KEY POINTS:
When I told a fellow journalist on a trip to Shanghai that I had bought a bike, he responded: "You did what?"
We had already experienced the life insurer's nightmare of taxi rides through the streets of this seething city on the Yangtze Delta. The 20 million increasingly wealthy inhabitants of this chaotic city use their vehicles with little apparent concern for other drivers let alone mere cyclists.
Even so, I figured the zillions of cyclists pedalling the streets of Shanghai could not all be anticipating an early death, or sudden maiming.
My Lonely Planet guide gave mixed messages about biking. On the one hand, it said: "Despite the blankets of smog, biking around Shanghai is an excellent way to get around." On the other, it noted bikes were lowest in the pecking order, behind buses, trucks, taxis, cars and scooters.
Lonely Planet also said there were few places to hire bikes (it listed none). But it said you could purchase a new bike in a supermarket for around 250 yuan ($50). That sounded like a good deal, so off I went in search of a supermarket. After hours of tramping the streets without success I had almost given up when I spied a bike shop near the antiques market on Fangbank Road West.
The owner was initially perplexed about a gweilo (round-eye) wanting to buy a bike, but we soon established a price: 200 yuan ($40) plus 10 yuan for a lock. That was cheaper than hiring a bike for one day in most countries and I planned to use mine for three .
My new blue Miss City was simple but sturdy. No gears, but complete with mud and chain guards and carrier. Shanghai is flat and I never encountered any wind, so for someone used to biking in Wellington it was easy-peasy.
With a little initial trepidation I joined the Shanghai peloton. Apart from anything else, they drive on the wrong side, but you soon just go with the flow and concern quickly gives way to pleasure.
Although I only ever saw two other gweilos on bikes, the locals paid me scant regard. The most recognition I got was a wry smile.
The thing about biking is you cover so much more ground than on foot. Yet you get the same close-quarter views, smells and feel of a city. And you do it all sitting down, so your legs don't get too weary. You can stop anywhere, lock up, and continue on foot whenever you choose.
Many of Shanghai's streets have cycle lanes and while these are shared with speeding scooters, including wonderfully silent electric scooters and mopeds, they offer a fair degree of protection.
Taxis dropping people off in the cycle lane or cars cutting through to turn are only a minor menace.
Buses are the main concern as they take no prisoners in their effort to make their destinations. Traffic lights seemed more advisory than mandatory, and lane markings reminded me of the communist adage that "man has nothing to lose but his lanes" (apologies to Karl Marx).
However the streets are extremely well signposted, in English as well as Mandarin, and also indicate direction.
Shanghai's renowned skyscrapers also help point the way.
My small hotel was beside a building with a distinctive crest, like a court jester's hat, which was relatively simple to home in on.
Despite Shanghai's size, most of the main areas of interest to the tourist can be reached surprisingly quickly: 15-30 minutes at the most.
The bike comes into its own tootling around the narrow streets of the old city, where motor vehicles are reasonably scarce and in the wonderful, quiet, leafy streets of the old French Concession area.
While aimless meandering is fun, after a while I found it better to have a plan. I used the Lonely Planet's recommended walking tours as the basis for a couple of forays into the French Concession. The peaceful lanes are lined with huge plane trees, cars are few and the old colonial architecture is fascinating.
On a bike you can easily visit the residences of former leaders Zhou Enlai or Sun Yat-sen, which, like many of the houses in the district, are magnificent homes with substantial gardens you don't readily associate with communist China.
I can't say I had any really close calls. I witnessed the results of a couple of fender-bender prangs between cars, but nothing too alarming.
On the other side of the ledger, I saw more of the city and got to know it better than most tourists would over such a short period. And I had heaps of fun.
Of course, when it was all over there was the question of what to do with my trusty Miss City.
There was a friendly porter at my hotel who had noticed my biking exploits.
I took him out to the bike, presented him with the key to the lock and he gave me a $40 smile. NZPA
Simon Louisson travelled to Shanghai courtesy of Air New Zealand
