Shenzhen photos

Two blog posts in one day -- I think it's a record! The previous post about my spa marathon is one reason why I wish I'd been better about taking pictures. But this post gives you a look at the few photos we did manage to take during our two productive and fun weeks here. Tomorrow, we head (finally!) to the Gambia. I'm not sure how much I'll be able to post next week, but please send us good thoughts for our 40-hour traveling bonanza!

Out to lunch at a local cafeteria

All smiles at the food court

Walking back to the office after lunch

 The alley of pet shops near the office

How much is that doggie in the window? ... er, cage.

More puppy cuteness!

Doug on a hike in a park (in back: Deng Xiaoping statue)

 

More views from Doug's hike

I'm sad I missed this hike (it was day #2 of my cold)
 

The busy shopping street near the office (this photo does not accurately convey how packed it gets!)

Pictures I wish I'd taken:

1. The man riding a bicycle this morning with three full or queen-sized mattresses strapped on the back! No joke! He was wobbling and weaving a bit, but managed to stay upright.

2. The man riding a bicycle carrying 25-30 tins of cooking oil (each about 1 cubic foot), which were presumably empty.

3. The man carrying two long poles, one across each shoulder, from which dangled a collection of cages holding small bunnies and guinea pigs (headed for pet shops, not restaurants, according to our friends' speculation, though not all animals are as lucky...see #4).

4. The tanks outside our favorite neighborhood restaurant, which hold live octopi, shrimp, eels, and fish. I like watching a wriggly octopus dance its tentacles along the glass, though I don't like thinking about its fate.

5. The bloody fish head that stared me in the eye today at the grocery store. Freshly chopped, with blood glistening around its neck.

6. The all-gold skyscraper that I see on our walk to work.

7. Walmart.

8. Anything and everything at the spa!

A massage hits the spaaaaaaaaaat

In addition to being an international center of commerce and trade, Shenzhen is also known for its spas. And since Dorcas and I have both spent the past week recovering from icky colds, we decided to treat ourselves to a spa day unlike any other...

We entered Queen Spa and Dining at 2pm. The female employees in the lobby, all of whom were wearing crisp white suits with huge fan collars a la the Jetsons, welcomed us and gave us red identification bracelets to which all of our spa services would be charged. Then they ushered us into the female changing area, which is is the poshest locker room I've ever seen. The lockers were covered in purple suede, and a narrow changing room was hidden between the lockers like an upscale airplane bathroom. We stripped down, swathed ourselves in large towels, and padded off to the shower room in our red spa flip-flops. Mind you, this is the first hot shower I'd had in two weeks, since the hot water heater in our apartment bathroom is broken. Needless to say, I took full advantage of my private shower stall and steamed myself pink! There were all kinds of soaps and shampoos in there, including a bottle that proclaimed: "Living the Skin Almightiness / Washes Noodles Milk." Um... I didn't use that one.

After showering, we proceeded to the sinks and were invited to brush our teeth -- a bit unexpected, but also pleasant. Then we trotted past a large soaking pool to the pajama room, where we traded our towels for spa-issued pink pajamas and disposable underwear (which is not as gross as it sounds). Clean and clothed, we took the elevator four floors up (this spa is 5 stories, people!) to a floor full of spa goers that looked like spa meets Vegas meets WALL-E.

Here's how it works: You stake out a private recliner in a row of recliners. Each recliner has its own TV screen, cup holder, and ottoman. All around you, people are sleeping, eating, watching TV, talking on their cell phones, or getting spa treatments. Oh, and smoking, too, which totally grossed me out; luckily, there's also a non-smoking section. In the middle of the floor are several snack bars offering fruit, soft-serve ice cream, juices, teas, popcorn, and miscellaneous salty snacks. Their full-service restaurant is also open 24/7, and people can play pool and check their email in other lounge areas. (Seriously, does anyone really want to check her email at a spa?! Given that you can stay here for 24 hours, though, I guess some people actually want to...) In the arm of your recliner is a spa "menu," from which you can order all sorts of different treatments. 

