Shanghai Calling #2-- Gridlock

Ha! It's Friday the Thirteenth! Just wanted to put that out there. =D Hope nothing bad happens to any of you.
After a long, tedious plane ride (which I slept through most of, thankfully) and two stopovers, I have arrived in Shanghai in one piece. So far nothing remotely interesting has occurred, so if any of you wanted to hear about something cool, sorry. :( I'm still a little jet-lagged, but overall I feel okay. All we've done is visited both sides of my family and engaged in pointless conversations with them, plus wandered around aimlessly. I apologize for not posting until my 3rd day here, but privacy is hard to get here. Someone is constantly looking over my shoulder, curious about my online whereabouts. Grr...
This is my 3rd time visiting Shanghai. The 1st time, I was 6 years old and clueless about pretty much everything. The 2nd time was 2 summers ago, so I had a much better understanding of everything and got to know my family fairly well during the six weeks. This time I am only here for three weeks, so now I would like to properly explain and reflect on this "unique" city.
Shanghai is a very modern city, although that has its limits in a Third World country. The gap between the rich and poor is much greater here than in developed nations like the U.S. It's hard to feel at home here. I generally enjoy the feel of large metropolitan cities like New York City. Shanghai is China's equivalent of NYC, so I suppose it's a fair comparison.
After two visits plus my aimless wandering now, I have come to the conclusion that I like NYC better. Sorry Chinese people. It's safer, cleaner, and more alive. Both cities are heavily populated, and traffic is like a gridlock. But, Shanghai has the added problem of people on bikes and mopeds and such, which is a great hindrance to pedestrians. Traffic laws and regulations are not strictly enforced, so there's a lot of reckless driving. Secondly, NYC is way cleaner. The city is undergoing somewhat of a green movement, with the introduction of more energy-efficient taxis and such. Also, parks are managed well and provide a nice escape from the bustling city. In Shanghai however, there's a heavy stench everywhere you go, probably from the disgusting sewage and septic systems. Some places are better than others, but in general the city kinda reeks. All kinds of sporadic garbage litter the streets, and the air is so unbelievably polluted. (Don't even get me started on that problem. The air is a mess here.) Lastly, NYC is livelier. At least you can walk around without feeling nauseous. Shanghai is cool too, especially at night, but I always feel "lost in translation", so to speak.
That's all for today. I don't want to keep hogging this computer.