Upon my arrival in Shanghai, I was asked if I was experiencing any form of culture shock…
…to which my response was “no, Shanghai is just like an American City”. It’s true, Shanghai’s ambience of large upscale skyscrapers, modern day highways, and fast paced society is more reminiscent of America than most European cities.
So, I began my comparison…
Shanghai reminds me of an American City except:
For the constant sound of car horns
Pedestrians don’t have the right away, cars will often go through traffic lights
Taxis are much cheaper
The lack of other ethnicities
Motorbikes are allowed on the sidewalks and everywhere else
Driving here would be my worst nightmare
No one understands what I am saying
I don’t understand what anyone is saying
Crossing the road is like being on the front lines of war
A motorbike is like a small cargo ship, and can carry mass amounts of water coolers, packages,etc.
Things can be displayed on the streets without being stolen
The air either smells like tea or stinky tofu (yes stinky tofu is a thing)
And on most days the clouds are not visible due to the pollution
Everything is fluorescent
And there are way more selfie sticks
The Chinese food is a lot different
There are less homeless people
The street food consists of spiraled hotdogs and half of a watermelon on a stick
Instead of one observatory deck, there are many, and an endless amount of rooftop bars
There are public dance parties…. for exercise
There are no public performances
I now want to quit my job and become a Chinese Acrobat
And buy a pottery wheel
Cabs have a weird L shaped apparatus surrounding the driver instead of a partition
The service is pretty lousy
The traffic is out of this world.. and makes my commute look like a piece of cake.
The amount of apartment buildings is astounding.. and most look exactly the same.
The poor areas and rich areas are oddly intertwined, little shacks overshadowed by million dollar sky scrapers
The balconies are covered in clothes and clothing lines.
The amount of people is compatible to standing in Times Square, but everywhere you go.
You can eat noodles for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
I can ‘t use Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Gmail, or any other social media platform
Everyone uses WeChat.
People here are a lot more fashionable. If you want to be fashionable, wear a dress that you feel is uncomfortably short and then hike it up about 3 more inches.
The internet speed is making me question my insanity.
What did you notice in Shanghai that was different?
