Some guy in Shanghai shoved a mangled hand in my face while I was sitting on a bench and asked for money.
A skinny kid opened my taxi door in Suzhou and put a cup in my face and shouted money. He wouldn’t leave me alone as I tried to pay the driver so I had to punch him in the stomach to get him off my lap.
The backroads of Shanghai consists of dirty streets, dirty water, dirty clothes hanging on electrical wires, and run down shacks.
It’s hard to describe poverty. It’s hard to take pictures without all the locals looking at you like the rich Western dick who’s fascinated by their impoverished state.
I suspect I’ll see much more of it in India.
Oh man, you’re absolutely right. Shanghai is nothing compared to India. Even some of my most compassionate, homeless-volunteering friends have said that the poverty in India was too much for them.