Rule # 57: Don't pat old men on their heads

I like riding the buses in Shanghai - as long as I can get a seat. I like riding along above the crowds and watching them going about their daily business. I don't usually nod off on the bus like so many Shanghainese do. Today was different. My seat was over a heater and it was so comfortable I went to sleep on the way home. I woke up just in time to get off at my stop but in jumping up I knocked the cap off an old man seated in front of me. My synapses weren't firing well - I picked up his cap, put it back on his head and patted his head a couple of times like he was a little kid. I think he was pretty perplexed. I hurried off the bus.