Shanghai Hongkou Stadium, where Jia Zhen catches live football matches. (Picture courtesy of Jia Zhen).
At the same time, if you go to the local parks, which are awesome, you can just see what the locals are doing too – writing calligraphy on the floor in the park, singing traditional folk songs in opera style and dancing away. You get to see more things too. China has a lot of concert halls and historical sites. Shanghai gives me the space to explore and is very accessible to a lot of other cities in China. So if you want to go to Wuzhi, Nanjing, Fuzhou, Hangzhou, which are all very scenic tourist spots, you can just take a train and it is a very scenic and comfortable hour ride.
One enjoyable aspect of working in China is that when you get some work progress, it is really enjoyable and is worth the pain. I feel that this is what I work hard to achieve during the day.
China is an emerging market but very complex. So when you gradually figure something out and get results, then the process is very enjoyable.
What are the general living expenses like in Shanghai?
In terms of food, it is on par with Singapore. The restaurants are in the high SGD20. If you go to the supermarket, vegetables are more expensive than Singapore. I would say a packet of green leafy veggies cost SGD1 but in China it costs SGD2 even though we import a lot of veggies from China. It may be supply and demand at work. The imported goods though, are usually very expensive. A pack of cheese here costs SGD3 but in Shanghai it costs SGD6.
A litre of milk, for a local brand is SGD3 but a litre of Magnolia here is less than that in Singapore. Usually I try to drink foreign brands after the melamine scandal. And a litre of UHT milk from Australia costs SGD5 per litre. For me, living alone is affordable as I am just one person and a litre of milk still lasts me some time. But generally you would think China is cheap but Shanghai is not cheap at all. But it is manageable for me because I am living alone and on a pay that is higher than the locals.
I usually take the train to get around and that is where it becomes really affordable in Shanghai. A train ride costs RMB3, which is about SGD0.60 for an adult but if you go longer distance it is only RMB6, which is only SGD1.20.
Night view of the famous Bund from Char Bar, the rooftop bar at Shanghai’s Hotel Indigo (Picture courtesy of Jia Zhen).
How much does it cost for rental of accommodation per month (for a couple) there?
Shanghai homes are quite expensive. I would say it is slightly more expensive than Singapore’s prices. In terms of rental, on a per-month basis, if you stay somewhere that is on the outer fringes, about 40 minutes from the city centre, (not considered the prime area), that costs about RMB 7,000 per month, which is about SGD1,400 per month for a two-bedroom apartment.
In the city centre, it can go as high as SGD3,000 and above for a one-bedroom apartment.
How easy is it for you to satisfy your Singaporean food cravings there?
It’s not too difficult. There are a lot of Singaporean food places. Usually I go to this chain stall called Fushion. They sell Singaporean and Malaysian food, which is quite authentic. I eat the carrot cake, which is my favourite food there, you can’t get the Singaporean taste but it is still not too bad.
There’s also Raffles City (not too far from the city centre) in Shanghai and it’s owned by Capitaland so you see a lot of Singaporean brands there. Toastbox is also there so I can get the Kopi-C or Teh-C. It tastes almost the same but nothing still beats the home taste though.
The taste of the local food is pretty good so I would say it is about 90 per cent comparable to the versions in Singapore. (TO NEXT PAGE)
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