Shanghai

Several weeks ago Troy had to go to Shanghai for work so Shelly went with him. When we moved over here, part of the plan was for Shelly to travel with Troy as much as possible and she is certainly doing that. To hear details of our trip read the Shanghai Story on TSPAdventures.

Shanghai is crazy!!!! We have never been to a city where the bicycles, motorcycles, cars and pedestrians were so insane in their lack of organization. Everyone felt they had the right of way whether that person was walking, riding a bike or driving a car. We would be in a taxi and asking ourselves “Why are we not getting hit, why is our driver not hitting other cars”? It’s as if they make up their own driving rules as they go and everyone’s rules are different from each other!

The other thing about Shanghai we didn’t like is everyone spits! Doesn’t matter how young or old they are. If they’re a teenager dressed in blue jeans or a business man in a three piece suit! They all spit. They also fight. Not fist fight, but they have yelling matches that attract large groups of people. It was times like these that we wish we spoke Mandarin so we knew what the fight was over. People were even fighting in the airport when we were leaving!

They also freely pee on the side of the highway! As we’re leaving the airport, there was a man dressed in a suit peeing next to his car alongside the road. There were several instances we saw that happen.

The taxi had posted a sign that stated what types of people were not allowed in the cab. Evidently schizophrenics and drunkards can’t ride in the taxi without a guardian!

In HK, signs are in English, such as street and store signs. For the most part people in HK speak some English. In Shanghai, there are almost no signs in English and people don’t speak it at all. We would be looking for a restaurant and have no idea what to look for because all the signs were in Chinese. It could bite us on the ass and we would have no idea what bit us! The only way we found a restaurant is by the guy standing on the street with a menu.

For Shelly, the first impression was that it was a dirty city. Not just with trash, but with the spitting and peeing. That’s just gross. Troy is getting a little more used to it which is good because he will be doing a lot of business there. We met several people that live there that absolutely love it! We both think it would be a difficult city to get used to.

We also did do some fun things! So don't forget to read Shanghai Story!