stlplace

I found the new Google China blog a bit interesting. Especially the article about Valentines day.

On my way out of office, about 6:15 PM, I saw a flower delivery guy asking “how do I find this girl named…, is this Kerry center?” It seems to me this guy will have little chance to get the roses delivered. On the metro and the streets, I saw many guys and girls holding flowers. I passed by a few popular places, people already lined up for the Valentine’s dinner.

A few years ago I was trying to find a place to eat dinner in Valentine’s day in St. Louis, I found most restaurants were filled up. But this time in Shanghai I can feel the atmosphere is more intense. Although I did not receive any roses or chocolate, I can smell it on the street.

By the way, the price of roses went up sharply for the Valentine’s day. I heard a red rose used to cost RMB 3 went up to RMB 10 today. And a guy bought some 999 roses for RMB 35,000 for his girlfriend/wife.

But again, if true love can be bought by money, I bet a lot people will be glad to buy it.

Pudong 浦东 is well-known these days because it stands for the development of new Shanghai. I remember in 1980s there is a saying in Shanghai: 宁要浦西一张床，不要浦东一间房. Translated in English, it says people would rather want a bed in Pu Xi than a room in Pudong. Not any more. From what I heard from my friends and what I saw, Pudong has much more open spaces, wider roads and side walk, more green, and fewer people. Basically, it’s more like the States; while Pu Xi is much more crowded. Lu Jia Zui 陆家嘴, which is opposite to the Waitan(Bund) on the Pu Xi, is now the financial center of Shanghai. There are many skyscrapers. The view from the Bing Jiang Road 滨江大道 is also fantastic. The new airport, Pudong International (PVG), is also at Pudong near the East Sea. I have some old and new friends live in Pudong happily these days. I am thinking, if I come back to Shanghai, I will pick Pudong too. Yes I know Pu Xi has many more fun places, such as bars, restaurants, and shopping places. But I can trade all these for more spaces.

I will be going home tomorrow. To be more precise, I will go to my parents home at Ningbo this weekend. Since twelve I left my home for middle school, I am used to move. From Zhenghai, to Wuhan, to Shanghai, eventually to Missouri (Rolla, St. Louis). Sometimes I don’t know where is my home. Since graduating from college I spent very little time at Ningbo because of work or school. I believe my parents really like to have me at home more but I had to admit I am not a good child. I remembered when I was in college at Wuhan, at one Winter break I told them I did not want to go back because I did not want to take the pain to stand in the railcar for 20 hours. My mom, who never wrote to me, wrote a heart-warming letter to persuade me to come back. I had no choice but to listen to her plea.

On the other hand, although I bought a condo in St. Louis last year, and I have lived in STL for more than 5 years, I still don’t know whether I should call STL my home. In my mind a home is more than a physical place, it should have some emotional attachment.

Today I bought the bus ticket from Shanghai to Beilun, it will be a 4 hours bus trip. Yes I am still confused about where is my home, but I hope my home-coming can make my parents and family members happy…

I am not a big fan of Starbucks coffee. I admire it as a company and its business is doing well in the US and internationally. I was a bit surprised last summer when I saw a Starbucks shop inside the Forbidden City (Beijing). This time as I spent more time in Shanghai I found Starbucks and coffee culture is really taking off in China.

I seldom have problem finding a seat in a Starbucks coffee in St. Louis; while it’s often the case in the Shopping malls in Shanghai. Besides friends sitting there for a chat, there are some people working there using laptop computer.

Another thing I noticed is the taste of Caramel Macchiato in Shanghai is different from St. Louis. It’s not as sweet as the US version. Note I am the strange Chinese guy what can enjoy the sweetness of American drink or dessert. Another thing is the Caramel does not taste and smell as good. Maybe they put too less Caramel? It seems to me just like the McDonald and KFC modify the taste of their food to suit the local market, Starbucks is doing the same.

From business point of view, “affordable luxury” is making a lot of money in China. Besides coffee and espresso, other life style related business such as restaurants, clothes, accessories and iPod are also doing well.

Not surprisingly, work and live in Shanghai is more hectic than St. Louis. I live in a hotel near Metro lines. I usually get up at 7 AM. After shower and breakfast, I hit the road at 8 AM. It took me about 45 minutes (change of Metro Line 3 to 2) to get to the office at W. Nanjing Rd. Most people get there at 9 AM. Besides lunch break, I usually get off after 6 PM. After dinner and Metro, I will get to hotel after 8 PM. This means I spend 12 hours for the work related actitivies (8 AM to 8 PM). One main reason is the time spent on the road. Another thing is the working hours (9 to 6). Note this is typical for many white collar workers in Shanghai. Combining these two factors people here will have less time for leisure and families, compared to the slower pace in St. Louis. One solution is live close to work. The rent in Shanghai is decent considering the sky high housing price. I don’t know if we can do anything about the working load/hour.

There are many chain restaurants in Shanghai these days, with all kinds of flavors. This noon I went to an Japanese restaurant with my old friend at Lu Jia Zhui (the financial district in Pudong). I noticed that restaurant has a store in my current office building too. I don’t have problems with Japanese food. But it’s the first time I saw yellow curry in the noodle, which I don’t like. But I can not complain it to my friend because he treated me for the lunch. The other problem is there are not much food except the noodle. A bit rice and salad. I felt hungry at 4:30 PM and went to the “Dun Huang” for “Lan Zhou La Mian”, it’s much cheaper than the Japanese food (RMB 8 vs. RMB 40). But it’s much filling.

This made me thinking about the cost, the pricing, and the business model of different restaurants. The price of those chain restaurant is high because they got better location (higher rent), higher marketing cost, etc. From consumer point of view, I would go to the other kind of restaurant because I got real Chinese food for less money.

Just as I felt pretty good about working & living in Shanghai, I lost my digital camera on a taxi. See, sometimes I can not feel too good about myself. It’s mostly my fault. I put the camera in my coat pocket because I took pictures whenever I saw something interesting. It’s very easy for the camera to slide out of the pocket.

I took about 100 to 200 pictures in Shanghai: from subway to shopping malls. I was amazed to see the penetration of luxury brands in China. I saw “Burberry” in 3 places in Nanjing Rd; in St. Louis there is a small counter in Plaza Frontenac. I remember one summer I saw a leather coat on sale at Chicago Burberry store, but I hasitated a while and went to another store. When I came back, the store was already closed (Sunday evening the store closed at 6PM). That’s one reason I remember the Burberry brand.

Losing a new camera certainlly is not a happy thing. I did manage to call the taxi company right after the loss, I am not optimistic about the outcome. Usually I take another look at the seat before leaving taxi. But today I did not. I did not take the receipt, which makes the investigation more difficult.

I will try to keep all the wonderful things about Shanghai in my memory.