EP65 【EN全英单集】 我的魔都生活，好city啊
01:06:30 Share

I never understood why because weekend is a high time for consumption right? How come people don't want to do business after 4pm? Jesus Nora You godless heathen

And I thought this pond is very beautiful, but there's not any fish in it. So I went on Ullamur and bought five koi goldfish. Did you? And they arrived in like an hour. And I just went and put them in the pond. And I was like, how can I buy goldfish off a food delivery app? I love salty eggs. Okay. What's a salty egg? Oh, salted egg. I'm going to say that. That translates pretty directly to our house.

And it's such a bizarre experience because in England, you'd never, you'd be like, Nana, I need to find a girlfriend. Can you go to a park and speak to another granddad and try and find me a girlfriend? In the heat of the day. In the heat of the day.

Hi everyone, welcome to the new episode of Nora A. Meng. 今天我们也厉害了,今天我们又是一集全英文的单集。 没有想到吧,朋友们,四六级考试又来了。 那今天呢,我们也请来两位新朋友。 Alright everybody, let's change to English. Welcome the two guests of today's episode. One more time, introduce yourself from the side. Hey everyone, I'm Simon. Hi everybody, I'm Paul, 宝宝熊。

Can you guys do a bit more introduction, Simon? We have 1,000 Simon in Shanghai alone. Yes, Simon. Hi, I'm Simon. I'm the English Simon in Shanghai. I have a beard. Now you'll know who I am. Your parents gave you that name. Yes, they did. And I've kept it. I enjoy it. Oh, yeah. Simon is a very fun person. He is a bubble tea lover. He's also a comedy lover, hobbyist.

He's also an education consultant because we had two consultants in the room. Yes, yeah. I wanted to feel the education consultant, milk tea enthusiast, and Lego enthusiast as well. Super, super. That's Simon. And how about you, Paul? I'm a food enthusiast. I am a craft enthusiast. I'm a

I was an entertainment consultant, sort of freelancer. Everybody's making fun of me because apparently that's not a real job. But it was working out for me for a while. And then now I'm doing a lot of streaming, content creation, etc. Yes, guys. If this is not, but you will notice that Paul has a very familiar sound to you. My friends call him City Girl, you know. That's his name, literally. Both cities, yeah. Both are okay. Really? Yeah.

He's a city human being. You should be already seeing him everywhere.

And Simon Simon is also a very important people because he narrated a lot of Lego movies. We repost them all the time. And a couple of awards too, maybe from the movies. Totally. Very award winning and tears attracting movies. And

And why I invited two guests of today's podcast is because today's topic, we will be talking about where to go, where to have fun, where to visit in Shanghai. And I'm from Shanghai locally. I might have a very limited perspective because I honestly think that there's nowhere else to go in Shanghai. It's a boring city because I've lived here.

But these two guests, they've been living in Shanghai for a while and they have a new perspective. So we are very welcoming and excited to listen to what they will be recommending you guys to go. And to start with, can you guys introduce to us, you know, how long have you been in Shanghai and China for? And where in China did you go, either visit or work or live there? How about you, Simon? Well, I've been in Shanghai for 11 years, only in Shanghai. Oh.

So I got here and I went, this place is great. It's a different story. I want to stay. So I got here and I arrived and I did a few years in Jinshan. And then I promoted myself to Channing. And I've been around Channing, Minghang and lived in many of the districts, many people from Shanghai, and they haven't even been to Jinshan. So I feel it's great. They probably would say you hadn't lived in Shanghai.

No, they wouldn't. But I say it would. But yeah, 11 years in Shanghai. I've always lived in Shanghai. When I first got to China, I did a lot of the tourist traveling. Because you read about China, you see China and you're like, I have to go to Beijing, Great Wall of China. I see the terracotta warriors. So I did that. Went down to Xiamen to appreciate the beaches and the weather. So...

and went to Chongqing for the super spicy food. So I've been to some of those places. And I also went up to Harbin for the Ice and Snow Festival. - Ooh. - So much fun. - So I did those things. - Wow. - A lot of the tourist things when I first got here. - That's very cool. Two question, one quickly to catch up. Can you also introduce to our audience, where are you originally from? That's number one, very important. And then the two,

Also among the cities that you've been to, not Shanghai, besides Shanghai, where would you recommend people to go as a foreigner? - Oh, right, yeah, fantastic. Well, originally I'm from England, from the Northeast of England, a place called Yorkshire. - I couldn't tell from your accent. - I thought it was from Dongbei. - Oh, yeah. - I do have that Dongbei accent. Where I'd recommend, I think everyone should go to the Ice and Snow Festival in Harbin once. - Why is that? - Because it's so beautiful, but I've never been so cold in my life.

that I still feel that I'm recovering from the cold there. I feel Chongqing is awesome if you like super spicy food. So Chongqing and Harbin's Ice and Snow Festival would be two that I would say. - Can I ask a follow up question about this? When you were at the Ice and Snow Festival, did they play the same song on repeat the whole time you were there? - Yes.

What? Yes. Okay, so that is a thing then. How did you know? Because I've been there as well, and I kept thinking, this is the same song. Because we were there for six hours. One song? They played this same song. One song. Repeat. Over and over again. What? No other songs. Just one. Could you sing it for us now? No, it's too long. But I would recognize it if I heard it. Because I heard it for six hours. Okay.

Wow. Where is the coldest city in UK? Oh, the coldest city in the UK is not even comparable with like with our Harbin and stuff like that. I know the weather in England is traditionally not great, but it's not that cold. I've never been that cold in my life. Okay. Because that was the thing about it. I remember I got off the plane and no one warned me that at minus 15 degrees, your nose no longer work.

So I just got off the plane I'm like I'm in Harbin Just started choking So Yeah Just not used to it But I loved it It's beautiful I recommend everyone goes So you are really Going to extremes Yeah Because Chongqing is hot Yep And Harbin is cold Yes You love the extremes Yes How about you Paul?

Where are you from and where have you been and how long? Yeah, so I grew up in Pennsylvania in the United States. So I was in rural Pennsylvania. So sort of out of in Philadelphia area, but in very countryside. And then I moved to Shanghai seven years ago, almost seven years a week ago. So yeah.

Just past. Happy anniversary. It's an important date. So before I actually lived in Beijing in college in 2013 for six months for a study abroad program. Loved it when I was there at that point in time. Definitely was like as much as I enjoy the time that I was there, I didn't really want to move back to Beijing. I felt like Shanghai was a much easier.

easier place to kind of like one get around China but then also like travel outside of China if you wanted to do that and then also just like for the international crowd if you kind of needed if you're having like a bit of culture shock and needed a break you can find little pockets in Shanghai where you're able to sort of get the international experience I think I've traveled to over half the provinces now I've been to Beijing, Tianjin, Lanzhou, Qinghai,

长沙,杭州,苏州,宁波,厦门,广州,深圳,战将,and

You're just listing every city in China. Yeah, no, I'm getting very close. I mean, like, I was a really avid traveler before. I went to Qingdao as well. I love Qingdao. Now, for the work stuff, I've had a couple places that have invited me to do, like, is our city city? And you know what? When I'm getting paid, I can never say it's not. Okay.

