1 kuai = 1 rmb = 1 kr??

In Switzerland we were looked down upon as expats. We were like the Polish people in Sweden who went to another country where you could earn more money. (Sorry, nothing wrong with either Polish or Swedes!) Here it is the opposite. We live in a little gated community and we earn more per month than regular Chinese do per year. With such a huge income gap, our lives is so completely different. We can go out for dinner every night and do all sorts of things that most Chinese could just dream about.

When you do it the Chinese way, everything is dead cheap and you need to speak Chinese to communicate. If you want to eat western food, buy french youghurt in the supermarket and have a massage where the masseuse speaks Englih, it is all available. And the price range goes from much more expensive than in China to much more expensive than in Europe. (They honestly sell 500 g youghurt in the supermarket for 80 kuai! that's 90 kr or 8 euros!)

It makes you loose sense of what things are worth. I had Chinese lunch at a quite nice restaurant with a Chinese colleauge last Monday. 10 kuai each per meal. Than I had a 30 kuai Starbucks coffeee in the afternoon.

Spoiled expats