While Dorcas and I were mulling over the menu, a server brought us water and sliced watermelon. I felt like a princess, or at least like I was flying first class. Over the course of the day, we opted for foot massages, hand massages, and neck/shoulder massages, each of which was at least 45 minutes long! (Note to self: 60 minutes on just the neck and shoulders is a bit much. But the hand and foot massages were awesome!) We decided to pass on the other treatments, which included full-body massages, pedicures (which don't involve nail polish), foot scraping (yikes) and back scraping (double yikes). Sadly, this spa didn't offer "blowing the foot," so I may never know what that mysterious procedure entails.

For a massage, you could choose male or female masseuse, but it seems like more people chose female. Our first masseuses were dressed like glamorous nurses, in embroidered blouses and scrub bottoms, and the later masseuses looked like cheerleaders in their itty bitty pleated skirts. I felt really strange when I glanced over at another patron's recliner and saw his masseuse leaning over to massage his back, thus flashing me with her underwear. Even though I didn't see anything overtly sexual happening, there sure was a undercurrent of sexuality and decadence infusing the whole place.

In between massages, Dorcas and I hung out and chatted in our chairs, watched a movie, had scrumptious noodles for dinner, and wandered around to get snacks. Like Vegas, the blinds were mostly closed, so it was hard to tell what time of day it was. It was also strange to hear the clamor around us, since I'm used to the Western idea of a spa where people whisper and tiptoe around. But since I don't speak Mandarin, it was easy for me to tune out the TV noise, chattering masseuses, and cell phone conversations as mostly white noise. 

Finally, we started to yawn, and decided to call it a night. As my mom would say, better to leave wanting more than to leave having had too much. We retraced our way back through the showers and locker room (I snuck in another hot shower, just for good measure), and traipsed back out to the lobby with our little ID bracelets. Lo and behold, when we went to pay, we discovered we'd spent EIGHT HOURS in the spa! And all for the low price of 234 yuan... about 33 bucks.

My authentic Chinese experience

I've spent the last four days getting over a nasty cold. While my spirits have stayed pretty high even as my energy's dropped low, I found myself alone in the apartment today while Doug and Daniel were at work, and I started feeling a bit stir-crazy. I decided to cheer myself up by venturing out of the apartment to take part in something authentically Chinese. That's right: I went to Walmart.

OK, OK, I know: Walmart is anything but authentically Chinese. And normally, going to Walmart is a good way to bum myself out, not cheer myself up. But in a land where everything is unfamiliar and still has a sheen of novelty, going to Walmart turned out to be a good way to have fun.

The big, smiling face of Sam Walton beamed down on me as I rode the escalator ("travalator," according to a sign) down into the store. That's right, the Shenzhen Walmart is underground. Instead of going straight for the snack I had in mind, I decided to stroll each of the aisles just to soak up the flavor of Walmart: The China Edition. First of all, walking all of the aisles takes nowhere near as long as it would at home, since this Walmart is about the size of a small-ish grocery store in the U.S. Despite being on the small side, the store has salespeople everywhere, nearly one in every aisle, wanting to talk to you about buying things. (If I looked like I spoke Mandarin, I think they'd probably have approached me, but they left me alone.) At home, if I have a question in Walmart, it feels futile to go searching for an employee, since: a) they're never around, and b) they usually don't know where things are even when you do find them. But here, I was bombarded with opportunities to chat with employees, should I have wanted to (or been able to!).

I spotted lots of familiar brands in the toiletries and household goods sections: Pantene, Neutrogena, Head 'n Shoulders, Vaseline, Maybelline, Tide detergent, even OB tampons. Their foreign equivalents were there on the shelf, too, but I was surprised by how much I could have purchased familiar brands if I'd wanted to. (They're pricier, of course.) This incarnation of Walmart is mostly groceries, though: fresh produce, dried goods, cookies, candies, milk, yogurt, soft drinks, water, sauces, and other staples. Again, I saw familiar brands (often with Chinese versions of their logo; see Corn Flakes, below) alongside Chinese brands, and it all seemed pretty familiar. Then I rounded a corner and ended up next to tanks of live animals available for purchase: fish, eels, crabs, and--my personal creep-out--hundreds of live, squiggling, nearly transparent shrimp. Ew. Oh yeah, and next to the tanks of live animals were large baskets heaping with these critters' dried equivalents: dried fish parts, dried bird parts, dried sausages, and a popular snack, chicken feet.

