER see here, honestly...not ONE) but it was a crew cab and it was called a Raptor or something he said!  He was drooling!  He couldn't believe his eyes!  We had to follow it for awhile and drive next to it and just stare! (Don't worry, we didn't look any different than the rest of the people here because they are always staring at us!)  Eric did wonder how many thousands and thousands of dollars this young guy had to pay to get one over here!  Later on in the day, Eric was still obviously thinking about it because he says, "Marcy, can you imagine driving in our crew cab here right now?  Honestly, I do more driving here in Shanghai everyday to get to work and to all my business meetings with suppliers and customers than I have in the US and I'm driving a teeny, tiny Honda City!  I could be driving in my crew cab!  What is wrong with this?"  I just reminded him of the gas prices he could be paying and that seemed to outweigh his cramped legs that he was complaining about!