i read wangjianshuo's blog and find this one - life in new york is tough for me, pretty interesting, not because his post is interesting, but because it resonates in my own experiences of living in shanghai.
if you spend a few days living in downtowan shanghai, you will find it's just as tough as it is in any big cities of the world. everything reminds you painfully how small your wallet is. and it becomes even more painful if you happen to live elsewhere in china or even in the non-downtown areas of shanghai for a few days.
those so-called non-downtown areas, located dispersedly in shanghai, provides basic but enough living facilities to the residents, with living costs as low as 1/3 of those in downtown areas. say for example, if you have to spend 2 dinosaur eggs (read my egg story) to get an apartment fully furnished in downtown shanghai, you need only 1 dinosaur egg to get it in non-downtown areas of shanghai. plus, there are more low-cost living facilities in these non-downtown areas that, in my view, are not in the same level but definitly have their own charming flavors.
i'm going to take some pics to show you what a low-cost living in non-downtown shanghai looks like, in a latter time.
cut your dinosaur egg budget and relocate to non-downtown shanghai!