economy - National traffic jam day


When my experiences yesterday in Shanghai are an indication of what is going to happen, National Day will be national traffic jam day. Traditionally the internet slows down to a trickle, since everybody who is not on the street is likely to be online. But the streets will be gruesome.
Already yesterday two days ahead of national day, I got on my way back from a lunch with the Dutch Consul General stuck in a traffic jam. He onfortunately lives in Hongqiao and getting back in the middle of the afternoon was almost impossible. The trip took more than an hour, while fifteen minutes would have been normal. On the way we saw many other taxis, explaining why finding a taxi is so hard in Shanghai, even when it is not raining. Fortunately, some colleagues joined me in the car, there was a mobile phone, but otherwise it reminded me of my first years in Shanghai when the elevated high ways were only under construction.
Down at Yanan Road the situation looked so bad that we left the taxi and walked up to Nanjing Road, that proved to be much better. Guess that tomorrow and the rest of the holiday week will see seven worse traffic jams.
Well, have fun coming week, whatever you are doing, online or offline.