1. Having a bilingual driver is the best thing ever. Especially someone we all get along with.
2. You should avoid wearing flip flops or sandals at all cost. It is dirty here. And majority of the bathroom floors are wet so wearing sandals and wet floors are NOT the best combination.
3. Shanghainese food is sweet. I’ve been trying out so many (10 so far) sausages since the boys love to eat them. All of them were sweet or sweet with spices. Can’t find my good ol’ Jimmy Dean sausage anywhere here.
4. The pastries aren’t that sweet. Go figure. I think the pastry chefs and the Shanghainese chefs need to talk this one out.
5. Low and behold, here, my friends, is a squatty potty…
And I’m absolutely terrified of a boy asking to go #2.
6. Toilet paper is on the OUTSIDE of the stalls. Apparently they don’t want you to steal it, so they put it on the outside. So ladies, don’t forget your toilet paper. Oh and don’t forget your soap since it’s 50/50 on whether it’ll be in the bathroom.
7. There aren’t any garbage trucks. What they have are these…
8. You think you have to deal with a lot of traffic? Shanghai traffic has you beat. The traffic here is bad, but add scooters AND pedestrians to the mix. And the scooters and the pedestrians think they have the right of way.
9. There is ALWAYS construction going on. Not like a small building. But HUGE 20 story buildings.
10. Things are NOT maintained here. AT ALL. If a building is 10 years old, that’s considered old. After looking at so many apartments, I’ve noticed a trend. The inside of apartments are outdated and not well maintained. For example, we noticed that kitchen doors were practically falling off, wall paper was peeling off, water stains on the ceilings and a mildew scent in the bathrooms. And these apartments were not cheap and not very old.
11. There are no lines to buy things at the markets. Whoever is the loudest and the most straight forward wins. Survival of the fittest! Or the most obnoxious.
12. Restaurants are new to me here too. Since there is absolutely NO tipping here, the servers don’t give a damn. You practically have to wave them down to order, for any issues AND for your bill.
13. Mandarin is a difficult language to learn. Period.
14. There are a crap load of people here. Combine that with tourist spots, you’ll feel like a needle in a haystack. We recently visited E Nanjing Road and the Yuyuan Gardens and I seriously had to fight people to get within 5 feet. A lot of people.
15. I’m totally not a fan of cucumber lays.
16. The food here is A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. I honestly thought I would lose weight here, but everything is so good. You can find anything here – Western, Vietnamese, Indian, Japanese, Thai, Italian, you name it. Gotta put my running shoes back on!
17. The basic McDonald items tastes like the McDonalds in the US. Score.
18. Western food here is EXPENSIVE. Never did I think I’d be paying 10 dollars for a box of honey bunches of oats. I’d use to stalk the Publix (grocery store) app to see what was BOGO. Gotta find a way to put weight back on these boys!
19. I have an app for the air pollution in Shanghai. Anything over 250 and we are locked indoors in front of our air purifiers.
20. There is so much here I still need to explore. Not enough time in the day!!!
Look how happy the boys are with their McDonald’s. These are great, thanks for sharing. Miss you!