新金桥路 / Xīn Jīn Qiáo Lù / New Golden Bridge Street runs in front of the hotel. The intersection on the corner is incredibly large. Cars travel in two or three lanes in either direction and there are also lane-wide paths on either side of the roadway that are reserved for scooters, bicycles, and the occasional parked car. Traffic laws in Shanghai allow cars to make a right turn on a red light without first stopping, and scooters are not limited to driving in only one direction in the side lanes. In summary, streets are very hard to cross, particularly during rush hour.

The hotel is located right off of this intersection. Although it is not very visible from afar, the large building across the street is both visible and memorable.

The big lit-up building is a home appliances store. The lights on the outside turn on around dusk, and the background continuously changes patterns and colors; the background may depict falling leaves, then spinning wind turbines, then abstract blue movements. The red-orange accents change in intensity.

To the west, 新金桥路 turns into Biyun Road, the international district in Pudong. Many foreign company executives live here, and there are a couple of international schools (preschool, elementary, middle school). To the east, 新金桥路 turns into a more industrial area with many companies and fewer trees. The office is in this direction, as are many other big name companies: Nestlé, Coca Cola, Huawei, Sony, etc. Leica has a location right near the hotel. I’ll occasionally take the bus back from work in the evenings, and the bus rattles along as it barrels down the road. One of my coworkers told me that these streets, which are near the Coca Cola factory, are really bad because heavy company trucks use the roads every day while distributing soda to the rest of Shanghai.