Day 12: Shenzhen

Ah - Friday! There was a last minute need to leave Humen a day early and head down to the border city of Shenzhen in the afternoon. I can't say I was too sad to leave. At this point, I had had enough of the Humen experience this trip. Besides, I had never really been to Shenzhen - I mean, sure, I passed through there several times on the way to/from Hong Kong (the Lowu border is there), but this time I would be spending a little more time there.

About 25 years ago, Shenzhen was a small fishing village. Today, it is a sprawling metropolis - the poster child for China's economic boom. Shenzhen was designated as a "special econimic zone" (SEZ) by the Chinese government in 1979. Apparently, there were some in Beijing who recognized the need for Chinese economic policy reform and decided to experiment with Shenzhen due to its closeness to Hong Kong. Since Shenzhen was so small (and therefore contributed a negligible amount to the communist country's coffers), it was considered as a no-lose situation. In China, SEZ's are free from many of the laws and restrictions imposed on the rest of the country. In effect, they are areas where capitalism is promoted and allowed to flourish. Since receiveing that status, business in this area has exploded. Check out some of the buildings that dot the skyline (pay attention to the year of construction). Shenzhen is now known as "the Hong Kong of China." That's a side of the city I had never seen before now.

Construction scenes like this one are a dime a dozen in Shenzhen.

The Shenzhen World Trade Centre building.

I have some colleagues in Shenzhen that we met up with for a one-night whirlwind tour. We were taken to this western style luxury apartment complex called 'Portofino,' where apartment rents can reach US$12,500 per month. The architecture was decidedly not Chinese - more like Ft. Lauderdale I would say. We took a walk around the property, past elaborate water fountains, the private lake, and a small man-made beachfront. I had never seen an area so nice in China before. But, the real reason we came here was for dinner. Laurel serves innovative Cantonese cuisine, and with such an upscale clientele, I was hoping it would live up to the hype. We arrived on the late side, so unfortunately, a few of the well-known house specialties were already sold out for the evening. Nevertheless, the food was high quality and delicious. A couple of standout dishes were this fried chicken breast smothered in a sweet lemon sauce, and these thin rice noodles in beef broth, served with tableside-grilled thin beef slices. The broth was spectacular, it really captured the essence of beef (great, now I'm sounding like the Iron Chef commentators).

Portofino - just like Miami, only Chinese.

We headed out to hit this hot night spot, Vbar. (use euro accent here) It is soooo uber-cooool, yah? (end euro accent). I have to say, if I ignored all the Chinese characters splashed all about, I would have thought I was in Miami. There was a live pop/hip hop band (played by real live westerners), Chinese guys dressed in slanty-striped shirts, crazy patrons packing into this small semicircle bar area around the stage, and drinks flying off the neon shelves. It was actually hard to believe that I was still in China. This kind of place exists in freaking China!!!

Soooooo keeewwwllllll!

It's Vbar! It's so hot right now!

In the early morning hours, we headed back to our ridiculously nice rooms at the Swiss Belhotel. 80 square meters (that would be 861 sq. ft. for the non-geeks) of space at my disposal. All I can say is 'unreal.' I'll have to come back to this place again.

Days 8-11: Working Man

After a day off in Hong Kong to regroup and “relax,” it was back to the Mainland and back to work. I knew that it was only a few more days of work before I would be heading out, so the week’s tasks took on a new sense of urgency. We were making progress, but things were slow and a bit frustrating. Typically for lunch, we would try and grab something quick. There was a small restaurant right around the corner from the office I was at, and we made a habit out of hitting that spot. The food is decent there, but it is the one place that has caused me some… “intestinal discomfort” in the past. So now it always makes me a little nervous whenever I go there.

In order to assure you that the utensils are clean, it is common for the servers to dip them in boiling water tableside. That gives me confidence.

A typical quick lunch - char siu chow mien (BBQ pork fried noodles)

As I said before, on this trip I was staying in Humen Town, a part of Dongguan City in Guangdong Province (got that?). I’ve already told you how “beautiful” this area was, but this week I had a chance to get out a bit and look around myself. Since our hotel was centrally located, we had decided to walk to dinner one night. We had to cross over this river which had the nastiest, rank smell. It was full of floating… stuff. From then on, when we would drive by that river, we would see people just hanging out near it and it made us wonder why they couldn’t find a nicer spot. Then again, restaurant dishes featuring stir fried animal intestines are quite normal here. Go figure.

