What happens when crossing the crazy streets of #Shanghai. In this 50sec video I attempt to illustrate how hectic and potentially dangerous it can be to cross the busy streets of Shanghai, even when the green light is on for Pedestrians. While crossing the street, I had 3 interruptions until I reached the other side, which is completely normal here - cars don’t tend to stop when lights are green for pedestrians. The 3rd interruption was a man on a motorbike, who almost ran me over as you can see in the video, he passed so close to me when I was already mid way through crossing the street.

On a similar note, I saw two people being run over by scooters today, while they were crossing the street on a green light for Pedestrians. Neither of the two scooters stopped to help them after the hit, it was quite a sad and shocking thing to observe. The pedestrians didn’t suffer any serious injuries, but they did remain on the floor for a little while until they managed to get up again. This seems to be a common occurrence in the streets of Shanghai, which unfortunately reminds me to take even more precaution when crossing any street in the world from now on. 

These huge culture differences from European countries like Sweden for example, where cars often let pedestrians cross the street when the lights are red for them, is very interesting, as differences are so vast between human attitudes. It reassures me to think we are fortunate to have the minimal respect for pedestrians in some European countries, where this is not an everyday scene. 

Happy Valentines Day!

Rain Rain, Go away

Very rainy scenes from Shanghai’s buzzing streets over the last couple days. The rain doesn’t stop, neither does the traffic or people walking the chaotic streets. 

Same wall, different day. Today I passed by the same street where I saw the man from the post below, on Tuesday, painting. The mark from the large paper that was stuck on the wall where he was painting on, was very visible today. Waiting at the traffic light today was a tiny bit more boring, without his intriguing picture to look at.

Well I’ve never seen this before. This guy and his drawing struck me today. While waiting at a traffic light this afternoon, I saw this man painting on a big white sheet of paper, which was stuck onto a cement wall. He was drawing on the image of Jesus Christ. While his right hand was scribbling, his left arm held a sign saying ‘I’m Hungry’, (Tenho Fome) facing the cars waiting for the traffic light to turn green. After 1min or so of drawing, the man turned round to the cars’ front windows, asking for money.

I must say this is quite a novel way to ask for money in the streets of Porto. It’s a big issue not only in Porto, but the whole of Portugal.  There are lots of beggars and homeless in this city, people helping you park your car by whistling and shouting at you from a distance to a free parking space and after demanding a couple of coins.. But this ‘artistic’ approach I had never seen. I have no idea if the man did actually draw the images, but it sure impressed me and other people looking on. I was the first car in front of the traffic light so unfortunately I didn’t have time to fetch for my purse and give him some change, something I don’t usually do while stopped at traffic lights. But today I felt an urge to do so.

Meanwhile in London… today I spotted a new talent for gaining attention of street passers by.  There were many people stopping to watch this man’s courageous act, like myself. Maybe starting a new trend? Watch it for yourself! 

This weekend, I passed by this metal box on Fleminggatan, which resembles the many electrical boxes of the streets here in Stockholm. However, I was really drawn to this one due to its colorful drawings, as if someone wanted to cover-up the less attractive and mundane object, and bring it to life with a fun theme. I stopped to observe and take a picture of it. I don’t see this too often here, as there are many restrictions on public property such as heritage buildings, and where outdoor posters and advertising can be placed. So, I thought this was a really fun and non-destructive way to ‘dress-up’ these metal boxes, which are usually quite ugly looking, and usually have posters stuck to them.

I quite like this alternative! 

Driving home from a Southern paradise, to the Northern one, yesterday. Home.

A great fashion concept from some Swedes !

1982:

ONE of a TEE is a sophisticated streetwear company from Stockholm, Sweden. Founded in 2010. The unique online store lets the customers decide in which geographical area they want to be the only one wearing these tees. Claim an area for any lenght of time by subscribing, or purchase just one t-shirt. Every six weeks five new t-shirt styles are released. They share a new theme, but are separated by geographical levels.

(via About us - ONE of a TEE)

Behind the Wall - A Hyper Island project 

During the last 3 days, the streets of Södermalm in Stockholm were covered with sounds. Five students from my class of Digital Media 2012 Stockholm: Pebbles,Charlotte, Malin, Mike and Emil have successfully planned and installed a sound installation for Swedish manufacturer of headphones, (their client on a school project), JAYS. The project is called ‘Behind The Wall’. 

It consisted of 10 different locations where you could plug into a frame on the wall, and experience the thrill of 360° sound. You then had the opportunity to win a pair of JAYS headphones if you tweeted - #behindthewall - and posted a photo of you ‘plugged in’ on JAYS Facebook page. The photos below shows the experience in action, A great project that was super successful, congrats everyone !