EP74【EN全英单集】北京上海的世纪对决，谁才是吃住行de神？
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They even write on the tree that it's a gushu, right? That it's a nice old tree. So it has a nice canopy over. And of course the hutongs, they're not too tall. Oh, it's just so charming. You know where we can get that in Shanghai? The competitive side of rules. This is why you gotta go to Beijing for that. Do you know where we can get it in Shanghai? Every street. No, I'm just kidding. In the former French concession. Oh.

That area. Yeah, that's my favorite area in Shanghai because it reminds me of the Beijing Housheng.

So usually they're gonna ask me where am I from I say Canada and they're like 白秋文大夫 Always or 大山 大山也是你們國的 So these two, they always bring up these two And then what's your response to that? Well I usually just tell me more about them Really? I tell them yeah they're not famous in Canada Can you believe that? They're like what? 這麼不有名呢 這麼好的人

Someone's saying on the internet that food is good, it travels far. For example, Sichuan food, it travels far. But Beijing, doujer, it didn't even travel outside of Erhuan. So that says a lot. It's just stuck in Lao Beijing. Its own market. Very niche.

For example, one time a Beijing friend got a new haircut. I'm like, "Oh, you look like..." 好年輕啊,看起來。 And they're like, 嗨,老黃瓜刷綠漆。 我說什麼意思? 裝嫩唄。 There are like so many slangs.

Because in Beijing, I'm usually biking underneath Li Jiaoqiao. I have to breathe in a lot of car pollution. This is why I don't leave the second ring road. The second ring road. Those bike lanes are beautiful and those streets are less crowded. Wow. I think I come up with a very good rapper name for you, Kristen. It's Kristen the second ring. I never leave my ring. That's how Beijing represents.

I love this conversation because it's a Canadian fighting for Beijing, a Shenzhen person fighting for Shanghai. I'm just playing as a god.

Hello everyone, welcome to the new episode of Nora A Dream. Today we are going to have a big competition between cities. That's right, let's see what the two guests think about which city is more comfortable for Beijing and Shanghai. Today we have two friends who have different opinions on this question. The first is our new friend Kristen. She is from Canada and now lives in Shenzhen. She is a North Korean who has lived in Beijing for 10 years.

她的青葱岁月里面呢都是在北京的胡同里面度过的 那我们的第二位呢是我们的老朋友 Rose Zhu 她是一位深圳的姑娘也在北京住过三年 现在呢正在魔都过不一样的生活 这两位朋友啊都会问哪座城市更加宜居而给出自己的理由 赢的人呢有非常多奖励啊 有来自于我们大家的这个关注力 attention 啊

Today I will be playing a very neutral role, a very low-key God. What I'm going to do today is listen for their opinions. If you like this topic, please stay and listen. If you are very interested in learning English, please take this episode as an English listening time.

Yo yo what's up? We are going to smoothly transition into today's episode. It's going to be in English. We have two very fun ladies to join us and let them welcome themselves and let them introduce themselves first.

On my left-hand side, Kristen Laoshi. So I'm from Canada and I've lived in China for 15 years now. Yeah, I lived in Beijing for 10 years and I've mainly been doing English teaching, but I first came here to like study Chinese in university. And yeah, and now I work as an online influencer. So yeah. And she is very excited about joining our podcast. She didn't say that because she forgot about it. It's okay. Yeah.

Kristen, I also heard that Kristen, this is your first time ever on a podcast. Is that correct? Yeah, I haven't done any podcasts before. I know, I know. We are lucky people to have you a first time with us.

And the next guest, she's been with us for a while. She's also been on stage and let her introduce herself. Hello, I'm Rose. I am from China and I lived in China for about 27 years. Oh, but you're already 47. I spent five years in North America though. So yeah, so I'm 32 this year. Yeah, I'm 33. Yeah,差不多.

差不多,92 年的。 But we both look like we're 23. Of course. You look like you still have hope for life. So let's talk about more hopes for life in this episode. In this episode, we will be funnily talking about some cities in China. So both guests have been introducing themselves a little bit. I myself have mostly lived in Shanghai. I also lived in Hong Kong for maybe five to six years. And also studied in the US for a while. But that's it.

it like i've never lived in um in beijing or like shenzhen before so today i'm gonna be very um like objectively listening for opinions on the cities when we are doing these episodes when we were talking about what what we should discuss and both of you told me that you know like shenzhen is not gonna be in the picture because i'm like oh what's so fun in shenzhen tell me about it and rose said no

Well, I grew up in Shenzhen I spent 19 years in Shenzhen First 19 years of my life And I decided not to live there anymore Fair enough So I've been there like a year and a half And the common joke is just that Everyone's too busy working That's why there's nothing fun to do Really? Everyone's working all the time Overtime Overtime all the time Is it even like I mean, I don't know Like work-life balance-wise Is it even worse than Shanghai and Beijing?

Shenzhen is that competitive? Worse than Beijing, I would say. But the traffic is better. So I guess you get some time back because you're not stuck in traffic. But that time you get back, you're just at work. So it doesn't really... But I feel like Shenzhen is not much better than Beijing, though. Like the traffic in Beijing sucks. But I feel like Shenzhen is very spread out. Oh, no, that's true. That's true. So if you...

want to go travel from the west to the east of Shenzhen that's gonna take like an hour because if you're living in an outer district then yeah but in Beijing you know you can spend like all day going the distance it should take you to do 10 minutes right so in Beijing I would end up riding a bike everywhere because like yeah well because it's nice and flat right you can ride a bike everywhere wow

Wow. Yeah. I was going to say. Most of the time, you'll be stuck like in the car like for like 40 minutes, right? A bike would be like 10 minutes. And then the subway would also maybe be just 10, 15 minutes, but you got to be all stuck in there. And I don't like being stuck in the subway like this. That's not fun. I was going to say, I think you will like Shanghai Death. It's going to have much more bike-friendly than Beijing. Oh, no. Oh, the war has already started.

The war is already starting. Guys, the pre-war part is that we have to tell people why we're not considering Shenzhen. So Rose is talking about that when you were young, you lived there forever. And then you're like, okay, I'm a grown up now. I don't want to live in this city anymore. But why is that? It's definitely about work, right? Because you were a student back then. Well, to be fair, I didn't choose not to live in Shenzhen because I think Shenzhen is boring. I just found that out.

- After I decided not to self-division. - Yeah. Well, it's like I'm from Canada and I just was used to how bloody cold Canada is that I didn't realize just how like uncomfortable it is

- Because like I grew up in it. So I was just like, yeah, it's just cold six months of the year. That's just how it is. But then I lived in Beijing and I'm like, actually, no, the rest of the world is not like this. This is terrible. I can't go back. - 'Cause now you have like a comparison. - Yeah, there are options out there in the world. - Yeah, most of the world is not covered in snow all the time. - But what lured you into living in Shenzhen? - Oh, I went there for work.

That's it. So you are one of the people that is working all the time. - Exactly. - You kind of fulfill your like prophecy of this city. - This is how I know. - Okay. But when you live there for like a year and a half, like what's the high time that you enjoy Shenzhen the most? - You mean like the time of year or? - Anything like the time of year or like what's... - Some of the moments. - Moments, yeah.

After one year and a half. Shenzhen people, don't listen to this episode. You will break your heart. They will agree though, I think.

I don't know. Cause it's like, I mean, I met some lovely people there. I've made some very nice friends. So I would say that's my, that's my highlight. And then the weather is the opposite problem of Canada. It's way too bloody hot. And as a Canadian, it's like, I can't go from one all the way to the other. It's too much. Oh yeah. It's too warm for me.

for you it turns out like yeah so in the summertime like and it'll be really hot for like five or six months of the year and I'll get like heat stroke really easy because I'm just not built for that heat so you know I try to go for a hike in the summertime and I just get like I'm gonna pass out and then I'm like have to go home and I feel sick the rest of the day well to be fair I think it wasn't that hot

when I was growing up, I feel like global warming is real. Yeah. Cause usually during the winter, it was still cold. We needed to wear jackets. Oh yeah. It's cold now. Yeah. But like it was much colder before when I was growing up, maybe because we didn't have the heater, like AC as they do now. Cause I remember two years ago, I went back, I think in February. Yeah. I'm like,

It wasn't this hot, I remember. When I was growing up, I'm like, spring festival wasn't this hot. So it's weird. Well, to justify for Shenzhen, it sounds like it's a very money-saving city because you don't have to turn on AC or heater. This is true. Or like winter jacket is more expensive than the summer bikini. And then of course the Guangdong thing to wear just like the flip-flops all the time. Yes.

