Crazy Taxi Driver

Some things are much different here in Shanghai than America... Such as: barganing, shopping, and... taxis. The taxi drivers here pay NO attention to speed limit. Here's some basic information you might want to know.

• Taxi Drivers are ranked in "stars" one star is the worst, and five stars are extremely rare
• Hold onto your seat. Your going to need to!
• Crashes are negotiated on the spot. If an agreement for paying can't be agreed on, the police are called to help.

My experience goes as follows: Start at the Super Brand Mall. Here comes a taxi. I wave it down. The driver doesn't really know the way, and so we're telling him where to go. The average fare to our house is 15 yuan, and so when we get there, and the meter shows 27 yuan, we're not happy. We tell him that we should only pay him 15 yuan. He gets really angry, and starts to speed back to the Jin Mao as fast as possible. We tell him to stop, and he doesn't stop. Finally, my mom pulls open the door, and out we get (of course he stopped when my mom opened up the door!). We pay him the fair, and out we go.

Hope you don't have an experience like that!

~minkster

Photo from http://www.wangjianshuo.com/personal/places/shanghai/shanghai-qiangshen.taxi-head.jpg; http://farm1.static.flickr.com/201/476815738_2fb84f9e3f.jpg?v=0

Johnny Moos

Johnny Moos is an ice cream shop that is great, and yummy, and a little taste of home. It may seem like a lot of money, but hey, it's less than the US.

• Great Milkshakes
• Great Ice cream
• Sherpas "the 'bring to you' company will deliver to you"
• Free delivery within 1k of Johnny Moos

I recommend the cookie dough milkshake, but also, if you're feeling like you want a fruit, try the mango milkshake. It tastes like mango.

On the other hand, watermelon juice is great, becuase of how it tastes. Try it (when your sure that the watermelon used is not just the street watermelon).

Finally, there's the rain. It just keeps raining, and it's good, becuase it washes away the dirt from the sidewalk... just as long as it isn't polluted. You may not want to chance walking in the sidewalk, becuase really, do you want to know what's in it?

~minkster

World Financial Center

Here in China, the world financial center is a big hit. After all, it's tall. There's a tower being built that is supposedly going to be MUCH taller! When you look up, it's hard to believe.
Anyways, because it's so tall, many people want to go up, and would go up if... if it wasn't so expensive. I have a friend who's family went up (only four people in all), and it cost 70 US dollars! Very expensive.
I might go up to myself, later, and see if the price is worth it.

Also, the shopping is always fun here, and you should see some of the things there are. These include software, as well as tailored clothes!

Besides that there's lots of rain. Lot's and Lot's and Lot's of rain. The locals say it's unusual.

Bye for now,
~minkster