Vegetarians and squeamish readers of this blog should once again avert their eyes.
Here in Asia we live by one motto: never buy a dead chicken. The result is that live chickens get moved around on the backs of trucks, trikes, scooters and bicycles. These guys are headed for the market beyond that bridge at the end of the road and that chicken on the top knows it. Hear him make a last request for a blindfold - or was that a Double Happiness cigarette?

Midnight at Chinese New Year on The Crash Test Dummy’s street in Shanghai. It’s actually a clear night - all that haze is the smoke of tens of thousands of fireworks drifting across the city. Incredibly Wingman actually slept through all this.

Chinese New Year is just around the corner and the build up to the big bang on saturday night has begun as people just can’t wait to make a noise.
The first set of firecrackers goes off unseen down a side alley but the second lot was right by our ear. That lady in the red coat wasn’t too pleased, I can tell you.

This large chinese character painted on a building near our house is a common sight in all Chinese cities but especially in the fast changing ones in the east of the country. It means “take apart” and roughly translates here as “due for demolition”. There goes the neighbourhood - literally. The local fruit stall seems to be holding out for now. We’ll see how long she lasts.

Nobody misses a good drying day in Shanghai. In winter, clothes are dried, bedding is aired - and foodstuffs are cured. Spot the row of sausages drying above the washing. Harder to spot is the bundle of ducks hanging by the lamppost. Cycling around I also see fish, beef and pork swinging gently in the pollution.

As the traffic here worsens, concerned parents find new ways to protect their kids on the backs of their bikes.
This man clearly gets Discovery Channel and has built a Mythbusters-style blast screen to protect other road users in case his child explodes.
Adam and Jamie would be proud.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeTn-0fOStU]