Oh my God. In all honesty though, all the places I've been. This is so fun. Has Jinshan ever invited you? Is Jinshan city? No. Jinshan is very city for our Jinshan people. You'd be like, Jinshan is not city but it's very mountainous.

At the end of the day, though, too, like, any place, you can find really cool things in any place. And there's been a lot of places that have really surprised me. So that's always been super cool. If I had to, like, suggest one place for people to go, I usually say Chengdu or Chongqing. You guys all love spicy food? You know, it's something about the culture there as well. Because, like, everything is pandas, which is really fun. There are pandas everywhere. Okay. Walk into the bathroom and the mirror is a panda. Okay.

Okay. They're all over the place. And then also like the food is amazing. But then I feel like also you know what to expect when you go to places like Beijing and Shanghai. And like especially for foreigners, I think there's still a surprise there. But you have like a lot of resources that tell you what it's like. Chengdu is kind of like a blank slate that you know is going to impress people. You know, because people are very relaxed there. You get to see like Chinese city that I feel is a little bit more like.

It's like a little bit like less bothered by international influence as well. And then you've got like all these great food options and you've got like fun stuff to do. Chongqing is also just like a city in the mountains, which is always cool. Yeah. The thing I loved about Chongqing is it just looked like they'd finished it and then they went, oh, we need more city. And then they just built more city on top of it. I should go there.

More city. More city. So the buildings, you'll get on one floor and that's the sixth floor. And then the other side of the building, you get on the first floor because it's just so random. So it's such a beautiful place to go because of the architecture of the place. Because they seem to just keep building up there on top of existing buildings. So they all look different. Mm.

I haven't been to Chongqing yet, but I would definitely love to go. But I'm very concerned because of two things. One, I can't really take real spicy food. But I hear that Chengdu is not that spicy compared to Chongqing. Like Chongqing is like super, super, super spicy. People say that. Yeah, like I am worried about my stomach. That's number one. And so I'm surprised that you guys can deal with all those super hot, spicy food. And also too is that I heard Chongqing is like a great escape room as a city because you are easily lost. Oh, yes, definitely.

Oh, I thought for a second you meant their escape rooms are really good. It would also be a great reason to travel there. Yeah, that does make sense. The map that the first time I was there, I was following a map and I was like, why am I I'm here, but it's definitely not here. And I realized I was there, but I was like 10 floors beneath because I had to go up the hill.

and around the corner to get to where the actual location was. They have the metro that just goes through buildings. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I heard. Just be on the metro and all of a sudden you go through a building and I'm like, this... That's so futuristic. This is so futuristic. And I'm like, but,

I'm so confused where I was I wanted to like get to the like have this like little island on one part of it and I just had no idea how to get across because usually when I go to a new city what I do is I just go for a walk around explore and see what I can find and Chongqing was

just a challenge. I have no idea. Yeah, that's great. We talk a bit about like other cities, but today we'll be focusing on Shanghai. So Paul mentioned a little bit about the best part of living in Shanghai is that even if you have culture shock, you will be having a place to get along. How about you, Simon? Why did you finally decided to, or what's the best thing about living in Shanghai? The thing about Shanghai is when I first arrived in China, I couldn't speak any Chinese. And yet I somehow managed to get along with my life.

But no, I just love how convenient it is because I'm from the countryside in England and I came to Shanghai and Shanghai is the most modern city that I've ever been to, let alone lived in. It's just the way that the infrastructure fits together. It's a great hub to get to places, the trains, the metro, just the apps. Even the introduction of shared bicycles blew my mind. I remember when Ofo and Mobike appeared and we're like, wow, shared bicycles. That happened in my life.

The shared bicycle. I was there. I was there with shared bicycles. And so like Shanghai, it was just so modern. The fact like when I'm in China, I can leave my house with my mobile phone and I can get all around Shanghai. Like things like Alipay and WeChat. That's a China thing. But coming from England to that, I was like, wow.

It was just so convenient to live here. Even as a foreigner who didn't speak Chinese 11 years ago, I still could get away with living here easily and conveniently. And just quality of life here is so nice that I just never wanted to leave once I arrived. Yeah, of course. You also have a lot of Shanghai parents forcing their kids to offer help in English to foreigners. For all the times they like living here.

I have this real story. People are so nice here and then I heard the whip cracking in the background. Yeah. So my very recent experience is that I'm like 30 something years old, right? I got married, but... Congratulations. Thank you. I know I look 80, but... You got 30 something and I got married. I think...

- I'm 30 something and I got married. - There's a boat. - Just vague enough that you don't know my actual situation. - I'm also 30 something and I got married too. - But my parents or my dad still forced me to offer help in English. Like just a couple of weeks ago, we saw a mom and a daughter, they're probably from Spain 'cause later on they were speaking Spanish. And my dad was like, "Just go." They were just walking and then they asked one person for direction and the person probably couldn't speak English.

I'm already an adult. My dad was like, go like a kid. Go practice your English. Yeah. Go offer help. My dad was like, that's your responsibility. This much time and money in your education. You are going to use it. I'm still off.

offering help at this age like as a kid so um of course it's a very very friendly city um but you guys been living in china for like seven years and 11 years what's one thing that you guys are still getting used to like not very you know like oh this is still new or like fresh to me anything i guess this is like a deeper thing um like a deeper cultural difference between like i

I think people in the U S and people in China is like, usually in the U S if you say something is a no go, or you say like, this doesn't work or I can't do this, or this is not something we have. It means that it's all of those things. Like usually in China, sometimes people say no to things I've understood because they just don't want to engage in that activity or they don't want to offer that service or they don't want to do it. And then you ask two or three more times and then they're like, okay, we can help you out. Yeah.

Or in like in the opposite where someone will be like, can you do this? And you'll be like, no, I can't do that. And they're like, can you do this? I'm like, no, no, no. And they're like, can you do this? And I'm like, no, I said no. I meant no. But then sometimes the other problem is it works. So it's the third time I will do it.

it. So yeah, I think that's something I still struggle with, especially to like professionally as I'm doing like more work with in the past, I would work like sometimes with international people, sometimes with Chinese. And then now more and more, I'm working like exclusively with Chinese. And that's become like a bigger issue for me.

is like embracing that and then also like coaching people to like that I'm working with to be like no no no when I said that no that one was like a firm no that's like not not okay to like we're not okay to do that ask more yeah I think that's fun because it's more like teaching the rest and that persistence is important yeah yeah it works that's the thing that always bothers me is like sometimes when I end up saying yes I'm like why did I let them get to me

- After you guys play any video games with the same NPC, if you keep asking the question, they were like, okay, you unlocked a treasure. Congratulations. - I wanna hear every single text option. I wanna make sure they've said every single bit of audio before I walk away.