The landlord slippers. So like no one in like Shenzhen is showing off with fancy shoes ever. No, because it rains all the time. Again, also in the summer. So then no one wants to wear their nice shoes anywhere. So yeah, I know you save a lot of money on shoes. Yeah. I survived high school with flip flops and Crocs. Oh, yeah. And when everybody's dressing the same, there's nothing called like fashion or unfashioned. It's just the thing. Yeah. People are doing. Oh,

Oh cool So if you are Like crazy About work And if you want To save some money And if you only care About like people That you hang out with Maybe Shenzhen Is a choice But I think Shenzhen Is also nice in a way It's very new Especially in like Nanshan This is true Yeah Because like the Infrastructure Is so new So all the subway lines Are super nice and clean Yeah And I think

Shenzhen in many aspects is more advanced because they have those like automatic what is that called like the airport like check-in like the luggage they have like the what is it called yeah the self check-in and with for the luggage yeah for the luggage it's like so much faster and I think Shenzhen had it first and then Shanghai just had it like maybe a year or two later that makes sense because that airport is much newer right yeah

Oh, so finally, Rose is standing up for her own city. Oh, Shenzhen is nice. Oh, by the way. The environment is really nice. There are a lot of beautiful parks. Are you testing your dad or your mom? You're like, don't say something nice about the city. But now, okay, we are already talking some nice things about Shenzhen. So Shenzhen, we are already good to you, okay? Now you're out of the competition and let's move on.

move our real rivals into this game. So we are not talking about like Shanghai and Beijing because Kristen have been living in Beijing for 10 years. - Yeah. - That's really good. I only went to Beijing for less than 10 times. So you were there much longer than I ever did. - I can show you around. I can be your tour guide then. - I lived there for three years. - Oh, okay. - Yeah. - When were you living there? - 2018 to 2021. - Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah. Beijing was much nicer then.

When I first moved to Beijing Was in 2009 Oh So it was so different Right I can imagine We used paper money Everywhere Right And like Not as many of the subway lines Were open Yeah And just lots of things Were way different Wait is that

the first city they ever lived in China? In China, yeah. Beijing. Yeah, because I went for university. 2009. Yep. So I think that Beijing is very historical and very cultural. Yes. There's very like Chinese essence in the city itself. This was always my favorite thing about Beijing. Okay. Because like, so of course I went to Haidian District for my university. It was at Capital Normal University and then I could just go a little bit into the city into Lao Beijing. Mm.

Old Beijing And then I can go in the hutongs Oh and it's all So so charming Which you went there When you were 18 Yeah Wow Which part of Beijing Like surprised you Or impressed you the most Is the old Beijing Yeah What do you mean Specifically for old Beijing The old men out there In the hutong Are those the most surprising part Of your With the 19th Beijing

The architecture. The architecture. Yeah, the hutongs and the sihe yuan. And the gulou and zhonglou. Yeah, and gugong. So I like the hutongs because you can just go there in the afternoon and hang out on the weekend.

But when you go to Gugong, when you go to the Forbidden City, it's like you're taking someone on a tour guide. So it's not quite as fun. But yeah, and all those neighborhoods, they're all super, super nice. So you kind of spent your like formative years in Beijing. Yeah, that's why like I love Beijing so much. That's understandable. You're biased. Right?

I am biased. I will admit that. I'm super biased for Beijing. Yeah. But when you were in Beijing first, what's one thing that you actually find it to be shocking? Oh, like when I first arrived, like culture shock. Okay, a bunch of different things. Like one, I would say coming from Canada to there, the bathroom situation. I was going to say the hudong toilet specifically. Yes. Yes. They're much nicer now. Were you informed? They definitely renovated a lot of... Yes.

Before you arrived, you knew about it. So I'd always heard these things of like, you know, white woman is in Asia and there's the squatty potties and there's no dividers and all these women are staring at them when they're trying to use the bathroom. And I was like, what the? And then, yeah, and then I experienced that and I was like, oh my God.

I had the same situation. I actually had the reverse culture shock. Okay. Because I never lived in Beijing before. So I went from United States to Beijing. And I went to an event in the Hutong. And they're like, okay, we're now having intermission. You can use the bathroom, by the way. It's Hutong bathroom. So be prepared for a culture experience. Bring your own toilet paper.

Yeah. Yeah. Everything. Oh, okay. I know Hutong bathroom. I thought it's those like with short walls. You can see each other. Some of them have no doors. Yeah. Yeah. So I went in, no doors. Yeah. Just three holes on the ground and maybe one toilet. No walls. And I went in there. That was what year? 2018. 2018.

18. Yeah. I went in. There was even more of them before. Yes. But yeah, a lot of them at least got the doors. Yeah. I went in with three blonde girls. Okay. Like squatting on the hose and like holding their chin, looking at me. I'm like, oh my God. How's it going? I have reverse culture shock.

So you guys have eye contact. You didn't leave the room. You just stay there until they finish their business. Kind of. I think I stepped outside. Did you talk to them? You gotta, you know, be intentional. Well, so I remember and I think it was 2012 and I was in university and like wearing jumpsuits were really popular. So my girlfriends and I, we were all like wearing jumpsuits one night and we were in the hutongs like going to some bars. Yeah. And we had to go to one of those. Oh no.

But you know, to take, because it's pants, so we had to fully take it off. And we were standing there and my friend, she like wasn't even wearing a bra that day. So she's just like, you know, holding her jumpsuit, just like, but actually,

But actually the Chinese Ais, the Beijing Ais, they didn't stare. Okay. They were used to that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's, you know, some good manners. I feel like peeing, I understand. But like, ugh. If you want to do like, number one. Yeah, you got to go. But then that sucks. You're surrounded by people.

Wow. I've never challenged myself of the Hutong toilet. I wish I never have to. You should try next time. But when you guys were trying, I don't know about you, but Kristen, when you were trying it, were you drunk or tipsy or you were 100% sober? Oh, both. Like I had to use them sober, used them drunk. Yeah, yeah. Definitely more challenging when you're drunk and there's no handles. Oh, yeah. Because if there's no walls, then there's no hand.

So that's really rough. You can use the other stranger as your balance. You're like, holding a lady. Hey, let me hold you for a second. Hold her shoulder. Don't listen. Don't move. Just be there for me. Well, you know, just help me. Just...

Wow. And then when was the first time that you go back to visit your family in Canada after you first moved to China? Well, so when I was in university, I would go back every winter break and summer break. Okay. So we would get like two months holiday. So I would spend almost all the two months back in Canada. Okay. I'm curious. What's one thing that you talk to your parents or your family? Like, hey, you got to check out this thing in Beijing. There was like two main things.

- Too many things to mention. - Too many things. - Because everything is so different, I never knew where to start. - But did you recommend the most about one thing to do? Definitely not the toilet, right? - Oh mom, try this, you will love this. - And when my parents, yeah, when they came to visit, I would constantly, when we were leaving, like warn them what the bathroom situation was gonna be like, where we were going. I'd be like, "Kay, I wanna take you to this nice place for Beijing duck, but it's in the hutongs, so you're gonna need to pee before we go. Try not to pee while we're there."

Yeah, and I would tell them about the food, but Chinese food is so different from Canadian food that even though it's delicious, it's hard for Westerners to get used to it. It'll often give us tummy troubles. Same if you like, whenever I'd be here a long time and then go back to Canada, because it's harder to find cheese in China. Yeah.

There's just less cheese in the grocery stores and stuff like that. So when I'd go back to Canada, my parents loved to eat cheese before every meal. So I went way too hard on the cheese and that really upset my stomach. Even white people have that problem. Yes.

Yes, because there's so much bacteria in cheese. So if you never have that bacteria and then suddenly you have a whole bunch at once, your stomach's going to be like, the fuck is this? Evacuate. You've been Asianized. That's true. Lactose intolerant. Well, it's just like your gut bacteria. You're not used to it.

it anymore yeah yeah cool okay so now we just like naturally moving to this um game okay so you're already talking about like beijing for a little bit and then um rose um surprisingly is not your parents right so um she knows a lot about china already and then she is able to understand the definition or like sorry concept of beijing um and but she's also living there but can you try to picture to her you know like what's the food

That you would definitely recommend In Beijing If you want to attract other people To live in Beijing Okay So I'm going to paint you a picture It's a sunny summer day And you're in Lao Beijing In the Hutongs And you don't go to Nanlong Gu Xiang Because it's way too crowded You stay away from there

But you go either to Beiluoguxiang or the one just down, Baochauhutong. And those two streets are so charming. They have these nice old trees. And you know, they even write on the tree that it's a gushu, right? That it's a nice old tree. So it has a nice canopy over. And of course, the hutongs, they're not too tall. Oh, it's just so charming. You know where we can get that in Shanghai? The competitive side of Shanghai.

to go to Beijing for that. Do you know where we can get in Shanghai? Every street. In the former French concession. Oh, in that area. Yeah, that's my favorite area in Shanghai because it reminds me of the Beijing Hucheng. Yeah.

But the French concession, that's like a proper street. So like the Bao Chao Hutong and the Beilu Guxiang, these ones are like walking streets. So they don't allow cars on there anymore. So it's so much, and for that reason, it's way more quiet because there's no traffic going by you. So you don't hear the car noise anymore.

So you just hear the birds and you have the nice trees. And there's some really nice places to go for brunch or to go to some cafes there. Super, super charming. You know where we have nice brunch and cafes?

I love it how Kristen segues her persuasion as like a therapist. She's like, oh, imagine that you're in this area. Just do this dream and then walk yourself inside. And Rose is like, I'm sober, okay? I'm not paying for the therapist.

