Quote:
Originally Posted by rsx
My Shanghai / Expo experience
- Expo was a waste of time
- Buildings were cool but that's about it
- VIP access to Canadian pavillion was cool
- Shanghai smells like garbage
- No manners, say goodbye to your personal space
- Party scene was awesome, no cover, in and outs
- Working girls drink and dance with you (if you want)
- KTV girls are by-far the best looking in Asia
- The bund
|
I just came back from Shanghai 2 days ago. You pretty much hit everything bang on. I'll just reinforce your ideas.
Expo - Why is everything spaced so far apart?! I didn't like how stupid the ticket system was. The taxi dropped me off at "supposedly" what was the front entrance, only to get denied by the extremely rude security officer screaming at me in very fast mandarin (my own ability is somewhat limited so I didn't catch a lick of what he was saying) ... but basically I wasn't allowed in. So then I had to walk a block away to find a Expo Volunteer booth where I had to talk to a chick in broken Chinese while she was using hand signals and trying to communicate with me in fail english (she kinda had a cute british accent though lol) ... after some frustrating dialogue I figured out that I had to go to a ticket booth which was THREE BLOCKS AWAY from where I was. Why would they place it so far away?!?.... so I got lost trying to find it, and when I just so happen to wander into some random empty parking lot which reminded me of the Landsdown Mall area I saw a cluster of people. So I went over there and alas I found the ticket counter!... it was $160 RMB for the day pass but if I wait until after 4pm it's only $70 RMB ... it was only 2:30pm so I didn't feel like hanging around doing squat for an hour and half so I got the day pass... and shit what a rip off!!... the Japanese Pavillion was pretty sweet, impressive architecture ... the line-up for the Chinese one was retarded ... I only spent 3 hours wandering around, pretty lame IMHO.
Yes be prepared to get slammed by random wafts of open sewage odours everywhere you go around the city, it's so gross!... sometimes it induces instant gag reflexes ... yup, pretty bad ...
Why is everyone ALWAYS yelling?!.. it's like they are standing next to each other but it seems like they just need to let the entire room know wtf they are talking about! At first I thought they were arguing but I later realized they were just talking about the weather or some shit! Oh and the spitting?!... like TOTAL wtf!? Like it's not just the "squirt cuz I smoke" spits, it's the hardcore horking-and-sucking-everything-out-of-your sinus then spewing black/green gunk kind of spits!
Clubbing was pretty sweet, I went on a Sunday and it was still packed, some pretty hot chicks too! No cover, we hopped to 3 different spots. My friend told me it is even more INSANE on Friday/Saturday, like you would literally not be able to even turn your body! They don't follow any kind of rules, so there's no Fire Hazard max capacity ... it's basically just cram as many humans into the space as possible! Nuts!
The Bund was breathtaking! Everyone that goes to Shanghai should check it out!
The traffic!... omg the drivers here are ALL CRAZY!... taking the taxi was like the ride of your life, if you so happen to get an especially hardcore driver he weaves through everything and goes into the incoming traffic lanes, dodging trucks by a nosehair, honking and screaming at everything! Everytime I catch a cab I feel that he's gonna kill a cyclist or 2. If I knew how to I really wanted to tell him to just relax and calm down, that I wasn't really in any huge rush...
I LOVE how everything is SO CHEAP!!!... where else are you going to get 2 sandwiches and a bubbletea for $1.22 cents!! Beef Noodle & Beer for $2!
We had a ballin' dinner for 13 people (Lobsters, 2 crabs, 2 huge plates of prawns, 16 abalone, sauteed clams, 2 whole chicken and tons of other stuff etc) ... with like unlimited beer (I lost count) and the total bill was like $120. No need to tip either so that's like $9 bucks each person! You can't even get a Burger King Combo with Poutine for that!
Not to mention I got a 1-hour full head + upper body massage and hair wash treatment in a pretty nice salon for $1.45!... I went back there twice haha!... there's just too many places to remember, everything was dirt cheap!