My Egg Noodles

Today I checked out Huaqianglu, the electronic district here in Shenzhen. Tones of products available, but nothing really caught my eye apart from the iPhone 4.

The white version of the iPhone 4 was available everywhere, which as far as I understand, had not been released yet. Along with the 16GB and 32GB iPhone 4’s in black, what also caught my eye was the counterfeit iPhone 4’s here. I played with one for a couple of minutes and although they look exactly the same, the weight is not there and the graphics and the smoothness of the UI is just way off from the real deal Anyway, the 16GB iPhone was 5,900 RMB, which is higher than ordering from the apple store online.

I couldn’t leave lunch out :) Today I opted for roasted Goose with roasted belly of pork served with soaked beans. Dam this was good! I normally like my meat pretty lean (apart from duck/chicken skin of course!), but the fat on this pork was so yummy there was no need to fiddle around with it.

After a few beers out on the town in Shenzhen, I come across this little street foodie type place on the way back to my hotel. Now, this is not the most adventurous street food I’ve ever had, but dam this was just my beer infused belly needed!

Roast potato’s with chilly, garlic and spices. Dam these were good!

Glass noodles with soup. I haven’t got a clue what the soup was made out of, but it tasted pretty good.

This was all washed down with some freshly pressed sugar cane juice.

I wanted to get myself a Mandarin phrase book, so after having a quick search online, I found a couple of book shops that I wanted to check out. Both shops were operated by the company Books, with one branch in Dajuyuan and the bigger branch located at Shaoniangong.

First, we had to try and navigate the Metro system!

We passed this police Bicycle that had flashing flights! #want

The “Book” store at Shaoniangong – This place was HUGE!!!!

This is just one of 4 main areas where they stocked and sold books, with additional smaller rooms on the outskirts of the building. It took us about an hour to find the English language books, which were located in a small room on the ground floor somewhere.

The place had tones of restaurants, but sadly most of them were western chains such as Starbucks, KFC, Steak houses and French restaurants. We opted for some spicy beef ramen at Ajisen Ramen, and was so glad we did!

This bowl overtook Oishi Ramen by a long shot, as the broth was hearty and full of depth of flavor.

All in all, a good day out getting to know Shenzhen!

Nǐ hǎo!!! (Hello in Mandarin)

I’ve just arrived in Shenzhen, South East China, for what I hope will be an epic trip eating my way around this vast country for the next 60 days. I’ve basically arrived with no plans as to where I’m going or what I’m going to be doing for the next 2 months. Heck, I haven’t even got myself a guide book!

The plan (if you could call it that) is to just go with the flow. I know I want to check out the World Expo in Shanghai, and the Mega Show in Hong Kong, but that’s about it. The rest of the itinerary will be made up by asking locals for their recommendations on where to go and hopefully, receive some advice from you guys! So… if you have any suggestions on where’s good to check out in China, please do leave your ideas in the comments!

Having been here for a day now, memories of how difficult it is to travel in China have already slapped me in the face. Most people say that traveling outside Shanghai or Bejing is difficult, and having only spent my time in the smaller cities, I would have to agree.

The biggest problem is very few people speak English. From checking into my hotel (which is a plush 4 star place) to asking where the toilet is in a restaurant (I eventually had to gesture me doing a pee. Which worked by the way!), it more often than not feels like an up-hill struggle.

And then you have the food. The food here looks super duper weird, and with few restaurants offering menu’s in English, eating out always ends up a bit of a gamble (I personally enjoy this experience, but understand this would drive others crazy).

After reading the above, your probably wondering why I’ve come here [again]. A few reasons. The first and foremost is wanting to understand the culture, business, people and language. With China’s economy exploding, I really feel there will be huge opportunities for people who have a head start in understanding business and culture in China first. My aim is to head out here every year, and learn as much as I possibly can.

The second reason, is that I love off the beaten path travel – and this is exactly what I’m getting here in Shenzhen. I’ve been here all day and have yet to see another tourist (or another white guy for that matter) – which I love. That to me is a sure way of knowing I’m experiencing the real deal.

Anyway, I’m looking forward to the experiences and people I will encounter over the next few weeks, and I hope you enjoy reading about them here.