I'm sober. But to be fair, I like Beijing too. And I also like Shanghai for different reasons. Yeah, that's fair. Because everything has its own good sides. We even found something nice to say about Shenzhen. The word even is a very critical word to be attended to. But so Rose, when you were in Beijing, which part of the food that you liked the most? That was how many areas did you live in? I'm trying to think what food does Beijing have? No, it's...

and lots of Dongbei Chai. Dongbei Chai is pretty good. Well, so, because I've been a pescatarian. Oh. Yeah, so I... So pescatarian is eating fish? Yeah. And no other meat? No other meat. Okay. I did have Beijing duck about like 15 years ago when I went there as a kid. But it's so delicious. I loved it. I loved it. I know. It's very fatty, crunchy skin. You know, duck is considered a type of fish. It swims. It swims. It's in the water. Yeah.

The sea animals also. My friend tried to convince me that seagull is also part of the seafood. The word sea is right in the name. So I'm following their logic. Totally. I actually like Beijing because I'm not a huge foodie. So I don't mind eating just a variety of food. But I think the food...

Maybe the quality in Shanghai is a little bit better from my understanding. But what I liked about Beijing though, I think the people in Beijing are very down to earth, comparatively speaking. Yeah, and also I think it also depends on my personal circumstances. Because back then I was working for a company. And right now in Shanghai, I work for myself. So I feel like my social circle is different. But I just felt like the people in Beijing that I've encountered are much more down to earth and more talkative.

from my experience for example like dd drivers in beijing usually they chat they want to chat your ear off absolutely but in shanghai very few want to chat yeah okay like most of them just stay quiet for the whole ride but in beijing because in yeah in beijing when they find out i can speak chinese oh my god tell me the history of this beautiful city don't you know this is the best city in the

in the world and yeah they want to tell me everything yeah so you guys love a chatty driver I don't mind I think it's very well it depends sometimes it's very nice it's actually a nice conversation yeah it's more I feel more connected

But here, I just feel like, generally speaking, I felt more distant in terms of people, interactions. Really? How about you, Kristen? I find it depends on my mood. Sometimes I want to chat with the driver. Other times, I'm like, dude, I'm busy. But the nice thing for me is that when I'm busy and I need to do something, I just ting budong. Ting budong.

That's convenient. Yes, it's very convenient. Yes, yes. And if I want to chat, then, you know, then I will really let them know how good my Chinese is. Pretend that I'm the Beijing driver, okay? So if you want to chat, you get on my car. Yeah. 哎,小姑娘去哪儿? 哦,我是三立坡。 哦,北京的三立坡。 哦,还可以啊,日本也有偶尔。

北京在多少年了? 已经来了很久了。 很久了,挺喜欢咱北京的。 对哦。 你的口音也怪怪的。 她被你逮跑偏了。 我的口音已经不那个北京的那个口味,已经变成那个广东的口味。 广东的口味。 我现在已经都是 Yalong.

- So I'm very curious 'cause I've never been a foreigner in the driver's eyes, right? So what kind of history or what kind of like episodes, the stories they would fill in that you find it to be, huh, I wanted to know more.

Well, so usually they're going to ask me, where am I from? I say Canada. And they're like, oh, Baiqiu and Daifu. Always. Or Dashan. Dashan is also your country. So these two. They always bring up these two. And then what's your response to that? Well, I usually just tell me more about them. I tell them, yeah, they're not famous in Canada. Can you believe that? And they're like, what?

这么不有名呢 这么好的人 But you literally have never heard of Bai Chuo Before I come to China But Da Shan I know that Da Shan mainly does his entertainment business in China So I think that he's He performed in a musical before Shawshank Redemption

Yeah, I saw that. Oh, Chinese version. Yeah, yeah. He was Andy Dufresne, right? Yeah. Did you try to like, reversely promote some of the Canadian characters to them? Oh,

Sometimes. Like if they'd ask me who else is famous from Canada, I'd be like, well, Avril. I'll weigh her. They all know every year. Oh, she's my favorite. So they don't know. No, they all know. Yes. Wow. The drivers are very tough. I always like to have blonde hair. So they're like, oh, yeah.

- Just be polite. - No, but Canadians say so too. - Oh really? - So I think it's a little true. - That's cool. What if next time you're like, "Oh, Ai Wei is famous." And you can tell them, "Hey, ask my name." - They'll be like, "What?"

Or you know Maybe she's my biaojie Biaojie Yeah That's cool So they wanted to fill it up With the Who's famous Yeah Part Would they ever try to tell you Some historical stories Between I don't know China and Canada Oh Between China No not

between our two countries because they really know nothing else of Canada. Like, they'll often be like, so what language do you speak there? What? Like, they really don't know much about Canada. You're like Canadian. Yeah. Or like, they'll be like, so you're above them? Like, they're not even sure where Canada is. Oh, interesting. Yeah. Geographically. Or they'll be like, so Canada's cold, right? And I'm like, yeah, real cold. Okay.

And they'll be like, oh, in the winter, they'll be like, yeah, not as cold as here though, right? I'm like, no colder. Much colder. But what kind of stories of Beijing would they try to... Oh, yeah, they'll tell me like, of course, because I would always be going to old Beijing. So they'll be like, oh, you know, old Beijing. 500 years of history here. No, 5000 years. No, I don't know. They tell me...

Different versions. Different versions. But I think it depends on the driver. I guess because I'm not a foreigner, so they don't try to advertise, teach me about the history. But usually we just have like a personal chat. And some conversations actually turn out to be really good. What does the driver ask you about, Rose? Like, oh, are you from Beijing? Like, how long have you been in Beijing? And we're like, oh, what about you? And then we talk about our family.

You know, so it's actually like a good conversation. Like a person-to-person connection, right? Yeah. But I feel like it's a little bit less common in Shanghai. Like I still talk to some of the drivers, but just less common. And you're okay with sharing your personal stories with the random driver? I think it depends on the driver. If they ask in a creepy way, then no. But,

But if they ask in a very friendly way, but they ask about your family, I don't know, components, family members, like they ask about, you know, like, I don't know. Like, I just feel like sharing my family stories with a driver because I've always lived in Shanghai. I find it to be a bit awkward. Maybe it's a Shanghai thing. No, I'm open to share because it's not like private, right? Yeah. If you share, but like, don't give specific details. Like, I have two brothers.

Yeah. But you just don't say their name and their ID card number, you know? Yeah, just don't be writing down the shunfen zheng for them. Yeah, then it's fine. But what they ask about, I don't know, like, what they ask about your, like, jobs? Oh,

Sometimes. But for example, I had this nice conversation on my way to the airport, actually in Shanghai, before Spring Festival, Chinese New Year. And we're talking, he's like, oh, you know, I'm from Shandong. I'm just here to make a couple months money. And I go back to Shandong. Where are you going? Where are you going to spend your Chinese New Year? So we had this very nice conversation. Yeah. And it's nothing private or probing.

I guess the reason I'm asking is because I used to work close to here so I work in the 企业天地 and then I have to get off really late for a lot of times and when I call for a taxi the driver's question always makes me feel uncomfortable they'll be like oh you work in this building oh you must be earning a

earning a lot. Oh, blah, blah, blah, blah. I feel like that's a little bit weird though. Right? But that's also kind of a Chinese thing is they're always asking you how much money you make. At least to me, they're always like, so do you make a lot of money here? How much do you pay for rent?

for rent would it ask you yeah they always ask me that oh and so chinese people don't like that question either because everyone that's just a chinese thing that they just will ask you these things because in canada you'd never ask someone how much money they make or how much they pay for rent or how much they spend on their house or their car like you don't we don't discuss those things it feels rude right so i feel rent is okay i feel like income might be a little bit too personal but rent is okay because sometimes i want to know the market oh

Like how much you pay for like apartment in this area. Yeah. Because you will also ask the driver. And that's why you're like, oh, I'm going to share my stories. And you share yours. Maybe I'm the creepy one. But yeah, I guess that also depends on, I don't know, like the age or the generation of the driver. Because now that I think about it, my dad, when we would travel abroad, he always asked the drivers like, what's the local real estate market like?

Like this area, like how much is the price of the... - Your dad's gonna invest? - No, he just curious. And then he will be like, he loves to chat with people. - But he'll be asking about incomes? - No, he will only ask about the real estate. And also he will ask about like, if he see, usually it's a Chinese driver, right? 'Cause otherwise they couldn't converse. But he will ask them how many years have been living in this country. And then is your parents or your grandpa generation moved to the country?

"Why don't you move back?" "Are you married?" My dad would ask those type of questions. And then the people would just like, "Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh." And then they just answer. I was like, "You don't have to answer all of them." "Just start it." But there is one thing I actually learned this concept in Shanghai, which is the concept of hanging out or killing time. Because in Beijing, most of my friends live so far away from me.

