Lamb Family in Shanghai: Things I saw this week in Shanghai

Princess Mishelle lives on our street. She has two cars with the exact same paint job. BMW and a convertible Mini Cooper. Both cars have her name on them, and both have Hello Kitty car seat covers. She's twenty-something, talks on her phone while driving and when she has the top down on the Mini, she has a cute Alaskan Husky dog that rides in the back.

She either has a rich father, or a rich "Daddy".

Not to be outdone by Princess Mishelle, her neighbor has a new paint job on his Bentley. A Fushia iridescent highlight on the white mother-of-pearl top coat. The pink reflection is really eye-catching in the sun.

Uniqlo has a line of Disney-themed products. T-shirts and kids clothes, I get,…but mens sleeping pants with pink or green camouflage Mickey? Really?

This display comes out every summer. The mannequin is covered with mats made of tiles of bamboo. Or is it fake plastic bamboo - not sure. In China, lots of people do not have air conditioners. It's so humid, that people lay on / sit on / sleep on mats made from these tiles. They keep you cooler, and do not attract mold. Stacked behind the mannequin are "pillows" or head-rests made with stringing the tiles taut around a plastic tube. It's actually pretty ingenious and inexpensive.

Wine prices here are pretty high, especially anything imported from the US or Europe. Australian & New Zealand wine is better, South American wine is very inexpensive. Chinese wine is crap.

But beer is cheap. So lots of companies bottle for the Chinese market and sell everywhere.