One day after work, I decided to walk to the mall, only a block away from the hotel. Of course, this involved crossing this enormous street with tons of traffic. There’s also a huge bus terminal in the mall parking area, which was mad busy at the end of the workday. There were also hundreds of motorized scooter taxi guys waiting to drive people around. I decided the best strategy was to follow the locals. There was a mom with young children – perfect. I would stand behind them and tag along. No way she would lead her kids into oncoming traffic!

I made it into the mall without incident. Inside, there were hundreds of small stores packed in side by side. There were massive crowds of people milling about, but I did not see a single Westerner besides myself. I have to admit, it was a little intimidating to be there alone. As I walked around, I felt like the center of attention. Kids stared at me as I walked past. Shop owners tried to lure me in to make lots of money courtesy of the American shopper. I was clearly different and was watched by everyone I passed by. I wanted to go into a couple of the stores, but was afraid to draw too much attention to myself (I most certainly would have invited salivating shop owners to descend on me and yell incomprehensible things to try and make me buy something).

I eventually found my way to a mega-mart type place stocked with everything from clothes to food and health care products (kind of like a super Wal-Mart, but a Chinese version). I picked up some snacks and drinks (Pocari!) to help get me through the tough afternoons. I also hit up the produce section and grabbed a bunch of dragon eyes (lóng yǎn, similar to lychees but smaller and with smoother skin) and rambutans .

After returning back to the hotel, I was feeling sticky from the walk outside in the summer heat and humidity. So I put on my skin tight swimsuit that I bought for $1 in a Hong Kong street market (One size fits all! – Well, not really. Don’t worry, no photo coming.) and headed up to the top floor for a quick dip in the pool. I figured, for $1, I had better at least use it once. After a nice refreshing swim, it was time to head back to the room for my nightly ritual – a video chat with my family back home. It’s great to be able to not only talk with, but actually see them while I am gone. I miss them, but this helps to bridge the distance. Thanks, Eyeball Chat.

Hi Hollis and Elisabeth! Love you guys!

Still alive

Well, it is day 15 of my tour of duty, and I am sitting in the Beijing airport VIP lounge (the benifits of traveling for work!) enjoying fine ameneties such as free food and drinks and, well, what do you know, something I can't even get in the States - free wireless internet access! Too bad the Chinese internet is government censored (you would not be able to read this blog in China, for example).

I kind of fell off the wagon with my daily postings, just didn't have the time I needed to do justice to the stories. For all the time it takes me to do this, I hope there are some of you out there reading!

Got to go, my flight is boarding. I have LOTS of interesting stories to share, so stay tuned. I'll be traveling for the next 20 hours or so, so hang in there!

Days 6 and 7: Hong Kong - Part 2: Big Tymin' in the Big City

A street market lies just behind the Central Plaza building in Wanchai.

Street markets are an indelible part of the Hong Kong landscape, but they are only part of the story. As the financial center of Asia, Hong Kong more than holds its own when it comes to living it up. It is also home to a fantastic collection of unique and interesting architecture, as evidenced by the photos below.



From left to right:
1. The Lippo Centre has extruded areas that are meant to resemble Pandas climbing the building.
2. The Bank of China Tower is perhaps the most iconic of all Hong Kong buildings. The architecture is stunning, but the building really comes alive at night when it's fascinating geometry is highlighted by white neon lights.
3. The HSBC building was, at the time of its completion in 1986, the most expensive office building ever built ($670 million, USD). No building in Hong Kong has surpassed it yet.
4. A fishing boat trolls the harbor in front of Central Plaza. This building is located directly behind the Hong Kong Exhibition and Convention Center. Supposedly, the land cost was 3X the cost to actually build the building! At the top of the building, the spire functions as a clock at night, lighting up 4 bands of one color in succession, one every 15 minutes.
5. IFC2, the tallest building in Hong Kong. The lower level houses a huge upscale mall and also contains the train station I usually take to get to the airport on my way out.