For example, I live in Shuangji. Yeah. And they live in Haidian. Yeah. And I see them like once a year because it takes about an hour to an hour and a half to see them. So you better have something constructive to say. So sometimes we see each other, we talk about like the projects we're working on. Yeah. Very efficient. Very efficient. But you guys should be meeting in the middle then. Yeah, but still. Why aren't you meeting in Sanlitun or in Behutong? Why are you going all the way

way over there still i think it even takes like maybe close to an hour if i'm in the traffic to get to the hutong yeah but it depends you know my friend had like a birthday party at home he lives in like haidian so i'm like okay so i spent like an hour to an hour and a half in subway to travel to his apartment but anyway so i actually i when i after i moved to shanghai i was hanging out with a few friends i'm like okay so what's the agenda today and they're like there's no agenda just hanging out i'm like is that a thing okay how is that public i

I feel so uncomfortable. I don't know like where to put my hands, you know, what to do. Yeah. It's a very foreign concept. What do I do with my hands? Well, like the foreigners. Yeah. Well, cause like we would always just hang out in Beijing. Cause when you go to, that's where you meet in the middle. Everyone goes meet. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That one's a really nice place now. Yeah. Yeah. I'm very curious. Cause I know that there are certain area in Shanghai where like foreigners will like, um,

You can see a lot of foreigners live there, right? And then how about in Beijing? Is there certain areas? Yeah, so it depends on the type of foreigner. So there's like joke about that before. So in the Hutongs, you'll actually see a lot of them and we would call them Hutong hipsters. That's like, that's me over here. Yeah, yeah. And then like the more like modern kind of people, they'll be in Chaoyang or in Shuangjing. There's a bunch.

Yeah. And how do you call them? You guys are Hutong hipsters and they're like modern vampires? Like, what's that? I don't really remember. Oh, I just remember Hutong hipsters They don't deserve a name. Oh, no. They don't...

I can't remember. Oh, and then of course there's the Wudaoko students. So over in Haidian district up in the north in Wudaoko, that's where all the students are. So like the American frat bros, they're all like up there, but they're like, you know, doing frat bro the Chinese way. Yeah.

Chinese frat bros. What's a Chinese way of frat? They're basically being frat bros but doing it in China. So they're like drinking? Eating a lot of chwar. Eating a lot of chwar? Yeah. Is it frat boys or fat boys? Like a lot of...

Well, they're skinny because they're young. That's true. Yeah, yeah. Because they're like probably 20 because they're in university. But later on, they're probably not skinny anymore. You got to pay back. Yeah. But you know, they like those places in Beijing where you would like have the restaurant on the side of the road, right? On the sidewalk. Lu Bian Tan. Yes, yes, yes. And then you have the green Yanjing beers. Right? Yeah, the tall. How do they call them? The Lu...

鹿串 No, no, the beers, they would call them a green something. 鹿金? 棒 or something? I don't know. Like they're called kind of like a green stick or something. Okay. Yeah, but I can't remember what that word is. 绿什么的吗? Is it green something? 绿 something? Yeah. Maybe if there's some Beijing friends in the comments.

You can bring it up. Okay. I love the Luobin Han in Beijing. Oh, yes. I don't think they have, at least Central Shanghai, I don't think they have those. Yeah, and not so much in Shenzhen either. So Beijing is also famous for its Douzhi. Oh.

- Oh, that's terrible. - Okay. - That's terrible. - Very glad to know that nobody loves doujou. Who is enjoying doujou? Like why is this to do a business like industry? - I think it's supposed to be healthy. - It's traditional. - Yeah. - It's healthy. - Like how can we make it tastier? That's my question. 'Cause I know like kale, kale juice is not that tasty if you add something. - It's tasty. - Is it? - I don't mind kale juice, yeah. - Yeah, kale juice is much better than doujou.

Much better than dou zhe. Dou zhe has a long way to go. Like you cannot even put dou zhe with other juice to make it better. Like it just, it ruins everything. I remember seeing someone saying on the internet that a food is good, it travels far. For example, like Sichuan food, it travels far. But Beijing, dou zhe, it didn't even travel outside of Erhuan. So that says a lot. Yeah. It's just stuck in Lao Beijing. Yeah.

It's on market. Very niche. We are also famous for some of the food.

Anything to recommend to Kristen, Rose? I'm pescatarian. You have more... Oh, xiaolongbao. You can have xiaolongbao, right? But it's usually made of pork. Oh, but there's like shrimp, right? Poor Rose, poor Rose. But I only eat the vegetable ones. Jing su, xiaolongbao. But you don't like the shrimp ones? Because you can have shrimp, right? Yeah, but I think most of the xiaolongbao, it's either pork or... I think it's like a mix of pork and shrimp a lot of times. Not pure shrimp. Right.

So now I will be I'll be replacing roles To attract you Attract your attention To the food in Shanghai But especially in these years I think that there are a lot of like I don't know Dianxin Become famous Including Pai Gu Nian Gao It's the sticky rice With the pork Ribs Oh

And it's famous because of the TV shows. Oh, okay. There are TV shows, Fan Hua, which is talking about the Shanghai old stories. Yeah. And then, Pai Gu Nian Gao is one of the dishes that the main characters are always having. Oh, okay, okay. So, it becomes a thing. And I also grew up eating it. Like, my parents wouldn't treat it as like a formal meal, but they will treat it as like an afternoon dim sum thing. Oh, okay. And then, I personally love it. And also, like the Hu Die Su and all the stuff. Oh,

Yeah. Hu Dian Su. We were talking about that last time as well. I never remember the name of it. But basically, it's like, butterfly is crispy. Hu Dian Su. Oh, crispy butterfly. But it's actually like a pastry. Oh, okay. And then, that's also very famous. I wouldn't say that I would eat it every single day, but...

Butterfly cracker Okay But the Guoji Fan Tian Looks nice Like every single day During Chinese New Year If I ever walk Past that area You will see like A huge line People Just waiting To get the Hu Dian Su It's really crazy And of course There's just one store That's really famous for it So everyone lines up there Right? Yeah Because like in Beijing In the Hutongs There's two spots like that There was one place That there'd always be This giant line And I'd be like What do they sell there? Why does everyone Love this so much? And it was just Mantou

I was like what's everybody lining up an hour for mantou what how can it be like that much better than the every other mantou yeah have you ever tried that special mantou I didn't ever want to wait in line for that specific one but of course I have mantou lots of times and I think it always tastes nice but there's always a stories I think that mantou will have its own stories store is probably just famous yeah it's like a grandpa and a grandma grandma is making mantou waiting for grandpa and

And it's close to Nanluo Guxiang. So then the other tourists coming to Beijing, they see the other people in line and they're like, oh, me too. Yeah. This must be good then. Stories, like the very view of people lining up and also like the smell of it. Even though I've had it and I know that after one like a hudiesu, I will be so fed up with it. But every time when I freshly smell the smell, I will still be falling for that for a while. They even have huangyou for that. They even have huangyou, which is crazy. Okay.

But yeah Like hu tian sui What else And in this specific years You guys eat any like Tang yuan for yuan xiao Didn't But I've had it before Okay And is it meat No No I haven't had the meat one See that's the thing In Shanghai Every dim sum is meat We have like a Xian rou That's why I haven't had those

鲜肉汤圆, we also have 鲜肉月饼. Even for mooncake, I never loved those like sweet ones. Oh, yeah, yeah. I did see like a store that said that they had the 鲜肉月饼. Yeah, a lot of them. There's meat in mooncake? Yes. Because usually I just know that there's the egg inside. Right. Or like the other sweet things. Right. Yeah. You know the Chinese story is that in the moon, there's rabbit, right? Yeah. Rabbit lives with the 长鹅, like the fairy, right? There's also pig, so there's a pork in the mooncake. Oh, I didn't

know about the pig either when did the pig come into the story I just made it up thank you for supporting me Rosa I almost couldn't continue with my story this is the Shanghai version the Shanghai version I just I just realized that like we love meat so much before I met like friends from other cities I didn't know that it's a specific scene for Shanghai but then I learned that you know like in other cities they don't have any meat specific yeah

Ingredients for those dim sums But in Shanghai That's mostly everything we need That's why like When I was thinking about Okay what can Rose eat For sure there's nothing Because like

Sadly, yes. But even the best 葱油拌面 is with 猪油. Oh, shit. Not even that now. Not even that. So because of that, 酥鸡 is a good thing. 酥鸡 is a good thing. Have you ever had like a purely veggie food, but they will be in the disguise as like a regular dish? I think 宫德林, Godly is very famous for that. Like fake meat. Yeah.

Yeah. Like fake xie fen. Yeah. When I had that for the first time, it would blow my mind because it was... You couldn't tell the difference. Yeah. It was so delicious. So they use like... What do they use instead? I think it's tofu related stuff. Yeah. For most of the dishes. But it's very delicious and it could cheat your mind basically. Yeah. But if you never had that, then you would never know the amazingness about the food. And we would have to move to the culture side. Yeah.

of both cities. And then, so Kristen, starting with you, you started a little bit about, you know, like the forbidden city, Gugong and all this and that, and Hutong a little bit. But what else? Because you've lived there for 10 years. There's no way that only two places can keep your interest, right? Of course not. So my favorite area would be the Hutongs, like I've said so many times. But then also, of course, I like the Chaoyang District. So like Sanlitun, that's where all the other foreigners are. And there's a lot of good cafes

cafes and restaurants and bars and stuff. - You know where we have nice restaurants and bars? - Yeah, but like, so I would love to go to those areas and then like, 'cause it's close enough to the Hutongs that we could ride a bike there, right?

