Anyone been to, or lived in either Shanghai, Moscow or Mexico City?

[spagblog]

A few more locations that have sounded appealing to DH in his great job hunt.
Any suggestions or recommendations?

Shanghai is apparently very up and coming, if you like that

My cousin and his wife work and live in Shanghai and love it! If you work for a foreign company out there the lifestyle is great. (they all have drivers, maids etc) The city is full of restaurants and designer shops - but it is extremely busy! 17 million people live there and the division between rich and poor is very obvious (I've been there on business)

I've been to Moscow, but not sure that will be much use to you. Plus it was yonks ago when glastnost had only just started, so it was still very non-Western. Quite an interesting place to live I'd have thought.

Message withdrawn

Lived in Moscow and another part of Russia few years ago.
Whaddya wanna know??

Hmmm, I guess I want to know whether any of these places would be safe/fun/welcoming to a family with kids aged 4 and 18mnths. Whether the climate is okay, the cost of living, etc etc
I guess I would have to put them into international schools, anyone experienced this?

Well there is loads going on in Moscow for the international community.My Britsh friend isthere now with her Russian dh (kids your age) and likes it.

Pluses

Architecture
Museums
Parks
Big international scene (schools,own daily paper etc)
Good links to UK

Minuses

Bloody expensive
Pokey flats (for the most cards)
Cold as hell in winter
Russians are real miseries (until you know them personally)
New Russians and a very tasteless flashy culture on the one hand while Afghan veteran amputees and old baboushki are out begging on the streets on the other.

For links I mean air travel.

mexico city is one of my favorite places on earth -- love it to bits ... grinding poverty is difficult to cope with but the people are fabulous - woudl move there in a second... but if you have health problems, teh smog could be an issue...

It is so bizarre, would never have considered living in these places before...had very limited knowledge and stereotypical views...Wonderful to hear positive things about them.