It was a long fight in my bank to get an internship in a branch abroad. After I already gave up hope I got a call that I can go to Shanghai for two month in summer 2002!! You can not imagine how happy I was.
Getting a Visa for China was quite difficult.
When I arrived there I really was shocked, I never imagined how big a city can be. Weather in August is terrible, it is so humid and hot, and sometimes it is raining really badly.
After two free days I started working in Commerzbank Shanghai. I really liked my work there in credit department, my boss and most colleagues were really nice, so they invited me to play badminton with them and sometimes we went out for dinner together. They showed me the best style of food I had in China (or in my whole life??): HOTPOD. Several food (meat, fish, rice-balls, salad, spinach, tofu, shrimps, noodles and so on) is thrown into a big pod with broth. After being boiled things are sooooooo tasty, you can not imagine.
After a short time I met Lennart, a guy from Hamburg. We are still friends and still in contact. We had a good time together in Shanghai.
Shanghai was amazing. Everything was quite cheap, especially food (and it was great). It is completely different from the food you get in a chinese restaurant in Germany. So I never cooked in my flat, I always went out for lunch (sushi or chinese) and dinner.
The city has so many faces: In some parts it is so modern and futuristic (Pudong), in other parts you feel like in 19th century. People dry their food on the streets, prepare noodles and so on. And the city changes so fast. Parts of the city you visited yesterday can be completely different the next day, the wrecker´s ball rules...!
I really felt absolute safe in the city, never something bad happened to me or someone I met.
There are some things need getting used to, for example the fact that chinese people are spitting all the time everywhere. And that they do not use handkerchiefs for blowing their noses, they do it with their fingers in a sink....huuuuu.
In the beginning of September there is the moon cake festival, everywhere you get vouchers for moon cake. They are really delicious, but too sweet, so you can not eat more than one ore two...!
The only thing I really hated was the way the chinese people treat animals. If you have a heart for animals, do not visit the markets, it is not nice what you can see there. One of my favourite places in Shanghai was the fake market (I think Xiangyang market, if I remember right it was in Huai Hai Zhong Lu).
There are several things you have to see or to experience:
Go to Jin Mao Tower, it is the third highest building in the world. From 55th to 88th floor there is the Grand Hyatt Hotel. Employes of the hotel really hate when tourists like me came to enjoy the view and I was kicked out not only once. Once I was invited to the restaurant in Jin Mao Tower, food is amazing (only in Shangri La Hotel it was better).
Go to a barber. I never had so much fun at a barber. First thing I was asked if I wanted a hair cut or a massage...! When you order a hair cut, they also give you a neck-, head-, shoulder- and handmassage. They wash your hair three times. The whole procedure takes about one hour. So it came that I went every second day to barber - not for a hair cut, but for a massage.
Apropos massage: There are massage-houses where you can order a foot-massage or a body-massage. Most times the blind people become a masseur and they really do a good job. First you are asked if you want a soft, a medium or a hard massage. Do not make the same mistake like me and order a hard one....!
Visit Nanjing-Road and walk it down until you reach BUND, a really nice promenade.
Go to a chinese restaurant which offers HOTPOD, it is so tasty and really a great experience.
And there are many other good things to do, believe me, it will never be boring in Shanghai, the city never sleeps.
Shanghai Hotels