Of course, as in any city worth it's salt, there is a fine variety of dining options available. While Hong Kong is considered the home of the best Chinese cuisine on the planet, there are a whole host of other unique and fascinating options from around the globe.

One such place was Opia, where I had to date, the best meal of this trip. Executive chef Dane Clouston is responsible for putting together a menu that combines the uniqueness of Australian cuisine with flavors generally associated with Thai food. For starters, we had the tuna sashimi with bonito/wasabi flavored pannacotta (unbelievable combination), seared scallops with chorizo and cilantro, and a wild mushroom tortelli with spinach and parmigiano that rocked. For a main dish, I couldn't resist the Australian Wagyu beef cheek that had been slow cooked to achieve supreme tenderness before being dropped in the deep fryer to make the outside super crispy. A salad of shredded green papaya and some coconut rice made this an incredible combination of flavors and textures. Truly outstanding!

Sorry for the fuzzy photo. But this dish was awesome!

Lunch the next day was also a winner. Olive, located on Elgin St. near the mid-levels escalators produced a fine Mediterranean menu. I seriously enjoyed the day's special - Lamb shawarma with yogurt sauce and fresh salad.

Dinner once again brought a special treat, Hutong. A hit with the local celeb crowd, the experience lived up to the expectations, both in terms of the view and the food. Situated on the Kowloon side of HK (across the harbor from downtown), this place offers a tremendous view from the 28th floor of the night skyline in all it's glory. The food is a modern take on Chinese cuisine that is inventive, and yet preservs traditional flavors and ingredients. The interior space only enhances the experience with its antique styled furnishings and service pieces.

Outside the windows lies the beautiful Hong Kong skyline, while an antique door is a window into the past.

Sichuan style prawns don't hold back. They don't make them like this in the States!


Never gets old.

After dinner, we took a walk by the famous Peninsula hotel (as featured in the Bond flick "The Man With the Golden Gun"). Taking the elevator up the the 28th floor brings you to Felix - one of the most stylish restaurants in the city. For some reason, Felix has become quite famous for its men's room which features urinals mounted to a glass wall so that you can take in the view of Kowloon while you are, um, you know.

The famed Peninsula. Notice there is a high roller making a grand entrance on the roof.

Come on, you knew this was coming.

A lion keeping the riff raff out of the Pen'.



Toys for Hong Kong's financial kingpins.

Days 6 and 7: Hong Kong - Part 1: Street Markets

I'm back. In China, that is. Yes, after an all too quick one-and-a-half-day weekend in Hong Kong (that went by all too quickly, I might add), I am once again calling the PRC home. I have been to Hong Kong a few times now, although it is almost always only to pass through on my way to somewhere else. But we arrived around 4:30 Saturday (after finishing up work at 1pm) with intent to stay a solid two nights. We were driven by our hosts to the Lo Wu border to cross into Hong Kong SAR. This is the busiest border crossing in the entire world. I read that of all people who enter/leave China, 85% pass through at Lo Wu. So how it goes is, you pass through customs to leave one place (in our case, China), walk over a covered footbridge that passes over the Shenzhen river (which is protected on either side with barbed wire), and then pass through immigration on the other side. Kind of a wild experience, to be walking up high over this river while existing in a virtual no man's land for a short time.

After checking in to the hotel, we decided to head over to Hong Kong Island for some sightseeting and dinner. We took the iconic Star Ferry, which is often called the most spectacular $0.25 cent voyage in the world, right to Central, the heart of the city (for a good primer on the layout of the area, check out this map). Here, we jumped on the old trolley trams that carry people east/west to the main areas of the city. These reminded me a lot of the trolley cars in San Francisco, only they are double deckers and are mostly enclosed.

I noticed some interesting side street activity, so we jumped off the tram in Wanchai to look around. We had stumbled upon Wanchai market, a huge area of street stalls selling every food item from fresh fruits and veggies to hot snacks, live chickens, and various dried animal parts. It was an eyeopening experience for sure.

Sunday found us visiting the computer market on the Kowloon side of the island. The streets are packed with ads for all manner of techie devices advertised for rock bottom prices. I picked up a USB2 SD card reader for about $3, a tabletop camera tripod for $6, and an A/V cable adapter for $0.62. The selection was limitless. One of my co-workers picked up a pocket-sized wireless router for about $75.