Yeah. That sounds very, that's exactly what it is. It's when they start repeating it, you're like, okay, I can go now. I can go now. Like, oh, so I am the NPC. How about you, Simon? Yeah, similar to Paul. I found, especially when I first got here, there was a lot of people who would say, no, we can't do that. Used to be in the bank a lot. I'd go in the bank and I'd be like, oh, can you help me? And they're like, no, because you have a foreign passport. And I'd be like, really? And then they'd say no. And then another person, like the manager would turn up and go, oh yeah, we can do that.

and sometimes people would just be like I don't know how to tell you or how to do it so I'm just going to say no to stop it and another thing I used to find is sometimes I would go in shops and people would just look at me and they would think

he's foreign, I don't know what to do. And then I would speak Chinese to them, like in rudimentary, I want to buy this Chinese. And they would just look at me and just, they wouldn't listen to anything I was saying because I was foreign. And they would happen in like takeaway shops and fast food shops a lot. And so then I would say, I want this. And they were like, sorry, I can't speak English. And I'm like, I've said it in Chinese. And then a colleague would always like, he said it in Chinese and just say it. But that's less and less. Bye.

Bubble tea time. Yeah, guys. We have a very special episode. Today is the only episode. We used to do episodes where we will ask people to drink alcohol with us through the episodes, but never offer any snacks. But for you guys, we get treats. There's food and there's drinks because today is all about entertainment. I was going to say, we look like we need snacks. What does that say about us?

Guys, we need to welcome to ask Simon for his bubble tea recommendation because he is the one that we will go to. Yes. Being British, I love drinking tea. And I feel like when I moved to China, the amount of bubble tea and tea game in China just went up a serious notch.

So now we are drinking Coco because Coco is Simon's favorite. Yes, it is. It's my favorite. Coco, if you're listening, you have to sponsor Simon for all his life, okay? Whatever you need, just let me know. Simon is your biggest fan. Simon can name his daughter Coco if you want to. I named my cat Coco.

His first daughter. Yeah, my first daughter was Coco. I got Kit Kat, which is named after a chocolate bar, and Coco, which is named after the milk tea. So if I have a third animal, I don't know. So Simon is drinking. You might name them after your actual daughter. I wouldn't name my cat after my daughter. That doesn't track, does it? That's really weird.

Yeah, I'm drinking juice and you guys are drinking... I'm drinking a Jinju Nai Cha. And this is... Original half sugar because I'm looking after my figure. Shengye Yangzhi Ganlu. So it's like a coconut Yangzhi Ganlu. There's no English for Yangzhi Ganlu. No, there's not.

Yeah, it's impossible for Laowai to order all those sweets and desserts. It's never created in the context of English. So yeah, we just talked about a bit of things that you guys are still getting used to living in China. But I'm also very curious that in the past 11 or 7 years, you also go back to your hometown, right? What's one thing that you go back and have a reverse culture shocking?

For me personally, there's no good Zhenzhu Nai Cha back home. For one, the Zhenzhu Nai Cha is not good. But another thing is I'm so used to how convenient living in Shanghai is that when I go back to England and I'm like, want to buy some food? And they're like, oh, it's Sunday. The supermarket closed at four in the afternoon. And I'm like, what? What do you mean I can't order this food?

food at like six in the afternoon and like there's nothing where I live whereas in Shanghai there's everything to order so that's the thing I always come back and I'm like what I have to use money and go to a supermarket and actually buy my stuff and it's I just can't I never understood why because weekend is a high time for consumption right how come people don't want to do business after 4pm Jesus Nora you godless heathen

There's no like a commercial God or like...

God, I want to start a startup. God said no more startups. He said you guys are working too hard. Stop making money. No, but seriously, I mean, that's literally the same for you. Yeah. Sundays are usually I mean, I will say most food and beverage is still open on Sundays, depending on it. Like there are more conservative areas, but it is like it tends to be.

similar sort of thing where or just like weekends in general there's a lot less work I mean honestly you know I'm not religious anymore but I do really appreciate the rest culture but as a consumer I don't like as a person I'm like yes you should rest more as a consumer I'm like where

is everybody. But yeah, I think for me, amount of time people are not working. Definitely you get used to that over here. And then I think the other thing is I just can never get over like, like you're saying the process of buying groceries, restocking the fridge, having like

all this food in your house you have so much food in your house in the u.s because you don't want to go to the grocery store like more than once a week but then when you do it's like a two to three hour process of ordering everything you need planning out all your meals for the week blah blah blah blah it's just like way it's just a completely i'm just not used to that anymore

Can I assume that convenience store is only like prevalent in Asian countries? Like convenience store. Convenience store. Bigger cities in the UK will have like convenience stores. But Bottega's in New York. But it's very different. Like at least in the US, it's like if you're not in a major city, then it's only going to be like you'll have like CVS, Walgreens. But that's like bigger supermarkets. They're like tiny supermarket.

CVS and Walgreens are like small supermarkets. Oh, as a supermarket, they're small. Yeah, they're like a tiny supermarket. But they're bigger than a convenience store. But they're bigger than a convenience store. And then you have like gas stations, which are probably closest to convenience stores. But those you only go to if you're like on a road trip. Yeah. Or like getting gas. Okay. So it sounds like we're living in a super convenient place. Thanks to people who are working super hard. Thanks to our commercial god. They're allowing us to do this.

- They're demanding seven days a week. - All those Erlemer drivers, you know, the real heroes. - They are the real heroes. - 2:00 AM in the morning, you can still order like food, hot food. - The thing I also love is the randomness of the things you can buy easily. For example, I moved into a new community and they had a big pond in the community. And I thought this pond is very beautiful, but there's not any fish in it. So I went on Erlemer and bought five

Koi goldfish. Did you? And they arrived in like an hour and I just went and put them in the pond and I was like, how can I buy goldfish off a food delivery app? And,

Are they still alive? Yeah. They've got a big, huge pond, but they sent it to me. That's not all they need. They need more than that. They got delivered in two water bottles. They got two Gantan water bottles and just put them inside and stabbed the top open. And then I opened it and there was two goldfish in this one and three goldfish in the other one. Did you do this for a bit? What were you doing? No, I just...

I just love nature. You're ordering nature online. I know. And I was like, you love nature and you're like, I know what I should do. I should go online, find pets that have been in captivity since they were born. And release them. And release them. I saved those goldfish. Into my sanitary pond. My Xiao Chu looks fantastic now. There's all these goldfish swimming around. But things like that, how convenient it is. I didn't even know that. That's crazy. We should buy a fish tank now. We probably arrived before the end of the podcast. Yeah.

I've noticed your bubble tea is looking quite empty. Let's get a fish to put in there. Wow. So like this is the spicy zoo and everything is delivered on Meituan. The horses, the monkeys, you can all get them on Meituan. That's cool. So,

So yeah, we actually mentioned a bit. How about I just start with the food? Because apparently food is a very component of experience overall in Shanghai or in China. If you have friends visiting, where is a definite go-to place to have food with them in Shanghai? Or brand of food that you would definitely ask them to have with you? I'm a big fan of the breakfasts in China. Yeah, I love different foods. And my mom was here recently and I basically took her on a food tour.

and just different kind of dumplings, jiaozi. Can you tell the difference? Like jiaozi, wonton, jianjiao, like shengjianbao. Yeah, like some are fried, some are in soup. Guo tian. But the real answer is yes. Yes, I enjoy all of them. But yeah, I'm a huge fan. And one that I'm absolutely obsessed with, and the idea of it when I first heard about it, I'm like, I'm not eating that, is salty egg. Salty egg? I love salty eggs. Okay. I just...

