Introvert Talks - Beyond The City Lights

"Introvert Talks" is meant to be a new initiative or theme, where I myself as an introvert, just talk about reflections and thoughts about my life, or maybe share more personal stuff. :)

This is my weekly post under this "Introvert Talks" theme and let's see where it takes me and us.

Sometimes, the things that leave the deepest impressions during holidays are not the attractions we visit.

I took a break recently and travelled to Shanghai, China.

The last time I was in mainland China was in 2019, for a work trip. And the last time I was in Shanghai goes all the way back to 2010, for a study trip with the university.

Even though the skyscrapers and skyline were still as beautiful, so much has changed. Back in 2010, I recalled we still had to hail taxis on the streets, but these years, it's all through the apps. Same with ordering food in restaurants, these days, it's all scanning QR codes and ordering on our phones by ourselves, and there's no more pointing on the menu and reciting our choices to the staff. I am sure it's the same in most of the bigger cities now.

Beyond all these advancements in the technologies, I also realised the enormous amount of manpower behind the app. When I was sipping tea in one of their many tea joints, I see delivery workers rushing in and out to grab their orders because they had delivery orders to fulfil. And whenever there were delays, I could see how stressed they were. One of the days, it rained quite heavily for the whole day, and even though I was seeking shelter in between malls, these delivery workers were still rushing in their raincoats and ponchos, and on their motorcycles. Life's really tough for them.

And for the rest of the workers in the service industry, I also saw how challenging their jobs were. At tourist attractions, there were crowds and they had to manage the crowd control and answer endless queries from the public. At shops, they followed us closely to provide any service which we required (personally I don't really like it but I guess that's their form of service).

I know it probably sounds a little odd to pay attention to these things on a holiday, where most would be busy sightseeing and eating local delicacies, but there was just so many of these people (especially food delivery workers!) that I couldn't miss. And it made me reflect how fortunate I was, to be able to travel and relax on a holiday while so many of these people were working hard to make ends meet.

Of course, I still enjoyed myself as a whole, and it was nice to re-visit China and Shanghai after so many years of absence, but I was also reminded how many people in the world are working hard to have a better life for themselves and their families, and perhaps, we should be kinder and have more understanding to every fellow human being.

Ok so that's all I have, ending off with a night photo of the Shanghai skyline!