Or shall I say buses and bread? Today I had my first Shanghai bus experience on the way to buying the best bread this city has to offer. I wish I had a funny, first-time-on-a-bus story for everyone, but I don’t because I was with long-time Shanghai resident and bus veteran, Olga (Greek, grew up in Germany, married German-Turk, now speaks fluent Chinese).
So here are the not-so-fun-but-read-them-anyway-details:
– A ride within downtown borders costs 2 kuai (20 cents) and all buses are air conditioned.
– We rode a double decker on the upper deck – not recommended for the frail of stomach and not comparable with well-known and much smoother counterparts in London (we wondered if that is because of uneven streets or bad driving, but I never noticed uneven streets before, so…).
– We took a total of 3 buses and had seats on all of them – apparently unheard of during rush hour.
– I used my fancy, new transportation card that works like a debit card – also on all metro lines and taxis.

Bread was at the end of today’s exciting adventure. This discovery was like finding gold at the end of the rainbow. Thick, dark, chunky loafs with all kinds of seeds, oats, and nutrients. This bread baked at Dutch-owned bakery called Bastian, could compete even with some Austrian bakeries which was evident by the two kilos (I am guessing one kilo/loaf) I had in my bag on the way home.