What's a salty egg? Oh, 咸蛋. I'm going to say that translates pretty directly. Take somebody for breakfast. And then the local kind of street food is just so good. The thing about Shanghai is there's so many different foods you can try. You can

you can spend hours just walking around. - What's one breakfast do you think it's like super different, but it's so good. You recommend everyone who's concerned or curious about the name that should definitely try it. 'Cause like, - Yeah. - Absolutely. - is like, you guys don't have back in your hometown. - We have pancakes. - We have sweet pancakes. - Yeah. - But they're different. - We have crepes.

There's nothing that really compares to a Jen Bing, and it impresses pretty much anybody I've ever shown it to. It becomes their favorite almost immediately. Really? Yeah. When my sister was here, the two of us, I think, had maybe seven Jen Bings in seven days. And my mom still talks about it from the time that she came. Really? She was like, oh, I wish I could have. My family tried to make it at home for my dad's birthday because it was his birthday. He was like, for my birthday, I want somebody to make me the Jen Bing. What?

- What? - Yeah, it is like, it blows people's minds. - What's the ingredients that go into jianmian that you guys like? Not bubble tea for sure. - No, they put yuotiao in it sometimes. - Yeah, yeah, yeah, yuotiao. - Yeah, yuotiao. - Oh, very authentic. - Yeah. - I like the one that has fried wonton, the fried wonton wrapper.

脆餅 Yeah 脆餅 And then the pickled tubers The little yellow 炸菜 Oh 炸菜 And then you've got the sauce This is like 豆漿 豆漿 豆漿 sauce 那種醬 那種醬 Yeah And then 那種醬 那種醬

内中酱 对对对 Yeah I think those three ingredients really make it for me Because you've got the crunch And you've got the sourness of the pickle And then you've also got the sweetness of the sauce And the three of those things together I think like make it incredible So Simon you go for 油条 Which is also a very conditional type of Chinese 早饭 And then what else?

Doujiang. Doujiang? Yeah. Oh, you love doujiang? Yeah. Never drank that in England. Never even heard of it. So the breakfast is so good. Also one food I love is di san xian. Oh, di san xian? Yeah. Yeah. Just the way they cook it here, I just can't replicate it when I try and make it myself. And I never used to eat much aubergine eggplant. And so... Oh, e bu ji. What's e bu ji? E bu ji.

- Aubergine. - Aubergine. - It's an egg, it's . But it's the British way of saying . - Oh really? I thought it's Chinese. - Aubergine. - Aubergine. - What's aubergine? - Aubergine. - But yeah, coming to China, the way they cook it here, like there's so many dishes that use it. - It's so good. - Yeah. - Oh. So we are now already going to the dishes. So you're talking about . - Yeah. - What's a Shanghainese dish that you guys like? Any Shanghainese dishes?

I like Kaofu. Oh.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Wow, you guys are going for the very local food. I love, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, yeah, and I think like, I think also like, in general, like xiaolongbao are always amazing. They always like, they're, if you get a good xiaolongbao, that's gonna always, and then like, chongyou mian, I think is also really good. Yeah, it's like super simple, but super effective, especially with like some, a little bit of like, cu and lajiao, and then like, if you add in some huajiao you, that,

that is like so good it's really tasty all the carbs yeah yeah yeah I don't know what you're talking about I don't carbs don't do anything to me by the way Paul already finished the whole bottle of bubble tea I'm already no I didn't I spilled it on myself I didn't drink it it's all on the floor that's true you're wearing a different color of shirt now absorbs everything how about you Simon Shanghai dishes Shanghai dishes yeah oh

I would never say that. That was my mind. Not in Shanghai you don't say that. We can do that in the Chengdu podcast. I don't know which is an exclusively Shanghai dish, but like when I first moved to China, I was always eating Hong Shao Rou all the time. But I don't know if that's exclusively a Shanghai dish. It's more like Jiang Zhuo Hu. Yeah. Like these places. Yeah. Oh.

Do you like hairy crab? Any of the crab stuff? No. I ate some of the frog though. The frog and the toad was pretty good. Oh, okay. Depending on how you cook it. Yeah. It's pretty good. There's some of the snail soup as well. Snail soup? Snail soup. Lorsifen? Yeah. Oh, snail soup is lorsifen. It's also not Shanghai. No.

Simon, just because you find it in Shanghai does not mean it's Shanghainese. I like the traditional Shanghai McDonald's burger. You're like...

Yes, I'm in pizza and Shanghai is not Shanghai food. It's difficult. Um, shanghai, is that not? The breakfast, a lot of them are like, depending on like how you cook it and then where is it from, it could be from Shanghai. But it sounds like I should take you guys to real authentic Shanghai food because you guys don't know the difference, right? When I buy the food, there isn't sadly like a...

this food was grown and is a traditional Shanghai. They should have like a little Shanghai flag on every food. So you know exactly. - What is the Shanghai flag? - We need to. - It's all their fault. - Competition time. Design your own Shanghai flag. - Your city flag. So yeah, I love the part that you guys are so into breakfast. 'Cause I also personally love breakfast. Some of the things you guys don't mention is like, for example, you guys know that?

Yeah. Sticky rice thing. Sifang Gao is my favorite. I think it's also very Shanghai and it's also really good. And also like luobo si bing. Now it's like...

During Mid-Autumn Festival, right? In Shanghai, we love xian rong yue bing. So it's like meat in mooncake. Yes. That's not like where you guys will eat everywhere else. I hate yue bings, period. I hate them all. You have to try that xian rong yue bing. This is my problem. I would like to try a bite of a yue bing, but you never get a bite of a yue bing because everybody gives you 10 to 20 yue bing that you will never finish. I have currently a village worth of

sitting in my apartment and I have no ability to eat them all. And the other problem is I can't just give them away because everybody is getting it. It's a curse. There's a platform I saw last year that they are like just accepting like overly

received yuebing and they will distribute those to like other people that's in trouble so please send me this we'll need to look it up yeah the thing about yuebing is the meat ones are so good but then someone will give you a gift and you'll be like what flavor is this yuebing and they're like it's rose petal flavored and I'm like why am I eating a rose inside a yuebing like the only flavor of yuebing I know is too much there are too many yuebing

That's true I also am not a big fan Of like all those Two creative Original Yue Bing But Xiru Yue Bing Is one you have to try If you have never tried it And also like Maybe Ice Cream Mooncake Is the one that I can still accept I would be into that too Yeah But the rest I understand 100% And also Wuren Yue Bing Is kind of like a

It's already a joke Like people make joke Of Wurim Yubing The whole time It doesn't just make sense To put everything In the Yubing But nobody eats it Wurim Yubing Is like the The transferee student Nobody likes Very famous But nobody likes

We talked a bit about Yue Bing, but there's also a lot of like a special restaurants in China or in Shanghai in general. For example, how about the Hai Di Lao? You guys like Hai Di Lao? - Of course. - Yeah, a little bit of Hai Di Lao. It's always your birthday when you go to Hai Di Lao, isn't it? Even if it's not your birthday, you just tell them it's my birthday. And this they come sing. - Oh yeah. - It's worth it. - You guys love the whole experience or the birth experience at Hai Di Lao. Did you guys ever try the nail polishing?

