“If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion and avoid the people, you might better stay at home.” — James Michener
While waiting to begin my cycle trek along The Ancient Tea Horse Road through western China, I’ve spent the past several mornings rolling out on my trusty Salsa Fargo to explore the side streets and back alleys of Shanghai, an ultra modern international metropolis with all the latest fashion, but also a city rich in history, still bustling with daily rituals and ways of life thousands of years old. Exploring urban areas by bicycle is an excellent means to access authentic local color in a quiet, unobtrusive way, and to delve into the unseen nooks and crannies of the regional cultural fabric, so often overlooked smart phone clad, image obsessed world of today. Exploring by bike, enables me to cover more ground in a morning than I could in days on foot. [Read more…] about The Ultimate Urban Exploration Tool