So especially like one of my favorite bars was Patio Shays and like you go in there and it's just all other foreigners. So what I really like about that is that then I don't feel too homesick when I'm in Beijing because if I want to feel surrounded by foreigners and feel like a break from being so Chinese or something, then I can like go there and then yeah.

That's cool. That's cool. I don't know, like when you were having fun in Beijing, like what's one thing you think that Beijing is very different from other cities or your hometown Canada? Instead of going out to the bar, then in Canada, we go to someone's house a lot. That's true. House parties a lot. Yeah. So like my friend, instead of my friends being like, after, hey,

Like someone's going to, we're going to come over after work. Like a bunch of us are hanging out at my house. Do you want to join us? Like we're going to play board games, video games, have some drinks. Like, so in China instead, it's like, hey, we're all going to, so it's such and such place later tonight. Do you want to join? Right. And then, yeah, like just we all show up whenever. Yeah. Have you lived in Canada as an adult? Yeah. I tried twice and I didn't like it. You tried. I tried twice.

For how long? The first time, I think I lasted eight months. And then the second time, I was home for one year. And then I wanted to come back to China. But at the end of that one year, it was 2020. Oh.

So I couldn't come back to China. I had to wait because I didn't have my visa anymore. And they were not issuing visas during that time. So you were forced to stay in Canada for a few years? I had to wait. I had to wait until 2022. It was honestly so hard. Which part of Canada?

I was in BC, so not Vancouver. I was in a city called Vernon, which is close to Kelowna. And nobody knows where that is other than people who have been there before. I'm going to put a hard question on you, Kristen. So for your hometown. My hometown is actually Brandon, Manitoba. You have to persuade us, me and Rose, to ever go to that hometown. She's not even convinced herself. I don't know.

- No, no, no, just go there for a visit. - You wanna see snow? - Okay. - Not even to visit? - Well, don't go, okay, do you wanna know what the weather is right now? It's probably minus 30. - Oh, still? - Literally the other day I was looking, oh yeah, it'll be minus 30 till March. Like it's cold. - Like half a year. - Yes, I wasn't joking when I said it's like six months cold. It's minus 31 right now, I stand corrected. - What? - Yeah, check it, Brandon, minus 31. - For how many?

- Months? - Yeah, at least until March. - I don't think I've ever been in places that cold. - Minus 31, yeah. 'Cause Harbin can get that cold sometimes too, but it's usually, Harbin's usually minus 20 something. So even Harbin ain't that cold. - That's crazy. - Yeah. So that's why I'm not gonna try to convince you to go there. - Maybe in the summer. - Yeah, the summer's kinda nice. 'Cause it can get up to plus 30 in the summer. But we have this joke in my hometown that if the winter doesn't kill you, then the mosquitoes in the summer will because-

Then in the summertime, you got another problem, which is just mosquitoes everywhere. Because there's a lot of lakes in that area. So it's like very like wet. It'll rain a lot. Lots of mosquitoes. So many mosquitoes. Yeah. When I was a kid and I used to like go out into the backyard to go run and play in the grass. Right. The amount of times I swallowed a mosquito because just walking outside the door, they're all like just in a cloud waiting for you. So you walk out and you're like...

Like literally so often. Yeah. Extra protein. Yeah. That's the joke we would make. Exactly. So you don't come to China to live. You come here to survive. Literally. I was shocked. How can people still live there then if they sound super inhabitable? Yeah. Like I mentioned before, it's like because I grew up there, I just didn't realize how uncomfortable it was until I left. And then now that I've left, I can't really go back to Canada because I'm like, I can't. The mosquitoes.

Mosquitoes, it's like... Yeah. Where is it geographically? But the mosquitoes are the better problem. Like the cold is the much worse problem. Because like, oh, and then it snows all the time. So you have to shovel out your car. You have to shovel the snow off your car, but it's minus 30. It's so bloody cold to go outside when it's like that. It's really... That's crazy. I would be depressed. Yeah. A lot of people do get seasonal depression. And then the sun goes down at like three or four o'clock. Like it's... Yeah. Where is it geographically? Is it close to the...

Yeah, I think it's the same north as like... I think it's the same north as Beijing, but it's...

It's just a lot colder. There's something about the way that the air flows through there. Is it west coast or east coast? Manitoba is in the middle. Oh, okay. Yeah. So actually BC, where my parents live now, they moved there because it's slightly warmer. It's only minus 11 today. So warm. So warm. Like spring. Exactly. Exactly. But like for Canada, that is a lot warmer.

That's crazy. Wow. Maybe just not move to Shanghai yet because Shanghai is too paradise compared to a hometown. You don't want to get spoiled. That's why I didn't leave Beijing.

leave Beijing because I'm like this is such an improvement you know what would be improvement oh Shanghai yeah I mean but Rose you can start with like how much you love Shanghai about it cultural having fun wise well I will probably share something about like it's more like a

micro cultural wise is that I can dress up or down in Shanghai I can always find my community I don't feel uncomfortable dressing up or down but if I dress up in Beijing I feel like I'm overdressed I think you're going to

in the wrong place let me take you out next time in Beijing but still the places I go people do dress up but if I dress crazy I just feel like I don't get as many stares here in Shanghai because people are more used to unusual clothing what's a crazy outfit that you're talking about I've worn some pretty weird outfits in Beijing and people didn't

Well, people look anyways because I'm a foreigner. But there's like this funny thing like because I've been in Beijing so long that like, you know, when you're no longer new to a city, so you just like walk with a purpose. People don't really stare at you anymore. So I never found people would stare at me at all in Beijing. So I'd be like, I know what I'm doing. I just feel like the area where you can dress up in Beijing, well, from my personal experience, it's much smaller than the area you can dress up in Shanghai. I feel like Shanghai, you can dress up pretty much everywhere in the city, except

except when you go to maybe the suburb. But in Beijing, I feel like I can only dress up when I go to like Sanli Tour or like the clubs and bars. Oh, okay. So maybe this is the difference. I spend a lot of time in Sanli Tour. So I'm like, what do you mean you can't dress up? I dressed up all the time. So Rose, what's your crazy outfit? I'm still curious. Yeah. Well, maybe not like crazy as in like you... Because you always wear like a gym... That's because Spicy's not paying me enough. What?!

You can dress whatever you want here. That's the thing though. Like when I first moved to Shanghai, I always felt the pressure that I need to dress up. But now I feel like I can be myself. I can dress up or down whenever I want to. But usually when I say crazy, I mean like more revealing clothing. Like maybe show more skin. I just feel like I'm getting more stares and

Beijing I feel the difference might be because of the industries in Shanghai and Beijing because Beijing doesn't have many like fashion related industry or finance related industry Beijing's mostly what I don't even know art culture politics maybe some embassies because all the embassies are there so anything to do with yeah mostly politics and international stuff it's just not as free spirited yeah but I guess you have to dress conservatively right right

Shanghai is more like you have more advertisement people like the

the PR people, different brands. And also like most of the big internet companies are in Beijing, right? They're headquarters. But in Shanghai is more new, like trendy stuff. Industry wise. - Okay. - So I feel like the cultural is a little bit different. - Yeah. - Yeah. - But either way, people in both cities dress better than in Canada. We always dress for comfort. - That's true. You dress for survival. - Yeah, dress for survival.

and for comfort. So in Canada, I'm always overdressed. So like, that's why I'm like, you feel overdressed in Beijing? Like what? Cause it was such a big, like, you know, when I went to Beijing, I was like, Oh, I can dress up nice everywhere I go. That's great. Cause in Canada, when I dress nice, people are like, what are you all dressed up for? Like, where are you going?

I have a very like different perspective or observation than Rose is that I feel like just overall in even in Canada I believe that I can wear more like revealing clothes that's for sure that doesn't matter to like whether fashion or not it's just that you're too cold in Canada

Oh, that's true. I'm not dressing for the mosquitoes. I still have to dress for myself. But yeah, like I realized that when I was like staying in California, for example, I didn't know that you can wear like leggings or like yoga pants just on the street. I find that to be very revealing because your whole body shape is out there. That was my first time seeing people just don't care about that. Because Lululemon's from Canada. So we wear that every single day. Yeah. I was like, I know.

I know my like male classmates like oh yeah bottom shape that women wear yoga pants everywhere they're like this is the best yeah I was like I don't need to know your shape like that's too much information for me but they wear that all the time and then I find it so people

are taking it like very naturally they wouldn't really stare at you yeah once you get used to it then it's not like so because like men aren't creepy about it because they see it all the time so every now and then they might be like oh yeah yeah and i love it it's great but like when i'm in canada wearing yoga pants because i do that too like no one's ever like nobody ever does that yeah um i also learned my own way to get used to that because i was also creepy in the first place like there are so many beautiful ladies around me and they were so like revealing me i'm like oh

am I supposed to can I do this yeah where should I look so then I started to wear like as well the the the the outfit yeah it's like okay I also like pay my price so yeah I'm gonna look at you you can also look at me it's a fair trade yeah like that reminds me of like a friend recently a Chinese friend he was like oh I was in New

York and like when we would go out to the bar they'd always be wearing these tops that like kind of fall forward do you know what I'm talking about like a top that's loose here right so when you lean forward it falls open and then he's like and because of this so every time they would always have to hold their shirt and he's like so I don't understand why would they wear this top what that they have to hold it every time that's a part of their act do you know what I mean it's like oh

I think in China that we have a lot of like derivative industries from that. For example, we have so many 防走光系列. 我知道防走光, like I'm Thai. 走光 is like you review your cleavage or this and that. 防走光 is like...