- I haven't done the nail polishing. I like the noodle dance. - Noodle dance. - I make sure they always do the noodle dance. - Yeah, they always do the dance for me. - I didn't realize that noodle was a genre of dance until I came to teach. I love it though.

It's like, it's not just dinner. It's an event. Yeah. That's what I like about it. They put the effort in. Yeah, it feels very much. It really is like, you know, like hot pot can be very good. And, you know, Heidi Lau is a good hot pot. It's not the best hot pot I've ever had, but it is quite a good hot pot. And then you've got all the service elements on top of that. And like all the little fun knickknacks and little like, I don't know if you guys know what Chuck E. Cheese is.

I don't know either. Do you have it in the UK? No, I just know it from American movies and stuff. It's basically like it was a kid's restaurant. You'd go there, and there was a big playpen, and you could go in the playpen in a ball pit, and there was an arcade, and they had these animatronic animals that would come out. I mean, it was just like a dinner. It was like a restaurant playhouse, where it's basically like it's not the pizza that you're going there for. It's everything else. I think Heidi Lau has that sort of same playfulness to it. Yeah.

Did you ever bring your friends to Hai Di Lao when they're in Shanghai? Only during your birthdays? No. As a group, we just would randomly go sometimes. Just like, hey, let's go for a hot pot. Okay. You know what you're expecting with Hai Di Lao and it's a good standard. Yeah. I don't think I've ever brought any of my family members. I think I've always had the intention to but like for the last time when my sister was here, I wanted to do hot pot and then we didn't book ahead and the late wait time was like an hour because we just mistimed it. So...

And we were like short on time, so I couldn't take her. I think when my parents came as well, we also ran out of time. I don't think they've done hot pot yet, actually. Oh, they don't have experience to see the noodle dance yet. Yeah. Yeah. I tried it, but it just didn't turn out so well.

So you're dancing. I was using spaghetti, but like uncooked spaghetti. It's the thing I can't understand. Like you just talked about queuing. I've never in my life gone to a restaurant and gone queued for a restaurant. I would just leave.

Like, and in Shanghai. Really? Yeah, I won't queue for a restaurant. I'm like hungry. I'll go somewhere else. Whereas in Shanghai, like you'll see like a new, like milk tea spot. And there'll be like a 45 minute wait for a milk tea. But you are bubble tea enthusiastic. I know, I know. But it's just, it's so, like so much time to wait for a milk tea, which could be potentially bad. And then, yeah, just the fact people queue for restaurants here and stuff. That's something that,

like in England, you just go somewhere else. You just, you wouldn't wait or you'd book in advance and make sure you got it. But people will queue for places just to eat food. And I'm like, wow, I just can't go over it. Yeah.

So when your friends or families are visiting Shanghai, you guys never took them to any places that need the wait. Usually they are restaurants of what? Like the Shanghai McDonald's? Like where did you take them to? I didn't take my parents to the Shanghai McDonald's. No. I will take my parents and visitors to places I know I have to wait if it's their first time going. Uh-huh.

but if a friend say for like tourist spots as well like UUN Garden there's always a queue in UUN Garden but if my family comes you're definitely going to take them to U Garden because they can experience that or you'll definitely go to the Bund to experience that but a restaurant

I feel like I would just power on to something else. Shanghai is also like not famous, but we have a lot of brunch places, right? So if you have any friends visiting any brunch places, you invite them to go to or no, home brunch. Do you know Egg on Xiangyang? Yeah. So Egg has a, they do a Jianbing Benedict. Yeah.

So it's an eggs benedict, but it's influenced by... They have the little... Underneath the egg. And then they add the little pickles. And they have the sauce on there as well. It's so good. It's really fun. So only the fusion brunch, you would probably bring them too. I mean, and that's not to say that the brunch here isn't good. Just that if you have a limited number of meals, then you probably want to try to do something that's more localized. How about you, Simon? I don't really do brunch often.

anymore. I'm like married with a kid so I can't really take a kid to like brunches but all my friends seem to be every weekend. I was like what did you do? And they're like I went to this brunch with a free flow. Yeah and they're like and then they ruined my Sunday because I had free flow for like three hours. That's a nightmare. Yeah. So no I can't. Brunch isn't my thing. Any like coffee shops that you recommend people to come or...

It's just too typical. Do you guys still take coffees every day? No. I do coffee every day. But do you go to any coffee shop or any brands? I don't usually buy coffee because of the flavor. So you're buying them for the kick. No. Any coffee dance you love?

Coffee beans. No, it's like some people are real connoisseurs of coffee, right? They like, oh, this is a really classy coffee. I don't really have that level of palate distinction. So there's like, I don't think Starbucks has really great coffee. Besides that, I'm not really able to distinguish like, oh, this place's coffee is really good. More of it be like,

Like I suggest people try if they can like an Osmanthus latte or something like that because I think that has like a really cool Shanghai twist to it. And if there's like some other sort of like fusion coffee. But then I would also – oh, yeah.

I try to get people to do a lot, which is the Hong Kong coffee and milk tea together beverage, which I could drink that forever. I love that stuff. Yeah. Okay. Because I know that not just specifically to Shanghai, but if you look at the coffee shops, they're like online coffee shops.

right? You always have a lot of different types of coffee. People love to put in like new tastes or new flavor of coffee. And that's what I love about. I couldn't really tell a good latte from a bad latte, but I can, I can see, okay, this is a like latte with a rose flavor. Yeah. That's like a caramel latte. Yeah. Did you guys see the Koshuiji? There's like a Koshuiji latte. No,

No. I saw that somewhere. It's like chicken. It's like spicy chicken in a latte. I saw it like pop up somewhere. Would you be curious? I would try it. I would definitely try it. It would be awful, I'm sure, but I would give it a shot to say I did. It could be like a feng zhai in the coffee. When you drink it, something is in your mouth.

Simon doesn't look like a person for all this creative coffee. No, I don't like coffee. Oh, you don't like it? No. Because you're a milk tea lover. A milk tea lover. Once milk tea entered my life, there was no going back to any other beverage. Coffee had to go. Yeah, coffee had to go. There's only room for one caffeinated beverage here. The thing is, Shanghai and coffee shops, it's...

