- Cardboard-thin walls, single-bedroom, single-bathroom (no tub) apartment in a crumbling dirty building looking out at your neighbor's drying red underpants can easily run you US$1-1.5mm.
- Renovation and construction noise, dust, inconvenience everywhere, all the time, 24/7/365. If the road was paved last year, let's re-pave it again this year! Anything goes to lower the unemployment rate in the harmonious society! Drilling can easily start at 6 am and go till 10 pm, and construction outside is allowed to bang 24h. The rule of thumb: if no neighbors are renovating this week, someone will next week.
- Services are cheap but shitty. Call a plumber to fix your leaking pipes and he will wrap it in some tape while chain-smoking and making a mess of your floor. Most museums are so bad it's worth to go just for the laughs. Libraries freshest books are from 90-s and maybe a few from 00-s. Nothing you can do at the bank that will take less than 1 hour, including changing the currency.
- Allegedly "the food is great", but Shanghai is a melting pot of China, and almost everything is much, much better at the origin. Shanghainese food is super sweet and greasy in a bad way. Cheap food places and street food is disappearing at an alarming rate, almost nothing is left. Food quality is below average, food service is bad. Groceries are cheap, but most cheap vegetables have no taste at all.
- The largest subway in the world, the largest bus network in the world, and still it can be extremely congested, rude and slow. E.g. when subway trains stop, the machinist exits, checks if everything is "okay", and then presses a button to open the doors..? You have to x-ray your stuff when entering the subway, most people just ignore it, but it adds another layer of stress. People stampede for seats after the doors open. The street traffic is mad, it's better a bit compared to 3-rd tier China cities, but it's still mad mad mad by any Western standard.
- The airports are dark and stinky. When you exit you're immediately attacked by "taxi, sir" touts that will scam you, all in a plain sight of a "policeman". However, Shanghai is very well connected with the rest of China by air and by bullet trains.
- Public hospitals are very efficient and cheap, but not for the faint of heart. A single doctor can process 100-150 people in the morning shift, you have 3-5 minutes and they don't remember you or anything, there is no privacy and no "care". They will fix you up and send you home. Overprescription is rampant. Also, everything is upfront: you can call an ambulance, come to the hospital and 1st thing is to pay, if you don't pay they will leave you to die in the lobby (that's why so many traffic victims end up dead: no money on them and they're unconscious so you can't ask for a relative).
- Cardboard-thin walls, single-bedroom, single-bathroom (no tub) apartment in a crumbling dirty building looking out at your neighbor's drying red underpants can easily run you US$1-1.5mm.
- Renovation and construction noise, dust, inconvenience everywhere, all the time, 24/7/365. If the road was paved last year, let's re-pave it again this year! Anything goes to lower the unemployment rate in the harmonious society! Drilling can easily start at 6 am and go till 10 pm, and construction outside is allowed to bang 24h. The rule of thumb: if no neighbors are renovating this week, someone will next week.
- Services are cheap but shitty. Call a plumber to fix your leaking pipes and he will wrap it in some tape while chain-smoking and making a mess of your floor. Most museums are so bad it's worth to go just for the laughs. Libraries freshest books are from 90-s and maybe a few from 00-s. Nothing you can do at the bank that will take less than 1 hour, including changing the currency.
- Allegedly "the food is great", but Shanghai is a melting pot of China, and almost everything is much, much better at the origin. Shanghainese food is super sweet and greasy in a bad way. Cheap food places and street food is disappearing at an alarming rate, almost nothing is left. Food quality is below average, food service is bad. Groceries are cheap, but most cheap vegetables have no taste at all.
- The largest subway in the world, the largest bus network in the world, and still it can be extremely congested, rude and slow. E.g. when subway trains stop, the machinist exits, checks if everything is "okay", and then presses a button to open the doors..? You have to x-ray your stuff when entering the subway, most people just ignore it, but it adds another layer of stress. People stampede for seats after the doors open. The street traffic is mad, it's better a bit compared to 3-rd tier China cities, but it's still mad mad mad by any Western standard.
- The airports are dark and stinky. When you exit you're immediately attacked by "taxi, sir" touts that will scam you, all in a plain sight of a "policeman". However, Shanghai is very well connected with the rest of China by air and by bullet trains.
- Public hospitals are very efficient and cheap, but not for the faint of heart. A single doctor can process 100-150 people in the morning shift, you have 3-5 minutes and they don't remember you or anything, there is no privacy and no "care". They will fix you up and send you home. Overprescription is rampant. Also, everything is upfront: you can call an ambulance, come to the hospital and 1st thing is to pay, if you don't pay they will leave you to die in the lobby (that's why so many traffic victims end up dead: no money on them and they're unconscious so you can't ask for a relative).
- Air quality in winter is extremely bad.
- No nature at all within 3-4 hours drive.