And tie that? No, no, like to Flash it? Yeah Flash protection Protective stuff Yeah We have so many stuff Like we have the 防走光 肩帶 防走光 Like stickers Body tapes Yeah We have like 防走光 shorts Like we have 防走光 everything But I think those are more To prevent the creepy men Yeah

Yeah. Yeah. But like, the point is they'll let it do that because they like to have to clutch their shirt, you know? Yeah. Yeah. It's like, I think it's nice because when people are wearing like very long, like a dress, for example, very part of you holding a bit of your dress is a part of, I don't know, like the pose as well, right? Like you love that. It's also part of

the act you look like a princess to this extent oh okay so we talk a bit about the uh the cultural wise i think there's one more thing i wanted to add um i think it's very different is that because shanghai is like comparatively like more compact than beijing because like so then one day you might be able to visit different parts of shanghai just within one day i find that to be quite hard to realize in beijing like you can only have one destination for fun is that i feel like

you're going to the wrong places in Beijing. I should go with you. Yeah, you should let me take you around because it sounds like someone's trying to take you to, I don't know, like to the Ming tombs and then the temple of heaven. You can't do both of those in a day. Like they're on the opposite sides. You can't go to Xiangshan and then go somewhere else. Like, yeah, that won't work. So it's like, you kind of just have to plan your day around what's close together. So like, you

you know if you wanted to I don't know go to like the Tsinghua University campus you could do that and then like hang out in Wudaoko and then like oh there's also Yuanmingyuan and Summer Palace over there so you have to pick the things that are all together yeah I feel like that's just okay I think I read I came across a

a term if I remember correctly on the internet that Beijing is a multi-centered city and Shanghai is more like a one-centered city so then I feel like then my difference is that I just stay in old Beijing I stay within the second and third ring road I hardly ever go outside of that area so like that's why I think my view is quite different because I have Chinese friends who will go out to Tongzhou and to me Tongzhou is another city that's a whole different city that's a different place that's not Beijing anymore yeah

Yeah Or like someone will be like Oh yeah I'm out past the fifth ring And I'm like the fifth ring I'm not going there You can come to meet me Okay No Okay Let's play a game I'm gonna just Come up with this like Fictional character Yeah But you guys job Is to picture One perfect day routine In your each cities For this fictional character Okay So we start with This fictional character We start with the easy one Alright She's in her 20s She's like 22 years old Okay She works in

Let's say Advertising industry Okay So she's doing Like marketing stuff Yeah She's American And then she wanted to know Like what fits her the most About Beijing or Shanghai So you as a local tour guide Where would you bring her to? Okay Which we want to start Okay Kristen you go So Let's give her name To make her more personal Her name is gonna be

What's a better name? Jennifer. I have a friend named Jennifer in Beijing. There we go. Okay. So I'm going to need to know what kind of food she wants to eat. But let's say she wants to have like a nice classic brunch because we're having a full day. So we're going to go. There's a place on Bao Chao Hutong, but I don't remember the name of it, but I would be able to find it. So I'll bring her there. Jennifer is lost. No, I'm

not lost. I know exactly where I'm going. I can picture it, but I just don't remember the name of it. We're going to go there and then we're going to ride some bicycles. So in the afternoon, uh, I'll take her over to Houhai. And if we have time, I don't know how much time we have this day, but maybe we can sit on a boat for a while. That's really nice in the summertime. She likes craft beer. Then we can go to, um, what's it called? Daiyue Pijiu, which is also in the Hutong. So we can walk there. We can walk all these distances or we can ride a bike.

And then if she wants to see more big city vibes, then after we're doing that, then maybe we'll take a taxi. Cause we've had some alcohol. Um,

But if we didn't drink, then we could ride a bike all the way to Sanlitun, which I feel like Beijing is better on a bike because they've got great bike lanes. They have like the little divider. So like the cars can't get into the bike lane at all. So it's safer. So anyways, we can ride our bikes there and then we can go to Sanlitun like Taikuli and we can wander around there if she wants to do some shopping. And then we can go maybe to one of the restaurants back there.

So what kind of food does she want to eat? Chinese food? Chinese. Anything Chinese. Then I'm going to take them to some Peking duck or hot pot. Depends on which one she wants. But the Beijing style hot pot is a little bland. But is she a foreigner? Yeah, she's American. Okay, then she'd be okay with it. Because like...

Because sometimes the spicy hot pot is too spicy for foreigners, right? So the Beijing hot pot is like, you know, with the mushroom base and it has the sesame sauce. More neutral. Yeah, it's much more neutral. Maybe she's been in China a while. Maybe her tummy is upset. Maybe she just wants to have a burger. Okay, I've got options for burgers. Very considerate. Yeah. This isn't my first time showing someone around Beijing. I can show someone a very nice time in Beijing. Yeah. Wow. That's not fair. Oh, yes.

Jennifer is like, okay, thank you so much, Kristen, but I have to learn biking first, okay? Because everything involves biking. Walk and then take cactus. Or the subway, actually. Oh, subway might be a little annoying because you maybe have to join, but it's fine. I want to argue that I think the biking in Shanghai is much better than biking in Beijing. Oh, so what's your one day? There's no little white...

fences though the cars can hit you but there are bike lanes and the environment is much nicer because in Beijing I'm usually like biking underneath like Li Jiaoqiao I have to like breathe in a lot of car pollution but here like this is why I don't leave the second ring road laughing

The second ring road Those bike lanes Are beautiful And those streets Are less crowded Wow I think I come up With a very good Rapper name for you Kristen It's Kristen The second ring Okay I never leave my rear Beijing represent

So Rose, what's your one day? That's a little bit hard because I don't do this very often. It's waiting for you. Okay. But because Nora mentioned that she works in marketing. Okay. Nora doesn't give out irrelevant information. So if she wants to do some like market research. Okay.

Wow. I can take her to the very nice little stores in the former French concession. Oh, those places are nice. Yeah. And then is Tianzi Fang near there? Yeah, but Tianzi Fang is like the Nanluo hometown where people shouldn't go. It's a little crowded, right? Yeah. And it's kind of like outdated. It's very touristy. Oh, okay. Because the one time I went to Tianzi Fang was during a weekday, so it was fine. It wasn't crowded or anything. But yeah, I didn't have the nicest... Did you buy anything there? No.

It's very commercialized, just as Nanluogu. It's similar. Well, it reminded me of Qijioba in Beijing. But Qijioba is, to me, that's really far away. That's not within the second ring road. Not even in the third ring road. Yeah. And there are a lot of nice cafes, very nice bistros in the French Concession area. But even...

Outside of the former French concession area, there are a lot of very nice Western and Chinese food options. Very high quality.

also a lot of little bars. Oh, yeah. Depends on where you want to go. And I think most of the touristy destinations in Shanghai you can visit in one day. Yeah. Because it's just very nearby. It's more concentrated than in Beijing. So which places should she go to? Like a Bund or... I think Bund maybe at night. And maybe I might even take her to the opposite side of the Bund. Less crowded. Yeah. Very nice views too. You can kind of see the historical buildings on the Bund. And...

What else? Some museums, maybe some jazz bars. As I was, what you were saying, the things in Beijing, and I was thinking, huh, I think the lifestyle in Shanghai is like more bougie than the lifestyle in Beijing. Well, Beijing has the bougie places, but I don't get that bougie. So I'm more like chill down to earth, which is why I'm in the hutongs. And what else? Some Shanghaiese food that Nora mentioned earlier.

- So when you were introducing that to Jennifer, you're like, okay, you eat it. I don't, okay. Just don't question me. Don't question me. Just eat it. Okay. - Question Nora. - I'm not being creepy, but. - And I think the communities in Shanghai is very nice. Depends on if she's into workout. I might take her to like CrossFit gyms or like workout places. - She's visiting here. - I want to show her how like the local people live. Okay.

And also if she's into clubbing, there are some nice clubs, I guess, maybe in Fuxinglu. I don't know. Don't club. But there are some very nice clubbing areas. Yeah. If you have anything you want to add on, she's from Shanghai. For sure. Bring her to Spicy Como.

- Rose, you failed your test, okay? You take care of the marketing part but you forgot about the entertaining part. - Here's my chance. - Okay, so the next game, the next character is gonna be harder for you guys to come up with a plan, okay? So he's a British man, okay? His name is James, James Bond, okay? James is his name. James is in his fifties. He's only heard about China or seen about Chinese movies.

from UK. He's never ever been to anywhere in China. He wanted to spend one day to learn about the real China, make real Chinese friends and bring home the good memories. All right. And then there you go.

