First Impressions

It's been a few days since I arrived in Shanghai, and I must say I am quite impressed. The city is clean, the air is relatively unpolluted, and the weather is wonderful (if you like the cold). I've already learned a few things, so in attempt to share three of my new-found pearls of wisdom, here you go.

1. Traffic rules don't exist. At all. Okay, they probably do, but no one particularly follows them. Green means go, and so do yellow and red. Especially red. (wait, what?). You can turn right AND left on red depending on the intersection, so yay for one more thing to look out for when crossing the street. Speaking of crossing the street, even if the little green walk man is telling you it's safe to cross the street, it's probably not. Because like I said, no one ever stops. Also, lanes don't exist. The white dashes may be painted on the street, but who cares about that, right? Just find enough space for your car to fit and you're golden. So, motto of this story: look both ways before crossing the street.

2. Haggle, haggle haggle. I wouldn't suggest doing this in a department store or other similar locations, but get ready to bargain in the markets. A general rule is that you can item for about 10%-20% of the original asking price. If someone tells you a tea set is 800RMB (~$130), you can probably get them to sell it to you for 80RMB (~$15). That extra $115 you saved will probably buy you a million more items. Okay, maybe not a million, but a lot. A lot of times, just by walking away after acting interested, the shop keeper will chase you down and give you the item for the price you wanted, if not cheaper. Also, some shops are just hellbent on ripping off foreigners that don't know any better, so if need be, be prepared to walk away if the item you want won't sell for the price you want. Chances are, you can find the same/a similar item for cheaper at another market.

3. Take public transportation. Taxis are expensive. Unfortunately in Shanghai, the metro is not 24/7, so if you're going out for the night you'll have no choice (unless you're in walking distance of your destination). But otherwise, take the metro or a bus. It costs about 3RMB (45 US cents) for most trips on the subway. You'll probably pay 10 times as much for taxi fare.

If anyone else has travel tips, please feel free to share!