Shanghai is just like an American City Except…

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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?

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