James in his 50s a very not serious looking but I don't want to work out I don't want to try anything like that yeah no clubbing no clubbing at my age but I want to know what the real China is are they the same as the movie

or the books that I read, you know, I wanted to find out the factual. Yeah, so he wants like authentic China. So again, we're going to have to start in the Hutongs. Now, it depends on where he's staying because anywhere in the Hutongs, we can find a nice breakfast for him, some You Tiao and some Dou Zhi. And then he will hate that. So we'll get some Dou Jiang. Yeah. And then...

And then, because I wouldn't want to take them to the Forbidden City and places like that, because actually they're too tiring. Because when my parents came to Beijing, I did take them there and I took them to Temple of Heaven. But that's so much walking and it's really tiring. And you don't see real China when you do that. You just see the other Chinese people also dying.

being tourists, right? Yeah, like that's what Gugong is full of. Just like tourists from other places of China. So I wouldn't take him there. See, I'm trying to think where we can find like, oh, actually take him to the parks. Because in the parks, that's where you can find Chinese people just doing all kinds of things like playing with the...

The little hacky sack? The... I guess, oh. With the feathers, right? Yeah, yeah. So they'll be playing that. Or you might see some people playing like mahjong on like a table in the park. There are also some people practicing like singing, oh, oh, like in the park. Yeah.

get together with the R-Hu and a pipa and like people will be doing that like they'll have groups like that so I'll try to take him to a park but I don't think Ho Hai has quite that type of vibe but like Tzu Tzu Yuan it has that kind of vibe so maybe I'd take him over there or Tuan Jie Hu it also does

If we're gonna like be fine Like seeing Chinese people Doing stuff Then in the evening We have to find a square Cause you know like The Guangchang They always have the I call them dancing Ais Mm

So you know what I mean, right? Like the Ais, they all get together and they do line dancing. So he would love to see that. I just know it. Oh, and in between like Gulo and Donglo, the Drum and Bell Towers, that one, it always has all of those vibes. So I would definitely show him that square probably in the evening because that's when all the Ais come out. They just all appear in the nighttime. Yeah.

Boombox just comes out of nowhere, right? Yeah. So, of course, he's going to have to go for hot pot and for duck because these are the two Beijing foods, right? Mm-hmm.

yeah yeah um and then to like see Chinese things I guess I would try to teach him mahjong maybe he knows how to play mahjong so because then I feel like that's super like thing that Chinese people do right they think very social yeah yeah yeah because when I finally learned how to play mahjong I was like dude this game is fire I wish I knew how to

play this sooner this is so much fun oh my god yeah so we'll see we'll see how his his personality is because maybe he's like well it depends on how open he is to learning these things but if he wants to experience china then he should be fine i think james will love the taxi rides just be the translator yeah and say okay james taxi driver tell him everything he needs to know

Well, everyone to know, he knows the most secretive information about the world, the taxi drivers. They own everything. Okay. Yep. Oh, cool. So that's James one day in Beijing. How about his one day in Shanghai, Rose? I think parts of James' trip to Shanghai will be similar to Jennifer's trip. Yeah.

And I also want to add on, also this can apply to Jennifer's trip too. Because I just thought of, I can take them to those like guided walking tours in the city. For a city walk? Yeah. But like with the, like a guide. So they can tell you like the history of the building. I'm his guide in the food times. Mic drop. Yeah. So for example, there are a lot of interesting architectures in Shanghai, like the Art Deco building.

and many like different styles, both Chinese styles and some of the styles influenced by the West and also some of the 農場, they're like guided tours because they're like celebrities that used to live there or maybe overseas celebrity or like Chinese celebrities.

Yeah, I can maybe take them to the parks too. And what else? How about the museums? Because like the museums in Beijing are actually not that great. Oh, really? Yeah, well, aside from like the big things like Gugong and Tiantan. But to me, those are more of like a large park than a museum. But like the actual just like Bouguan. Like, I don't know. I've been to them before and I'm always like, dude, these exhibitions are so boring. Yeah, I know.

I remember I went to I think the National Museum in Beijing. Yeah, yeah, that's the one. Right. It's near Tiananmen, right? I went there. I think the items themselves are like precious, you know, valuable items. Yeah. But I just think the

the story they tell is not very interesting. They're like, oh, this is like a bowl from Song Dynasty. I'm like, okay. Why is that relevant to me? See, I didn't see any Song Dynasty bowls when I went. They didn't have the Song Dynasty porcelain exhibit. That's why I was like, dude, this sucks. And they had an ancient Egypt exhibit, but then I was like, I don't want to look at Egypt. I'm in China. Like what? Yeah.

I think there are a lot of like Modern art exhibits In Shanghai That I love There's like Xi'an Which is famous for like Museums or like Art galleries out there And there's also like Youguan Zhongxin And there's also like I think Beihuaitan They also have like Similar Dongyi Meishu Guan Yeah Like a lot of meishu guans And I know about that Because when I

I saw one of the exhibits out there and I subscribed to their official account and I see that they have constantly new exhibits coming up. I'm not a big or huge historical museum fan but I'm a story fan. The modern arts, I think it's all very fun. It's like young artists in China or it's a hybrid of both Chinese artists and Western artists.

And those stories are always very fun. And I also love the natural scene when you walk outside of those gallery area. It's usually, for example, like by one time, it's also by the bun, I think. And then on the walking area, I love to just sit there with a sip of coffee and then see people walking their dogs outside.

Or the cats out there People watching That's a real I love places You can go people watching Yeah It's real real life In people out there And it's very easy To have a conversation With a stranger Yeah Just hang out with their Pats And then they will be Starting conversation with you And then I find that to be very fun And if you want to I don't know Show like foreigners Of what young people Generations are doing In China Just talk to these people

I think they're more open-minded as well to share their own stories with you. So by that perspective, I find Shanghai to be a very fun city to live in. I didn't know about it. I think those areas are pretty new. Because when I grew up, we didn't have that many art exhibits or galleries.

And there's another one if you want to see the family structure like in Shanghai. It's called like 自然博物馆. Like Shanghai Natural Museum. Okay. And then it's always super crowded with parents and kids. Oh, yeah. I went there because it was very close to my parents' house. Hmm.

I went there once with my parents because it's parents bring kids in my 30s I went there with my parents parents with their kids your parents brought you there it's always the super young kids and then it's amazingly good in terms of the dinosaurs for example that they have out there I went there with my brother too and there are stories I find that to be a very good way and you can't

overhear like the conversations of the parents talking to their kids and then see how it has evolved like when I asked my parents like oh what's this about my dad was like you are funny you go read the book he wouldn't explain everything to me but for the other parents because their kids are the real real young kids

And they can tell how they make up the world value in like a smaller stories components to their like younger generations. And that's a, I find that to be very fascinating or very interesting as a human being

like behavioral wise of observation to have. Yeah. So for those parts, I think to be fun. And then, yeah. Yeah. I think Shanghai is a fun place to live compared to Beijing from my personal experience. I just feel like there are more activities. It's easier to get around. Yeah.

They're like very international people. Your problem was you lived in Shuangji. Shuangji is very close to Guomao, which is like very central already in Beijing. Yeah, but to me, Guomao is a little too south from all the other things. It's too far of a bike ride. I wouldn't bike down that far. But like, you know, if you're at Dongzhimen, you gotta live in Dongzhimen. Then you're in the perfect spot. That's where you gotta be. She's not only selling Beijing, she's selling specific areas. Yeah.

So that's... In Beijing. That says a lot about Beijing already. You have to live in specific area to be... Like, to live a fun life. Yeah. Well, I mean...

I feel like that's kind of most cities though, because I feel like actually with what's within your like 10, 15 minute radius, that's where you're going to spend most of your time. So yeah, that's why I like Dongzhimen because I can go there in like 10 minutes. I agree with that. And by the way, within those 15, 20 minutes, I can get to far more places in Shanghai than in Beijing. I just feel like my range of living is like much bigger in Shanghai than in Beijing.

Beijing I love this conversation Because it's a Canadian Fighting for Beijing A Shenzhen person Fighting for Shanghai I just play as a god So Our final part Of like What's fun Or what's attractive About each city Is the slants Okay Alright Kristen You've lived here for 10 years

10 years I'm sure that you know A few of the slants That people talk Well mostly You just gotta add An R-Hua-Yin To everywhere Is it Not so you know What's a Chugua-Lor Chugua-Lor Actually this one I don't know I don't think it's very common From my experience Yeah Let's ask the Beijing representative Maggie to One thing I like about people in Beijing Well Yeah

It's biased because it's my friends. Is that they have so many slangs. Oh yeah. For example, one time a Beijing friend got a new haircut. I'm like, oh, you look like 好年轻啊,看起来。 Yeah. And they're like, 嗨,老黄瓜刷绿漆。 我说,什么意思? 装。

There are like so many slays. Yeah. Just phrases. I'm like, this is funny. Very descriptive. Very descriptive. Very vivid. Kristen, anything you learned? 舍嗎? You should have heard of it before. 舍嗎? No? Never? But I feel like 舍嗎? 關門

It's kind of outdated. I feel like 事 It's like 怎么这么事 Yeah, because everything you need to just add the R 话音 But not everything Because it's not 三里屯 It's 三里屯 And it's not even 五道口 It should be 五道口 It's not even 胡同 It's 胡同 Yeah, 胡同 Yeah, yeah And it's not 对面 It's 对面 Everything is R 话音 Except for 北京 You cannot say 北京 But you can say 克里斯坦 No

Chris-ter. Chris-ter from Canada. Nora. They do say that, but... Chris-ter, teacher. Chris-ter, teacher. But it's weird that in like... Well, I'm not from Beijing, but just what I heard is that there are specific terms that you add erhuayin, there are like some you don't. And if you add erhuayin to those you don't, it shows you're not from Beijing. Yeah. It's just like a sense. 就不能加 erhuayin. Yeah.

