Shanghai First Impressions

oooh Shanghai is not how I expected. I was told Shanghai had already boomed, and that it was towns outside that were on the up. In myopinion, this place has a whole lot more up still to go. The sky isfar from full with skyscrapers. There are lots, but they are veryspaced out. The vast majority of buildings in town are old, and oneto two stories. They are still being pulled down and developed upon. Cars and trucks are almost all over ten years of age. Similarlybicycles look like they have lasted since ww2.

I spent 3 pounds on the maglev train from the airport - cool - bankingtrain, no wheels, 430kph top speed, 7 minute journey covering 30km.Way to go. I spent another 3 pounds on a taxi from the station tokira's apartment. Way to go. The taxi was a bit scary though -seriously bashed up car, no seatbelts, and ali G 'minicab' style of driving. bikes and people wander out aimlessly at junctions, I don'tknow how the cab driver has the confidence to go around corners ateven reasonable speeds.

Kira's apartment is in the best district of town, Jing'an. The area still looks like crud though. People hang their laundry from trees inthe street to dry them. Weird huh. But, as more of the crud ispulled down and rebuilt as 'luxury' hi-rises (still without doubleglazing no doubt), the area will begin to show it's glory. I can seewhy many expats would not be prepared to come here - quality of lifein some simple respects is really not great.

We had lunch today in 'food street'. A big bowl of chicken soupnoodles cost about 80p. Pretty good. The starbucks coffee we hadafterwards cost about 1.30 pounds. The glass of whisky I drank lastnight cost a little more than it would have in the UK - about 4 poundsfor a 12 year old glenfiddich. The trainers I bought locally (to tideme until I can go back to HK and pick up the rest of my stuff), costabout 6 pounds.

I'm not sure how I will adjust to the different model of pricing thereis here. Local products (clothing, food, accomodation) are cheap.Branded products (nike, nokia, bmw, macallans) are at London prices.But all young people here have new nokia and 3g phones.

I was somewhat shocked to find that my aunt sheena has been bringing basic foodstuffs with her from canada each time. pasta, pasta sauce,hot chocolate, coffee... apparently the stock here is stale because no-one buys it. Will I be able to accustom myself to local productsonly? With the matter of clothing I think I can safely say no. Theclothes that people buy and wear are of very poor quality. Surethey're ridiculously affordable. But the quality is akin todisposable clothing.
Kira isn't sure how long she will stay out here. Her motivations arevery different to mine. The fun lifestyle of a young person isimportant to her, and as a young lady, being single in Shanghai isn't good for her. Expats come and go, and the alure of her passport makesrelationships with locals a bad idea. For me, I'm hoping the languageand experience will make it worthwhile for me to give it a try.

I'll be meeting Capgemini, KPMG, Fujitsu and HSBC in the coming weeks here in Shanghai. And anyone else willing to talk to me... Which perhaps includes McKinsey BTO, although they say they'll only consider me for Hong Kong, at least until I can read and speak Mandarin. Not sure what to do about them.

My language course should start soon. It's quite far away, so I thinkI'm going to stay in their student accomodation whilst I'm studyingwith them full time. The pocket money Capgemini UK are giving me isgoing a long way - it covers my basic living expenses and languagecourse costs. But not whisky or wining and dining. But still, itmeans that I'm not yet eating into my savings, and so can take my timein learning some mandarin and negotiating with employers. Cheers Paul!

I have a Shanghai mobile now, feel free to call or SMS me on it - +86136 8196 1710