Our contribution to China’s much blogged Pyjama People. What could be more comfortable than an early morning ride in your jammies? The little girl on her way to kindergarden seems to be impressed as well.

Hmmm … perhaps not very international after all. We visited the 18th China International Bicycle Fair last week to see what was new in the cycle world. we went looking for something inspirational and were particularly hoping to see something from German manufacturer Veloform who make the Velotaxi.

Of the several hundred exhibitors barely twenty came from outside mainland China and Taiwan. We think the photo below might have something to do with it. If your competitors are going to copy your designs then at least make them come to you and have them pay their own airfare!

AKA the story that wouldn’t die.

While living in Hong Kong, way back in the ’90s, we wrote a short film script called The Bottle. It was filmed on a budget and a small group of people had a lot of fun making it - but at the end of the day we were never completely happy with it simply because we made all the mistakes that first-time directors make.

We recently discovered Comic Life and have re-told The Bottle as a comic book. We hope you enjoy this tale of “greed, betrayal and a really good bottle of plonk” set in the build up to Hong Kong’s handover in 1997.

They came, they rode, they bought popcorn. Its a slow day in the blogsphere when bloggers blog about each other but the boys from Bike Hugger were in town so we took them out for a ride. They admired our dairy products being delivered on bicycles and our fresh turtles in the food markets, they entertained the locals with their outlandish headgear and it was generally agreed that they weren’t in Kansas any more (sorry, Washington State and Colorado).

We love cycling in Shanghai’s former French Concession with its tree-lined streets and period architecture. Trouble is we keep bumping into roads that are one way or closed completely to bicycles.

Yes, we know, we could just ride the wrong way or on the pavement but life is easier when you can go with the flow rather than fight your way up-stream. So we’ve been putting together a map that reminds us of the easiest routes across town, especially since the Shanghai Daily proved that these days cycling is faster than a taxi.

Its a work in progress as there are parts of Puxi that we don’t know that well, especially around the Old City, so any comments from local riders will be greatly appreciated and we’ll update the map accordingly. We will keep a permanent link in the sidebar.

What the heck is happening at the Haining Rd crossing by Guoqing Rd?? This used to be an easy crossing to a useful shortcut over Suzhou Creek but while we were off our bike last year they changed the phasing of the traffic lights and just look at the result!

Bikes and pedestrians now get a nine second window to cross this six lane road BUT for eight of those seconds traffic is still using the road! Anybody know who we have to talk to to get this fixed?

We tried putting our arm in this position but it hurt. We’re going to stick to bungee straps when we need to carry a suitcase on our bike!

Despite our previous post about not buying a dead chicken in Asia, Wingman spots some while heading downtown with Madame Crash Test Dummy. Let the “irresponsible parent” e-mails begin!

Posted on imeem.com as Youtube is currently blocked in China by you-know-who beacause you-know-who did you-know-what in you-know-where.

Shanghai’s emerging middle class love their shiny new cars - 8,000 new ones appear on the city’s roads each month.
But they’ve quickly discovered they don’t love washing the dust and dirt off of them. So in Shanghai’s HID (Have It Done) culture a new cottage industry has grown up - neighbourhood car washes with several families operating in the same spot for convenience. This one outside a 1930s apartment building along Suzhou Creek is typical.

We’ve been looking at how to blog about cycling in Shanghai when your back injury won’t let you on a bike. Then we realised that in Shanghai you don’t have to be on a bike to engage with the traffic. Stay on the sidewalk and the traffic will come to you. Scooters, electric bikes, bicycles, folding bikes… they’re all there on the pavements.