Off the street level, we were directed into a small, nondescript building for software shopping. Instead of a typical store with inventory on the shelf, these "stores" were simply small rooms with photos of various software packages and games tacked up on the wall. You are supposed to point to what you want, pay, and you are handed a paper with a handwritten number and time, usually about an hour later. When your time approaches, they will call out the numbers (in Cantonese, of course!) and hand you a thin plastic bag with a freshly burned disc. All for about $3.75 per disc. This particular day was a little different.

Suddenly, there seemed to be a commotion and a hush came over the crowd. People started to scatter, and the metal rollup doors began to close, and the shops and were quickly locked. Police raid! Within a half hour, the doors were back open again and it was like nothing ever happened.

We headed outside and took the MTR (subway) down to Mong Kok to browse the outdoor markets there for clothes, souveiners, and various things that we don't need but think are cool. I had forgotten my bathing suit at home, so I picked one up for $1.25 (one size fits all, or, at least some). I also didn't bring a pair of white socks with me to wear with my shorts and sneakers (big boo-boo), so I grabbed a 5 pack of "Nike" socks for $2.50. I also picked up some silk pajamas for Elisabeth and also a little something for Hollis (can't tell you now, she's reading!).

This is only scratching the surface of what various markets are out there in this city. But it seems like a good place to start.

A stall selling veggies - some familiar (broccoli, corn, beans) and some not (lotus root, ???).



Before.



After.



This was taken in a Chinese pharmacy. You would come here to get a prescription filled from a doctor. Notice the dried seahorses (top center), dried lizards (bottom right), and goat horns (bottom left). For some reason, this makes perfect sense to everyone.



One of many street-side butchers. Nothing more appetizing than organ meat hanging on the sidewalk in 85 degree humidity. Can anyone tell me what those green things are that seem to come in pairs?



At the computer market in Sham Shui Po.



On the way to Mong Kok street market.

Day 5: Does Anyone Speak Chinglish?

When in China, it's never a matter of if, only when and how.

Enjoy.

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Chinglish Häagen-Dazs Ad - This is an actual, legitimate advertisement from the magazine in my hotel room.



This is the official health inspection form needed to enter China.



Maybe they should have worded this differently.



Chinese coconut juice drink - Great! This one doesn't have any magma! This drink is huge in China.



Amusing Chinglish sing at a company I visited. The names have been changed to protect the guilty.



Mmmmm... Nothing whets my appetite for favor snail like that last item.



Look! A new use for dragonfruit!



Um... Okay, I won't play the trumpet. Promise.



Chinese fire safety mask - I thought it was bad to stick your head in a plastic bag. These things are absolutely everywhere (hotels, restaurants, shopping malls, etc.)

Day 4: Storm Warning

Another trip to China, another Typhoon. Fortunately, this one is just brushing us while it passes off to the west. We did have some pretty impressive winds and rain though . The hotel passed us a note that read "Due to the typhoon there may be heavy winds of 7 - 9 miles per hour." Oooh. I'm scared. It did make walking to lunch interesting though.


Notice the extremely large umbrella.


It looks nasty out there.

After a productive work day (hey, we got out "early" today at 8pm), we hit up a Ko-rean BBQ for dinner. This place was fairly new and had beautiful modern decor, something that is pretty rare around these parts. The food was equally fantastic - both in terms of the quality and the fun-factor. There were these cool metal grills for cooking at the table, kind of like fondue meets backyard barbeque. Beef, pork, ribs, veggies - the variety of choices was solid. Did I mention it was all-you-can-eat? And it was about $8. Ri - di - cu - lous.


Load 'em up. I'm hungry and am about to throw down.


The happy (and stuffed) crew.

Day 3: Let's Get it Started

Today was my first "real" day here. I started out after about 5 1/2 hours of solid sleep (interrupted only by my bladder at 6AM). This trip, I am staying at a different place than normal. The Richwood Garden is a beautiful place, but it is secluded with no way to get out at night. It's kind of like a palatial prison with good restaurants and a spa. So, we're checking out the Grand Noble.


Nice place.

