Culture 101: Shanghai's Quirkiness

Whenever I go to a different place, I really don't pay attention to the touristy sites when I take pictures. It's because I can always google these tourist places and usually already find very nice shots taken by professionals. 

Instead, I tend to focus more on the quirky things / events that make a particular place unique. So I focus my spotlight on Shanghai and the things that make it unique to other cities. They're not in particular order, so apologies if I would jump from one picture to the next. 

Without further ado... here we go! :)

Very very cute shirts. These guys work for Velvet Lounge, one of the more popular bars especially among foreigners in Shanghai. As much as it's quite cute, I would feel slightly embarrassed if I were the one wearing the shirt. But I guess if it would make my job a bit easier, I wouldn't mind. 

Mainland China has a tendency to be instinctively amusing when it comes to their English signs and where they're placed, just like this "Fire Hose" sign. I actually couldn't figure out if they painted the guy first then decided to put the sign there for kicks or the other way around. Oh well, I will never know. Cheers to ambiguity and dirty minds. Hehe. 

Check out China's version of South Park. Or maybe it's Cartman's long lost Chinese daddy and his friend? This is what the people in Shanghai watch on the buses when going home after a day of work. Even though I couldn't understand these guys, I found them quite funny. 

Didn't expect to find Sylar in Shanghai! I wonder if he's off to find Chinese mutants and snatch their powers. :)

I wasn't surprised to see TV's found at the back seats in some of the taxis in Shanghai, as a lot of cars everywhere are starting to acquire this feature. I was surprised however, with the touch screen interface of the car TV's, allowing the passenger to actually play some games while waiting to arrive in their destination. Albeit very simple, it's something very entertaining, especially when one's bored. 

 

I guess KFC had a Chinese ancestor after all. :D

Not really a fan of Doraemon , but when there's too many of them in the window shelves, they started to grow on me. I'm sure this was a head turner among Asian girls there. Asian girls have a knack for liking cute stuff compared to other cultures, which explains the design. 

Well, it helps to improvise when the weather can vary from 9 to -4 degrees. In this car's case, the owner (I'm guessing a woman... please be a woman!) decided to make he car a bit more classy and fashionable during winter time. 

  
Santa! No wonder I kept seeing "Made in China" tags in all of my Christmas presents before! You do your Christmas shopping here! Why I didn't figure out the connection before, I would never know. 

So I guess this concludes that Santa's elves are actually Chinese. :)

 
I didn't expect these taxi driver shields to still exist in the city. I guess crime is still prevalent in the city. Honestly though, I don't believe it actually helps the drivers when they get mugged. 

More ways of coping with the cold. Check out the handles in the scooter. It's quite cool how such a simple concept can be so useful and widely accepted. 

Similar to the taxi shields above, I didn't expect babies to still wear these kinds of jeans in Shanghai. Basically, baby jeans have holes at their backsides in order to take a dump easier. I used to see a lot of these in Beijing. I guess having a hole on your butt is useful to some extent. Wouldn't want to wear his jeans now though. :)

And my favorite picture, which absolutely makes sense. If you want a Manicure, you should have a Panicure as well. :) Gotta love their English. 

I will miss Shanghai. It's a kind of place where I pass by the same street everyday and still see something new.

layman