More than three years later, coming back to China from almost any other country remains a slightly hallucinatory experience. This is true even when I return from Singapore, which is in the same time-zone, and is a same-day flight. The haze of jet-lag that accompanies a long-haul flight, such as, just for example, from Rome via a two hour layover in Frankfurt, adds a certain extra touch of delirium to the experience.

Thus, I was especially detached from reality when, three hours after arriving, I stumbled out to buy groceries to take me through the weekend. On the way back from the market I came across two women whose bicycles had collided at the intersection of Nanchang Road and Shaanxi Road. They were settling the matter of responsibility in true Shanghainese fashion: With a full-on, screaming, closed-fist melee while fifty onlookers crowded in for a better look. 

Well, I thought to myself, welcome home. Ya ain't in San Casciano any more.