I've been here 11 years and that is one thing where coffee shops have just taken over Shanghai. Yes. Before there was like, you know, a few places wasn't really a thing. And then all of a sudden there was just a wave of like Starbucks appeared on every corner and then looking coffee appeared on every corner and there was Manor Coffee and then there was this coffee everywhere. And it's such a huge industry here. I think people really enjoy it, but it's just,

not something I like but I'm just if it was like a milk tea wave on every road then I think I'd be all for it you'd be leading it yeah you'd be you wouldn't be this size anymore if it's just a milk tea at

- At every corner of the world. - This is weird, I used to live on Jagsu Road and there was a milk tea place on the corner of my house. - Oh, you did? - Yes, I remember that, okay. - And it was 70 seconds away from my front door. I timed it so I could 70 seconds get to the milk tea shop and then-- - 17 or 17? - 70, seven zero. - 70 seconds. - Yeah, to get to the milk tea shop from my front door of my house. - That's incredible. - We moved, I went back to my old street and that milk tea place is closed down.

- I feel it was because of me. - You are like a spiritual shareholder of the- - You know what it was? It wasn't even a financial decision. They lost their heart. They were like, that guy stopped coming, we have nothing left to do business for. - Simon's not here. Like it's just, I'm not finding the joy in making these milk teas anymore. - I don't have any, there's no reason for me to do it. - Yeah, you need to live at every corner in Shanghai so that all the milk teas can be.

They just... Open in and open in. There's probably a route. There's like a sales, like the sales went up because Simon moved to this street. But yeah, it would be dangerous because I'd stop at every street. Mm.

Any like local beverages or like desserts you guys like? Do you guys like, I don't know, like we talk about Yang Zhi Gan Lu, right? And there's also like Shuang Xi Nai. There's like Qing Bu Liang. You guys know what's that? Like also like Yu Yuan. You see the dessert we put in like Xian Cao and the Xiao Wan Zi and like Ye Guo and all those. You guys love all those desserts? No, I'm going to be controversial. Like some desserts in Shanghai, I don't understand because they will put things like

pork floss meat meat floss on top of like breads and cakes and i'm like why is that on top what's pork floss in chinese i can't remember yeah and i'm like why have you done that to this salty things on like sweet desserts yeah yeah and so so many times i'm like confused but um

These are great. I don't know. Are they Shanghai exclusive? Are they? No, but these are. Are they hot pot? Yeah. We were also asking the two guests of their favorite and they mentioned. Fu Fu Bakery. This Fu Fu Bingtian. Wow. Fu Fu Bingtian. Today there is no advertisement, but we are doing this. It sounds like there's a lot of ads. Are you sure? Yeah.

And all those. And all... Yeah. So we would also try those. And now that we are on food, let's move a bit over also to overall experience or where to have fun to play. Any places you would recommend your friends or you've brought your family or friends to go in Shanghai? To play, right? Yeah, to play. What else can you do if you're not playing?

play to work. I took my mom to do that. I said, if you aren't starting, if you aren't turning stocks and making a profit, why did you even come? I mean, I always take people to the bunt. Yeah. Um, I just think that view like always impresses. I think it's so cool. It's so beautiful. Um,

And then I love a food tour. I love a walking tour. I think that one of the best parts about Shanghai is just, like, getting – I just think it's such a beautiful city. I had a crush on Shanghai since I've gotten here where it's just the canopied walkways, the way the sun shines through them, the way you can bike through the streets. Like, the weather when it's good is so good. Yeah, I mean, like, those are the big things for me is, like, eating and kind of, like, seeing the sights is usually what I end up doing with people. Mm-hmm.

when I took my parents they loved the former French concession that walking around that area it's so picturesque with a lot of the tree line streets like it's just so nice and the thing about Shanghai is even though it's a very modern city over in Lujiazui you still have traditional buildings of different styles throughout the country throughout the town and um

Obviously, the Bund. You have to take everyone to the Bund. That's a tick. A recommendation is go in the evening. Because if you go during the day, it's going to be full of tourists and crowd. But if you go in the evening, especially in the summer, it's a bit cooler and there's a bit of a nice breeze off the river. And so it's lovely at dusk to walk around there. You have to go to U Garden, especially at Chinese New Year. Go to U Garden and see all the lanterns.

Tianzi Fong. Oh. Yeah. Tianzi Fong is a great place to go. People love Tianzi Fong. Also, you have to go to the Science and Technology Museum to go to the market. What? No, I disagree with that strongly. You took the market? Yeah. Oh.

Not the science and technology museum. I take them to the wholesale market so they can buy fabric and cheese. Yeah. But obviously you've got to take them to spicy comedy as well. Oh,

Oh, I was thinking when we guys mentioned that important name. That's the ad. Only ad that we can get sponsorship of. But what's one place you guys think it's overrated? Overrated. I know what's underrated. Shanghai Tower.

Shanghai Tower. TV Oriental Per Tower. Oh, well, that's in a different level. Which one is Shanghai Tower? Shanghai Tower is the tallest one. Oh, Shanghai Zhongxing. I mean, but then I will say that about any tall tower experience because it just, I think that you get to the top and it's like, oh, a wonderful view. I could have done this from four other places that were less expensive and could have had some other entertainment involved. And the other place I think is U Gardens. I think it's pretty overrated.

I think it's one of those things you have to go though. Start a fight, start a fight. You have to go look at the lanterns and be like, tick. It's a Shanghai tick. Yeah. Yeah. I don't take people there. My sister went there by herself. Did she like it though? No. Really? No, she said, this is not worth it. I,

I agree about the tower though. Like the thing about the towers is they look amazing when you're looking at them. But when you go up the towers, you're just looking down on people's like people's houses and stuff. It's a view. And you can get a view from a lot of different places where you could also have a drink or you could have a meal or you could like hang out and chill out for a little bit instead of paying like 200 grand and be to ride a really fast elevator. Yeah. And also you have to wait in line for like two hours to ride the elevator or whatever, depending on how busy it is. So,

And those are like all the tall tower experiences I feel like are the same. And you're like going through and they're like, oh, here's how we built the tower. Look at the pictures of all the other big towers there around the world. Here's how we compare. It's boring information. It's not a fun museum. I think East Nanting Road is as the actual walking street of East Nanting Road. I don't like that at all. Really?

- Really? - Yeah, it's just tourist trap. - They're lying, they're like a... - No, I feel like it's just people, as a foreigner, people just come and try and sell me something and bother me. - Watches, bags? - Yeah, hello, bags watch. - Watches, hello, bags watch. - Hello, bags watch. - That's my name on Nanjiggy's group. Hello, bags watch. - You're like, how did you know my name was bags watch?

That other guy just called me. He's all, no, you know what? I said, that guy's also looking for Hello Bags Watch. You guys are looking for the same person. I don't know Hello Bags Watch.

