On the Road in China: Pedestrians in pyjamas 

Source: ONE Sport

I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I thought it must have been the jet lag.

A few hours after stepping off my direct Air New Zealand flight from Auckland, I was wandering the streets outside my hotel.

It was Saturday lunchtime with the usual bustle of activity - workers, shoppers, wanderers and a man riding his motorbike in pyjamas.

And this was not your classic 'getting caught at the letterbox in the dressing gown' scenario - this was downtown Shanghai.

Our friend was being reprimanded by a police officer - was it a traffic misdemeanour or a crime of fashion?

There was nothing plain about these PJ's either.

White silk, with elaborate green patterns and all the trimmings, set off by some fetching brown slippers. And don't leave bed without those ankle socks.

This was surely just a one off - until the next day when we saw another dude, perhaps in his forties, strolling the sidewalk in the latest bed wear fashion.

This had to be investigated - though carefully (no undercover jokes please).

A friend explained that over time the citizens of Shanghai have been used to living in very communal situations with a lot of people at close quarters.

Having been accustomed to seeing each other in their nightwear, the suburb then just becomes an extension of these accommodation arrangements.

It is slightly different though, one would have thought, when your neighbourhood is downtown Shanghai.

Wednesday's events put the icing on the cake when I was standing beside a woman, on a four lane highway, hailing a taxi in the clothing she had slept in.

A friend assures me that this is not a sight you will see anywhere else in China.

I promised her I would be checking.

tvnz.co.nz's Michael Burgess is in China courtesy of the Asia New Zealand foundation and travelled there with Air New Zealand. He is aiming to investigate the impact and legacy of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and will be writing about the sights and sounds of China along the way.