Of course I've made this mistake before But they're easier on me Because I'm a foreigner But what's any slants you have learned Or used daily when you live in Beijing?

Well, I mainly noticed like when I moved to Shenzhen and I would say some things and then they would be like, 哇,你真北方。 Like, they'd be like, what? Like, because instead of saying like, 哦,没地方,没有座位。 I would always be like, 没地儿。 没地儿哦。 Okay. Yeah, and they'd like, 没地儿。 So, 北方。 Oh, okay.

I think that's one thing I do notice in terms of like the expats in Beijing and the expats in Shanghai. If someone speaks very fluent Chinese, 90% of the chance that they've lived in Beijing. But usually like the expats who only lived in Shanghai, they don't speak as fluent Chinese because Shanghai just spoiled them too much.

Yeah Too many people Speak English Yeah But in Beijing They just have to Speak Chinese Yeah if you want to be friends With the neighborhood You gotta speak Chinese Right So one point for Beijing If you want to Actually learn languages Yeah Living in Beijing Don't get yourself spoiled Yeah So any slangs You learn about Shanghainese Ah

super useless it's like a filler word it's like it means nothing what else did you learn

It's like a broken English. Something goes bad. Something goes bad. Is it supposed to sound like the word what? Like pronounced badly? I never thought about that. To me, it just sounds like someone saying like what? Like what? What?

瓦特 did you say? Usually we follow that word. We have like 脑子 before that. 脑子 is like your brain. 脑子瓦特了 is like, what's wrong with you? Something messed up, messy with your brain. 脑子瓦特了 I learned a lot of Shanghaiese slangs, but I don't think we can say that on here. See?

That's your problem, Rose. We have so many beautiful slants in Shanghai and you only learn the shitty ones. Maybe I should change my group of friends, huh, Laura? What? I always speak very elegantly. But I think that in Shanghai, it's the same. If you talk to the local people, especially like my...

My parents generation They will Be very happy To speak Shanghainese Back to you My dad just say that To any foreigners He see Without their permission He would just be like Speaking direct Shanghainese To them Even to the comedians That we have In the backstage My dad always like Ruff ruff ruff

你应该听得懂吧? 住上海那么多年了, 听多就习惯了。 The community is just like, of course, of course, whatever you say. 想要弄,想要弄。 How different is Shanghainese? Is it as different as like, 粤语 and Mandarin? Or like, is... I think it's about that different. Okay, okay. Yeah, so it's not something that you can just kind of listen to a bit and get used to it. Uh,

Because Sichuan Hua is a little more similar. So I feel like I can usually kind of understand Sichuan Hua so long as I'm not speaking too fast. Because they change the tones and they change some other things, right? Because the thing is when foreigners speak Chinese, we use all the wrong tones and I can usually get it. But Chinese people can't get it. So yes, I think it's...

That dialect is a bit easier for me to get. But no, if it's completely different, then... Yeah, I think she has pretty... What I picked up... 饭吃了吗? 别吃了吧? 饭吃了吧? 别吃了吧? It's like very different. I don't think it's... But if you hear it enough, you understand some of the basic ones. Because there's a few things in 粤语 that sound similar enough to Mandarin that I'm like, oh, I got that one. As long as the...

if there's only the tone is different than I think it's easier for people to understand but in Shanghai there's a lot of words like when I try to teach people I realize I cannot even write them down you can't write the pinyin no you have to use the pinyin but there's no like words for those you have to make up with the words that sound similar but probably doesn't for example like have fun play is like

百祥 百祥 Right Like if you Even the sound You cannot write But Because there's no but In Mandarin So we write 白 White We write 百 And 相 相 is like In 相信 Trust Like 百相 And that

Stands for 北乡 in Shanghainese That means play That means play So that's why it's very 玩 玩 北乡 is 玩 北方 But yeah But with all the slants I think slants makes

the culture more unique for different cities, right? For those with a very kind of super standardized language, then people don't feel the difference. Yeah. Well, because even in Canada, we have a bit of like our own like dialect things that we say. It's always funny when I hang out with Americans because Canadian English isn't that different. So American friends, they usually forget that I'm Canadian until I say something random and they're like, excuse me, what?

And they're like, so one example of like a Canadian thing is like, yeah, give her. Give her. Give it to her? No. Like, go for it. Oh. Like if you were to ask like, oh, can I have some of your water? And I would be like, yeah, give her. Oh. Yeah, go for it. Yeah. So it's like super, super, like what's it called?

Short? Well, yeah, it's like give and then like E-R. But I'm not sure if it's supposed to be give her, but we only ever say it giver. Giver. Yeah, giver. Oh, okay. But it also means like, oh, yeah, so it's like go for it. So like let's say if you're skiing or something, because like when we go skiing together, we'll like stand at the top of the hill and then we like usually go like one at a time or not all at once. So like if we're kind of standing like, oh, who wants to go first? Yeah, yeah, giver. Mm.

that again so it's like yeah go for it okay i've never heard of that before yeah it's a very canadian one yeah yeah is it very canadian or is it very very like brandon only people from brandon can maybe the eastern canadians don't know it but all of the people i've always known have been western canadian we will test them we'll test them we're like there was one canadian girl okay uh you don't have to know who she is but she told us about this yeah you better know about this um

Alright, so we are closing the game and I need to get one answer from each one of you which is that how likely would you live in the other person's city? Alright.

from 1 to 10. So I think it's only more like applicable for Kristen because you never... Yeah, well, because you lived in Beijing before. Already, already. And I can tell you don't want to go back. So like for me, it's like, yeah, even though I lived in Beijing so long, the thing is I've never lived in Shanghai before. Yeah. So actually I'm very likely like 10. Yeah. If I have the opportunity, I would come for sure. Yeah. Wow. Welcome. It's a very livable city. Yeah. Welcome. Mm-hmm.

- Yeah. - I'm sure they will enjoy it. - How long will I stay? I don't know. - No. - Yeah. - 'Cause maybe I stay for one year and I'm like, wow, no, Beijing's better. - Yeah. - Yeah. - Or- - But I'm very willing to give it a chance. - Or you might feel the same when you first moved from Canada to Beijing. You're like, wow, what kind of life have I been living? I'm just missing all these times. - Yeah. But I just wanna give a disclaimer that

We will cut it out. No, just go ahead. These are all our personal experience. And I actually love both places, but too late, too late. Yeah. Yeah.

But yeah, I don't think Beijing is like I don't consider moving back to Beijing at this kind of face of my life Yeah, I just feel like my work is more relevant in Shanghai I have more connections, you know, and I like my life in Shanghai So I wouldn't consider moving back anytime soon. But yeah, I don't want to close that window So you never know. Yeah on the scale the 1 to 10 then? Three? Yeah. Oh, how about this like you can rate your life back

back in Beijing because you lived there for like three years and then those times Beijing were valid for you as a choice of a city to live in right and if you have to rate that experience from one to ten now that we refresh so many of the good memories of Beijing and how what would the number be but I think it's kind of subjective though because it's it's almost like rating my life back then versus my life it's your entire life at the time okay I did enjoy like the friends that I made in Beijing

- Mine also, yeah, I think it's impossible. - You didn't or you did? - I did. - Too late. - I did enjoy. - Yeah, so it's hard to rate. - So we are now rating your friends in Beijing. Okay, one, two, ten, go. Okay. How much do you value your friends or cherish your friendship? - Yeah, for sure. - Ten, ten, four. - Okay, if you met Rose in Beijing, please listen to this episode and you will know how she really feel about you, okay? - Okay, ten, ten.

Lovely, lovely. So we are closing this one episode and we learned so much about Beijing and Shanghai. And then we are looking forward to more Jennifer and James coming to these two beautiful cities. And also Shenzhen, once again, if you're young, you want to work,

And if you want to save money on energy, efficiency, and then it will be your city. But to close this episode, I also wanted to thank both of our guests. Thank you so much, Kristen and Rose, for joining us on Nuala Aemon and

That's the end of the English listening comprehension test. So, we are now speaking Mandarin. Thank you for listening. If you can hear me, and it's okay if you can hear me, I can hear you too. But you can leave a small apple in our comment section to prove that you are here. If you have any questions or want to ask the guests, or if you have any special memories or thoughts about these two cities, you are welcome to leave them in the comment section. That's all for today's NoLiveMove. Thank you for listening.