I've been asked literally because there was a couple days I used to be. So before I got like before the city thing was popular, I was working with an MCN to do like some other small stuff. And we filmed on Nanjing East Road like two or three times. And I had not been there for a very long time. I'd be there for like an hour and I would get asked minimum six times about. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Does it help if there's a Chinese person beside you? No. Not at all. I'm walking around with Chinese people. I answer in Chinese and they are still asking me for the bags and the watches. I'm like talking with my Chinese friends and they come up and they're like, bags, watch! This is where you should say turn out to them, you know? This is,

This is where you should have. But the thing about East Nanjing Road is it does have People's Square next to it. And one of my favorite things to do is to go to the singles market in People's Square and just see all the people with their umbrellas, with their like grand children's information on. And if you don't know, it's like an old dating market where people try to match up their...

their granddaughters and their sons and daughters with other single people and it's such a bizarre experience because in england you'd never you'd be like i uh nana i need to find a girlfriend can you go to a park and speak to another granddad and try and find me a like girlfriend in the heat of the day in the heat of the day but there's there's always um one person who's put their like

or their grandchild's information next to the trash can. And I just think, what is that? What message is that sending when your child's information is next to a trash can? It's saying, it's saying you've got two choices, trash or my girl. Yeah. Would you take your friends to match market as well? Did you ever do that? And how is that reaction? I,

took my parents there I think I don't think I ended up taking my littlest sister why not isn't that like special I'm trying to remember I think it was on our list of things to do and then we just didn't prioritize it I think you know what I think that it's because it is kind of like I think it's more interesting if you can read Chinese

Yeah. And if you're not like reading Chinese, I think that it's a very quick trip because you're like, oh, this is weird. And then you leave. And it's not actually weird. It's weird for us, but it's not. It is what it is. Yeah. That's true. That's true. If you can listen to what they're talking about, it'll be even more fun. Yeah. Or you can see what things are like a...

I mean, if I'm there, like, I would explain and be like, oh, yeah, this person is looking for somebody that is, like, you know, like, Shu Hao or, like, Shu Long. And this person is... Because there's all those... I think what I find really interesting is the level of, like, traditional, like, Chinese...

practice that goes into it as well right where it's like oh this year person suits this type of person so it's like you're not just like finding whether or not they have a good education you're looking for yeah this like a matching in a traditional way exactly do their do their their feng shui come together the horse is looking for a chicken kind of stuff

When you guys walked there, by the way, were you ever approached? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Me and my friends went and I got approached and this man was like, will you marry my granddaughter? And I was like, and that's how we met May. No,

No. And I was like, oh no, sorry. I have a partner. And he's like, it doesn't matter. And I was like, and I'm like, he's like, I have a house at people's, I have an apartment at people's square. And he was trying to like, tell me the things, like what he like kind of persuade me. Like we have this apartment at people's square. And I was like, I was really kind. But then one of my friends who's a girl, she was walking along there and everyone swarmed her. And then she, she speaks fluent Chinese and they were like,

please meet my grandson, please meet my grandson. - Wow. - And it was really like-- - Your friend is also from UK? - No, she's American girl. She just like, and they were just all trying to like introduce her and they're like, they'll get the phone out and look, here's his picture and stuff. 'Cause a lot of the information sheets don't have photographs. They'll just say he's 180, he's a doctor, he has this much money and he has this car.

But yeah, so... 180 with stilts. Doctor of history. Has a car. It's kind of a motorcycle. Scooter. It's an electric scooter. It's a go-kart. Be careful of Paul's resume. He knows how to...

He knows how to delegate it, okay? He's an education consultant. Education consultant, entertainment consultant. Thank you very much. Education consultant, entertainment consultant. Listen, you need to, sales is very important. Yes, consultant. Wow, I'm surprised that they will approach you. They also speak English to you. No, they spoke to me in Chinese. No, no, they don't speak to me in English. They spoke to me in Chinese. Maybe you misunderstood them, Simon. Maybe they were saying, can you get out of the way? Wait, wait, wait.

My Chinese is okay. Wow. Okay. So we talked a little bit about People's Square. But yeah, you also mentioned about where else would you take them to? I always take everyone down the West Bund when they visit to have a picnic because that's such a beautiful area of Shanghai to hang out. Mm-hmm.

And that's, I really love that place. And there's lots of art galleries down that walkway as well. So that's, it's a bit more like if you were coming to visit Shanghai for like a week and you're on holiday, you would never go down the West Bund. It just wouldn't be something you do, but that would be something I would definitely recommend to people because it's way nicer than the actual Bund at times because the Bund is super crowded. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's true. Wow.

One thing I absolutely loved was Shanghai Circus World. I went to the Shanghai Circus World. Oh, really? The acrobat show. It was fantastic. Wow. And I went to something recently called the Romance Theater. And there was this hour-long show with, like, incorporated dance and acrobatics. And it was fantastic. Wow.

I'd recommend that as well. That sounds cool. Yeah. I would recommend those two things. And, um, cause I went with my, uh, my work, they arranged a team building and we went to this romance theater place and I was like, I've never even heard of it. And I went and watched it and it was so good. And I was frustrated. I was like, I wish I'd taken my mom and dad to visit that because they would have loved it. Hour long show. Yeah. So that kind of thing. And the, um, yeah, Shanghai circus world. Cause again, they have that kind of, um, acrobatic stunt show, um,

I feel there's two big things that I'd recommend. By the way, do you guys think like the Wukong Road and all those like internet red road? I think Wukong Road is very cool. Yeah, I think it's one of those things where you go, you don't have to take a picture, but you can go. And then once you're there, you can, I think the areas around that are quite beautiful. So if you're walking around those areas, I think that's a really cool perspective on Shanghai. And it's a really beautiful spot still.

The crowds is this, like, I think those are the big bummer points for those. It's just, like, navigating all the people. I think in general, food is underrated in, like, China. I think people from outside of China don't recognize...

how much there is to see here and specifically how much there is to eat here that's amazing because a lot of people think oh Chinese food they eat the weirdest things and stuff and it's like you don't understand you've never tried like the way that Chinese people do tripe and then you try it and you realize oh that's why people eat stomach you know

Or, you know, like... They have a conception, like, they eat American Chinese food or they eat British Chinese food, which is basically sweet and sour chicken. Yeah. And you're like, they come to China, like, they don't have sweet and sour chicken. Yeah. But they have so much other awesome food. Yeah, look at everything else there is. They have. Mmm.

There's a very Attractional places For local people Which is Disneyland Would you guys Recommend your friends To go there If they ever Visit Shanghai I like Disneyland Yeah Disneyland is awesome Yeah It's a great fun It's good But I wouldn't waste Your time Oh

And they may never sponsor me ever. Oh my gosh. No, no, no. I'll say this. If you're a fan of Disney, go to Disneyland. If you are trying to, I mean like Disneyland, they are designed to create a consistent experience wherever they are. If you want to experience the Shanghai version of that, do it. But I'm not going to go with you. Okay.

You'll lose a friend. No, you're still my friend, but just enjoy yourself and I'll see you when you're back. I enjoyed Disneyland, but I love Disney. I've also, I've had fun the times I've gone. I just wouldn't like, if I had seven days here, Disneyland is, but I'm not that person. For one month, would you go? No. If I was here for a month, maybe. Yeah.