This hotel is right in the middle of the action in downtown Humen. Now, Humen is no Hong Kong (in fact, one guide book says "Humen is by no means a pretty city..."). But there are some interesting places to check out. In some ways, I prefer to see the decrepit, low end sections of town rather than the new super ultra modern parts that we don't even have in the States yet. The bad parts just feel more like the "real China" to me. Maybe it just plays to my stereotypes better.

After a 12 hour work day (great way to start things off, you know?), we had dinner at this dim sum restaurant just a 5 minute walk from the hotel. It was hot yo! Dim sum is a traditional Cantonese style of cooking a huge variety of small plate single bite items, kind of like the Spaniards and their tapas. Most dim sum items are steamed and there tends to be an incredible variety of dumplings available. We must have tried a couple of dozen dishes, which were all fantastic. They had some interesting things too, like trays and trays of chicken feet. But this tea we had was totally off the hook - ginseng oolong tea. It tasted like it had sugar in it, but there wasn't any. The aftertaste was this nice sugar flavor that gave way to this tingly feeling in your mouth that is kind of like what happens when you eat a mint and then breathe in. I have never had any tea quite like it. I have a little bag of it to take home with me, but it kind of looks like a bag of... um... "special herbs" if you know what I mean.

No Mr. Customs Officer, it's ginseng oolong tea. Put that in your pipe and smoke it! Wha? Where are you taking me?


Look at all those steamers! Check out the bird feet by the girl's hand.

Firsts Today:

Ate tripe (not my choice, but someone ordered it and I had to try it out of principle - it was actually pretty good, almost like a pasta noodle)

Drank Ginseng Oolong Tea - I plead the 5th on this one

Had a live video chat with Hollis and Elisabeth. That was awesome! If any of you are on Eyeball Chat, give me an email and we'll hook up sometime.

Outward Bound

It’s Groundhog Day. Again.

19000 feet below me is the South China Sea. We’re banking left to set up our approach into Chek Lap Kok International Airport in Hong Kong. I’ll be on the ground in about 15 minutes. The flight has been incident free – unless you count me spilling a full glass of water on myself while I was trying to catch some Z’s.

The flight has been uneventful, something I will never grow bored with. As they say, the number of take-offs is optional. The number of landings is not.

I watched a couple of movies en route. Hotel Rwanda is a great, but tragically sad story - So much conflict for no real reason. V for Vendetta was much better than the spooky previews had indicated. Not a classic by any means, but it was worth the two hours this time.

With 4 trips in the bag, lately I’ve found myself passing out travel advice to some of my coworkers who are making this trip for the first time. So, in case you ever find yourself on a 15 hour plane ride to Asia, keep these simple tips in mind.

1. Pack light. No matter how long I am going to be away, I usually only bring 4 sets of clothes (wear one, pack the other 3). Laundry service is well worth the nominal charge. Especially if your work pays for it. Besides, all that extra space can be filled with stuff you pick up during your trip.

2. For the sake of all that’s holy – don’t check any bags! The small hassle of carrying it around with you easily is outweighed by the time savings you will have when you skip past the baggage claim. Not to mention that you won’t have to worry about losing your luggage!

3. Wear a shirt with a front pocket. Comes in handy for passport storage as well as train or ferry tickets. It sounds stupid, but the amount of times you have to pull out and put away these documents in a moment’s notice makes this a must have.

4. If you bring your laptop, don’t forget that airplane power adapter. Or else, you’ll just end up with an expensive brick in your bag.

5. If flying business class on a 747, make sure to get an upper deck window seat, preferably in row 15. Upper deck window seats have the invaluable benefit of a small side compartment that can hold your computer bag right beside you. The compartment also doubles as extra table space, which allows you to watch movies on your laptop even while the tray table is monopolized with dinner. Check http://www.seatguru.com for more info.

6. Memorize your passport number. Just do it.


Appetizer, business class style.


Here I am with my full setup. Note these essentials: QC3 headphones, map screen, laptop on side table with movie playing, dinner, and a selection from the wine list

Tomorrow is looking like a full day of work. I will try to post at least every couple of days with updates on my trip. I will be here until the 14th, so if any of you have certain interests you would like me to cover, I would be happy to try. Zai jian!