Thoughts about Shanghai...

After living in Shanghai for almost 4 months now, I find Shanghai pretty fascinating.. There are things that fascinate me in a good way.. and there are some that I just find it shocking in a bad way. One thing that I learnt about China is, Never Underestimate The People Here. Even the late Osama bin Laden also said before (hubby told me about this), 'U can offend any countries in the world, but never offend China'. That shows how powerful China is. And Shanghai, although not the capital of China, is a very powerful and growing rapidly city. So here are my thoughts...

- The streets of Shanghai... are mainly filthy. There's human spits, dog/human pee, dog poo and rubbish on almost all the streets in Shanghai, especially housing areas. Sometimes I feel like wanna puke just walking on the streets. The horrible odour... The older generation are mainly the ones incharged of spitting on the streets. Its just their daily habit or perhaps their way of claiming territory.

- Online Shopping. My new 'best friend' is called Taobao.com. They have everything under the sky. Use your imagination, use your creativy. U can find the usual clothes/bags/shoes and also food stuff. From olive oil to fresh meat to imported goods to fresh cooked food, vacum packed. Oh, u can even get ADULT-Y stuff like blow up dolls, cos-play costumes etc! All in a relatively cheap price. They even have branded goods from LV bags to Cartier Watches to so called very good quality AA grade immitations. As I said, anything u want, just type and search! And Voila... it will arrive at your doorstep 1-5 days later.. Due to its competitive nature, many sellers will provide 7-days return policy/ free delivery/money back guarantee and other marketing strategies to attract new customers and to maintain current customers. I can say, its pretty safe.

- The loudness of the people. Maybe its because of their history backgroud or so. But most of the Chinese here speak REALLY LOUD. This is something I still find fascinating (or maybe more of shocking) and still not understand why on earth they have to scream and shout at each other when they can just talk. Most of the times, when i thought they are fighting, they are actually just friends talking about life. When they speak the Shanghai language, its even worse. Partly because I dont understand 99% of what they are saying, I always feel that they are picking a fight with each other.

- The food. Being a chinese, I love chinese food. But most of the local restaurants here, serve very very OILY food. I went and check in the supermarkets, the cooking oils are not that cheap. Still dont understand why everything has to be SO OILY. The Chinese here loves brinjals (eggplant), tomatoes and also potatoes. U can find it ANYWHERE! oh, u can also find unusual meat products in many restaurants here that U wont find it common in other countries like dog meat, rabbit meat and also turtle meat. Most of the restaurants here are not very clean either but its cheap. Not into Chinese food? U can find Western, Malaysian, Vietnamese, Indian, Japanese, Thai food around shopping districts which will cost u alot more than the local restaurants. As long its not China Chinese, it will be expensive.

- Traffic lights. The traffic lights here are mainly redundant.. nobody obeys the red or green light.. Motorist, drivers, walkers.. especially walkers.. After staying in Singapore (which police can saman u for disobeying the traffic law) for 2 years.. its really really hard to adjust. The drivers and motorist will HONK till the cow comes home, and the walkers will just walk as they please like they own the streeet.

- The price of the houses. Theres alot of apartments/condominiums/flats around Shanghai and the price is just ridiculous. A normal 3 room apartments at the city, can enable u to buy a double story house back in Malaysia. Shanghai is just over-crowded and properties are just high in demand. Our rental for 1-bedroom apartment a month is actually the amount we can pay every month as installments for a house in Malaysia. And of course, i really thing Shanghai-neses are pretty rich people.

- The weather. Maybe i'm not used to the 4 seasons yet. But the weather here is really unpredictable. It can be 35 degress celsius yesterday and 20 degrees today. I have to check the weather forecast everyday to ensure that i wear the right clothes. Kindda miss Malaysia's hot n sunny weather.

No where is perfect. Every country has its own advantages and disadvantages. China is a very powerful country in terms of the amount of land they have and also the amount of humans they have. If only Shanghai could be slightly cleaner... then i think, i can really enjoy this place. Day and night, when I walk outside, I have to look at the floor to ensure that I wont step on anything disgusting. Just hope I WONT step on fresh dog/cat/human (human least likely, but never say nevery) poo someday...

p/s: One more week to the place where I belong.... weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee............. wish i'm not travelling alone though...