But I'm also, like, I used to live in Orlando. Oh, that's true. So I've been to, like, I've been to, every time somebody visited Orlando, we were spending time in the parks. And so it just, you know, it's just like it is what it is. And, you know, they do a good job with what they do. But it's just not something I'm usually. I know some people that do the, like, they're like, I want to see every Disney park. Somebody that was like my favorite.

my goal before I turn 40 is to see every Disney park in the world and I'm like I love you but I hate you it's great but it's so different than me I feel like if someone is visiting China and they only have a limited amount of time I don't feel Disney is a representation of China or Shanghai and I feel like

there'd be so much better things to do. Like the things that make Shanghai special is not necessarily because it's an advanced city or it's got cool big buildings because there's cool big buildings everywhere. It's the like the little things about Shanghai that make it different. Like one of my favorite things to do is just to find a local park and watch all the Ais dancing with each other because that sense of community that they have

all throughout the city they just rock up a space put the hi-fi down the stereos down and then they just dance together and i just think that's so nice because in england we don't have that like like and it's one thing i love about china is the um the safety and respect that old people have here and the fact they can go out to a park and dance with their friends for like five like

two hours every night. I just love watching that. And I love watching the rival gangs where they have two different stereos and they have a bit of a dance off. Oh, you're the creepy laowai audience to all those. Oh, I know. Street dancing. I just join in. The dances are quite fun. You just go join in and dance with them because it's great exercise as well. But I feel like, yeah, Disneyland isn't a true representation of Shanghai. And I feel like if we had a week, I wouldn't go to Disneyland. But if you love Disney, go. But...

Anyway, because we are also approaching the end of this episode, but I really want... Can we eat a little bit of the snacks while we're talking? You will be able to eat... Oh, yeah, yeah. Oh, wait, oh, wait, oh, wait. Sorry, sorry. I wasn't sure if we were supposed to be eating them as we were talking. I know you're a quick drinker and a quick eater, so... I'm hungry, Nora. Paul finished three bottles of water.

after he's stepping so I don't know where he's been before this but he's definitely thirsty I'll just say that I don't have any food you have everything you have to swallow everything okay that's the deal but we also talked about you know like how to get around locally I love one thing is that you guys both speak a bit of Mandarin so when you experience the culture you're able to experience in the first hand way right what are some

Local phrases Either in Mandarin Or in Shanghainese You think it's important Or useful For your Foreigner friends Or for your Non-Shanghainese friends Anything that you would Recommend them to learn Like the watch Like the 手表包 Yeah I would say I would just say I was talking to some people today They were like How do you say yes and no And I was like That's a hard question in Chinese Because it's not usually Just like yes or no right You usually say like 沒有 Or 有 Or 不是 Or 是 Or 对 Or 不对 And I told them like 不不不不不

means no. If you want somebody to leave you alone, you just go boo boo

And if you want somebody, if you're trying to say yes, then you go shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh. One of my favorites is Ren Shan Ren Hai. People mind, people see. Always applicable. It's just like, because you're like, oh, go in the bund or Ren Shan Ren Hai. You know what I mean? It's just too busy. It just means too busy. That's a big favorite of mine. Did you teach your parents that? Like the first thing they learn is the Chinese idioms. Also, I was like Nali Nali as well.

I was going to say something like that because no matter what your Chinese level is, you're going to get a lot of compliments for saying ni hao. And if you're trying to get some information, it can get a little annoying. Your Chinese is so good. You're just like, nali nali. So learning like shi shi shi shi shi, bu bu bu bu, and to...

- Four words character. - You're learning all those four. - You've got somebody coming to China for the first time and you're gonna teach them the phrase. - Long time no see. - What a mind fuck for everybody. I haven't met him, have I met him before?

便宜一點, all four characters. 便宜一點,好久不見,人帥人可愛,哪裡哪裡。 Simon can only talk in four characters. Efficient. 珍珠在查。

你若盛开蝴蝶子来 你若盛开蝴蝶子来 Everybody Flower in bloom Flower in bloom attracts many butterflies Everybody We are asking Simon to learn all the super not useful phrases What would be a useful one? 死猪不怕热水汤 You know that one That's my favorite one A dead pig doesn't fear boiled water Where would you Where would you use that?

Oh, all the time. Anytime you're in a situation where you're like, I'm completely hopeless. I'm lost to the bund. A dead pig doesn't fear boiled water. It's true. So a phrase that's useful for people coming to China for the first time, dou shou qian.

Oh yeah. 多少钱? 多少钱? 多少钱? 便宜点。 Yeah, yeah. If you go to the fake market, 多少钱? 便宜点。 Very practical. Yeah, I don't know. What would be another good phrase? I think what my sister was like really struggling with. She wanted to... What did she learn?

She learned so much, though. She learned how city-ah. That's all she learned. That's all she learned. She knows how to say ah and how city-ah. And actually, it was the most profitable two phrases she could have possibly learned during her time here. No, well, she was doing Duolingo. And Duolingo, it was a very weird build-up. She was learning, like,

My mom is not a lawyer. Yeah. That was like the second lesson. Or like one of the other ones she said is like, I love to run. It was like the other one she said that was so funny. She learned how to order hamburgers and iced coffee in China. Like you as a foreigner coming to China, what you need to learn is how to order a hamburger and iced coffee, not Chinese food. Yeah.

But when my dad came, he just was so confident with his xie xie. That was it. He'd literally just everywhere just xie xie, xie xie, xie xie. And I was like, but people would just be like, why is he saying thank you to me? It doesn't matter what everything was happening. It would be funny if he's using what you teach him as forecatters. Like, are you Simon's dad? Nali, nali. Are you Simon's dad? Yeah.

Are you Simon's dad? Jenju Naicha.

- Oh, you are in China? - That's my Chinese name, Jintun. - That means yes in Mandarin. All right, guys, we have recommended you a lot of places to eat and go and have fun in Shanghai or in China in general. If you have any questions or comments, welcome to leave in the comment section. We will also leave their social media to you in the comment section. You'll be able to see those.

So to close, today's very fun and we let you drink. We'll definitely let you eat episode. Can you guys... We weren't allowed to eat. I tried to eat and you yelled at me. I tried to eat and you called me. You said I drank too much already. I don't know what this was for. I feel cheated. And that's Shanghai one.

I told you this very silly, okay? Just ask you to come work, not letting you to drink or eat at all. Can we all have like two things? One, you can express your overall impression or a one-line recommendation to come to Shanghai or just one-line impression of Shanghai in general. Either way, just one line to close today's very fun, very foodie episode.

Come to Shanghai. It's the best place. You'll never want to leave it. Oh, sounds very commercial. I love that.

Yeah, I think Shanghai is very romantic. Shanghai brings together a lot of paradoxes, brings a lot of contrast, right? You've got local and international. You've got modern. You've got traditional. You've just got a lot of stuff all in the same place. And one of the things that I've always been impressed by is you can really experience so many different little worlds in Shanghai. And I think that that really makes it...

continue to stay magical for me. Wow, I love that. Very, very nice. You are allowed now to eat things. Oh, thank goodness. Wow. That was our payment, I guess. All right, guys. We are done with today's episode. Hope you enjoyed this. And then if you've listened until this point, remember to leave a little apple as well. And we'll see you in the next episode. Thanks, bye. Bye, guys. Bye-bye.