Another Year In Shanghai, Our Home In Photos

With my 'Alien Employment Permit' - necessary for working legally in China.

It’s that time of year to renew our visas once more. This will herald the start of my fourth year in China and Lezil’s fifth. Rewind a few years back and had you asked me where I’d be in 2013, China certainly wouldn’t have figured in the equation. My perception, as with most foreigners who have never stepped foot in the country, was shaped by the western media’s obsession of packaging this humongous and extremely diverse culture into one neat little box.

But China has proven itself so much more than a communist-led government whose economy continues to forge ahead despite the global difficulties elsewhere. Most outsiders I know living here have those days where you could never imagine living anywhere else. And then come the down times when just as you think you have got to grips with all the kinks and quirks of being in a Chinese city – you long for something a bit more familiar to your pre-Asian existence.

The scary moment is when you realise your love affair is slowly coming to an end and it’s time to pack up your bags and leave. Thankfully, we haven’t arrived at that point yet. As many of you know, I have spent my time living in two cities. First was Hohhot, Inner Mongolia’s capital – a very remote part of north China with an expanse of empty grassland just north of the city telling a completely different tale to the often-portrayed crowded China.  Then followed a move further south to Shanghai – China’s so-called sparkling mainland jewel.

The expanse of grasslands just north of Hohhot where I lived for a year.

If you are claustrophobic, the Shanghai metro during rush hour is not the place to be.

Here, you jostle with over 7 million people who use the city’s metro system daily. There’s a skyline endlessly punctuated with the tops of sky scrapers and a frantic pace-of-life where everyone’s out to carve a living someway somehow. Those at the top end of the income scale are spectacularly rich with more than 90 billionaires and over 370,000 millionaires quoted as residing in the city (US Dollars). The sense of entrepreneurship freely flows, within strict government boundaries of course, and the cost of living is low compared to other major hubs like London or New York.

Points against include the every-increasing air pollution, health and safety issues, employment practises (that took a while to get used to), the tightening control of the internet (no facebook, no youtube, google gets blocked regularly, VPNs are going down) and, yes, there’s the spitting. My walk to work is guaranteed to come across at least four displays of healthy throat hocking following by a grand finale of phlegm-spewing right in the middle of the sidewalk. As with anything you are exposed to continually, surprisingly I’ve become somewhat immune to it now. And so it’s on that note that I tip my glass up and say “here’s to another year in Shanghai!”

Facebook continues to be blocked in China.

We live on the 3rd floor of this 90 year old building.

Many of you who haven’t yet to come and visit us (you know who you are!), there’s another 12 months to try and catch us while were still in this amazing country. In the meantime, feast your eyes on our very unique accommodation – known as a ‘Shanghai lane house’ which in recent years has become a hot spot for foreigners looking to embrace a bit of Chinese history in a city known more for its modernity than anything else. According to our landlady, this particular property we are living in is around 90 years old and has been in her family for about 80 of those years.

It’s got charm, its rough around the edges but for the last two years, it has become our little love nest where our neighbours have become like familiar room mates. We are the only completely inclusive apartment in the building. The rest of it is divided up into actual rooms (one family to a room) where there are two very rustic-looking kitchens and a toilet which is shared by all the tenants. As with the rest of the four-floored block, we have access to the communal garden. But to honest, it’s really only used for clothes-drying and slaughtering chickens and pigeons (our 1st floor neighbour likes his meat fresh!). We are the only foreigners there, giving us a great immersion into local living.

One of two very-well used kitchens.

There are times when you go past some of the beautifully landscape expat gated communities with their blossoming green areas and five star leisure facilities and for a moment wishing that perhaps you did have a slice of the action. But in that fleeting second I realise the uniqueness of where we are actually living and to be honest, I’d be hard pressed to swap it for anything else right now.

The main doorway into our building block. Next to the door, the electricity mains.

The other kitchen which looks like it hasn't really changed much in the last 90 years!

From the entrance area, the little hallway leading out to the communal garden.

A rather neglected back garden.

The garden's main use: killing livestock and clothes drying (as seen in the photo).

The view of our building from the garden. We are on the third floor (second from the top). Notice our flower pots!

Back inside the hallway, and the steep wooden steps leading up.

Our front foor. Winnie the cat's bedding and food bowl are just outside.

Door opened and it leads into our living/dining room area.

A better view of the room.

To the side of the living room is a sunken kitchen.

Our main bedroom. We like our bright duvets!

The compact bathroom with shower just off the main bedroom.

The view from our living room with our hanging herb garden - mint, rosemary and lemon brawn.