My Hometown Shanghai & (Re-ment Department Store)

Today let’s go shopping together. Let’s suppose that we have arrived at this big department store in Shanghai where my hometown is. Before we start I’d like to introduce a little bit about my hometown.

Shanghai is a huge city in China, and one of the global financial centers. The population there is more than 24 million now. It is a typical modern city (like New York) and it doesn't look like any ancient traditional Chinese-style town at all. It’s one of the richest cities with best educational and medical system, as well as most job opportunities. That's why the population there is overwhelming. If a global corporation has business to do with China, it must set up a branch office in Shanghai. It's a busy and competitive place, but it’s also very fun and beautiful. When I was asked about the downtown in Shanghai, I couldn't answer that question. It’s too big to have only one downtown. It is divided into 14(maybe 15 now) big districts and each district will have one or several ‘downtowns’. You rarely see people living in a single house. People live in apartment in high rise. It has about 16 subway lines that reach most golden lanes in Shanghai. My parents live there. It takes my dad 40 minutes'drive to work if there’s no traffic jam. And it’s considered "home near work" because some people spent 4 hours go to and back from work on the way every day. It’s not easy to move like people do in the States, the house price is very high, and so is the rent. Here are some photos of life in my hometown.

The Bund: The center of the city; one of the famous landscape in Shanghai; Shanghai International Settlement; face HuangPu River

Yu Garden: Another landscape in 'Old City' of Shanghai. 

2010 Shanghai World Expo: The Shanghai World Expo was also the largest World's Fair site ever at 5.28 square km. In the picture it's building of China Pavilion.

 DimSum: People often have them as breakfast or with afternoon tea.  

Hotpot: popular Chinese restaurant style - You dip everything into the soup in the middle and eat them with sauce (there are 50 different sauces to pick). I took this picture 2 years ago when I went back visiting my families and friends. You can see the soup has two styles: Spicy or Non-spicy.  

Grocery Shopping: Places like Walmart. In the picture it shows how Chinese people buy rice. lol. 

Boba Milk Tea: You will see the Boba-Tea vendors everywhere in Shanghai. It's popular. Imagine the Starbucks in Seattle, get it?

Traffic: That's why it needs so many subway lines. I took this picture on a platform bridge near my mom's office years ago. It wasn't the peak time.

Park: The parks in Shanghai are so different from what people know in the States. It's more than a piece of grass. They all look like exhibitions to me...It's well-designed and organized. Some of them have the same scale as Disneyland. They have different themes in different seasons. They are very beautiful. You need pay for tickets most of the time but it's not expensive. 

The Department Store: We have Outlets too but they are located in suburban district. Most shopping areas people go to look like those tall buildings in the picture. Actually the left building in the photo was one of my favorite shopping malls in my hometown.

IKEA: Well, I guess IKEA looks the same all over the world? Smile...

Do I love Shanghai? Of course. 

Do I miss it? Very much. I don't know why but it suddenly reminded me so much when I was playing with this Re-ment set. When I saw this I smelled a sense of city life. But I am definitely not a shopaholic. I do spend most of my pocket money on food and toy collection though.

Will I move back? No. If one day I move back China I’ll live in a small city along the coast. I enjoy a peaceful and quiet life style instead of making more money and being a city girl. Even Orlando is too big and crowd for me. I love those small towns in Oregon. But I still love Shanghai where I grew up and met my husband.

Ok. Now Re-ment Time! This Department Store has 8 floors and 1 basement. Let's walk from top to down. 

8F: Gift. 

7F: Western Kitchenware.

6F: Asian Kitchenware

5F: Men's Floor.

4F: Ladies' Floor.

3F: Ladies' Floor.

2F: Ladies' Floor. (3 floors for woman and only 1 floor for man...TeeHee!)

1F: Cosmetics.

B1: Gourmet.

I took this photo to show the details. It has 2 flavors, can open and the little fruit can take out. They are just toy smaller than my fingernail!!  

Happy Shopping Day!!

Dear readers, I really hope this post is not too verbose. And since English is not my first language, I really appreciate your pardon my grammar mistakes. Hope you have a great week.