Then there was the soundtrack. At first the in-store music didn't register on my mental radar. But at some point I realized I was humming and mumbling along with the music drifting from the ceiling. When I stopped to listen more closely, I realized they were playing a string of U.S. one-hit wonders circa 1997: Sophie B. Hawkins' "As I Lay Me Down," Savage Garden's "Truly Madly Deeply," Natalie Imbruglia's "Torn," and (brace yourself) Hanson's "I Will Come to You." (Don't remember that one? I didn't either at first, but I bet you'd recognize that prepubescent harmonizing on "na na na na na na na na na na...") What's worse, the store wasn't playing the originals. Instead, they were playing remixes by singers whose English pronunciation was pretty decent, but whose vocals sounded like they'd recently placed third in a citywide karaoke competition. As I started to recognize the songs, I also remembered that I'd heard Toni Braxton's "Breathe Again" piping from a shop on my way to Walmart. Apparently Shenzhen is where one-hit wonders come to die. (Or be resurrected, one of the two.)

I don't feel like I can rightfully end this blog without showing you a picture of my Walmart spoils. From left: paper towels, a Chinese Snickers (I have to do a taste test), guava juice, mango juice, aloe vera juice (my new favorite! comes with aloe chunks), Corn Flakes (for Doug, from a previous trip to Walmart. Yes, I've been twice.), a sponge (only 15 cents), a 6-pack of yogurt (which is pretty watery here, kind of like kefir), rolls (think Hawaiian sweet bread), and dried peaches. Minus the cornflakes, today's loot cost me about 6 bucks. Not bad.

P.S. On my way home from Walmart, I stopped to read the services menu at the spa that takes up the first 4 floors of our apartment building. (Shenzhen is famous for its spas and massage parlors.) In addition to offering services like Chinese massage and Thai massage (for super cheap -- $15 or less!), the spa in our building also advertises a service called "Blows the Foot (One Time)" for 50 yuan (about 7 dollars). The spa seems pretty legit, so I am really, really tempted to go in and request this service just so I can find out what blowing the foot entails. More on that in a later post!

Dessert for dinner at RBT

Even though we haven't yet eaten in the Modern Toilet Restaurant (and thus cannot attest to either the yumminess of its poo-related foods or the cleanliness of its toilets), we've still been having plenty of food adventures here in Shenzhen! Tonight, on our friend's recommendation, we had a strange but tasty dinner at a cafe chain called RBT (think rabbit). We were on our own, but luckily the menu had pictures and English subtitles (hooray!), so we were able to order with our well-honed pointing and smiling skills. I even managed to branch out from the menu and ask for boiled water to drink (since you're apparently not supposed to drink plain tap water). 

Most of the vegetarian options were on the sweeter side, so Doug ordered hot chocolate, french toast, and fried tofu, and I ordered fruit salad and a waffle with red beans and cheese balls. The french toast looked french toasty enough, but it tasted more like an original glazed donut than actual bread. The fruit salad with aloe was refreshing but a bit odd: in addition to oranges, cantaloupe, and apples, it came with tomatoes (I guess they ARE technically fruit!), some weird albino kiwi chunks (kinda tasteless) and chunks of aloe (which I quite liked). It was also covered in thin swirls of mayo. Ew. The "cheese balls" that accompanied my red beans and waffle tasted more like a hybrid between ice cream and cream cheese. Everything was yummy, I just couldn't help feeling like I'd gone to dinner at a really high-class version of the Donut Wheel! I think I'll lay off sugar for tomorrow...

 

Doug's enjoying his french toast

I love their logo!

Doug dives into the fried tofu and fruit salad (notice the mayo drizzles)

QEOTD (Quirky English of the Day)

This afternoon, Doug and I took a break and walked through the bustling shopping area that surrounds the D.Light office. Among other things, we spotted a huge sign on the third floor of a tall building advertising the "Modern Toilet Restaurant." The sign included pictures of toilets and urinals outlined in blue and pink. I hate to speculate on what types of food they serve...

Shooting hoops in Shenzhen

We made it to Shenzhen! Our flight was incredible: it was the longest flight I've ever taken (14 hours), and I slept through nearly the whole darn thing. We took off at 1:30am, and I just slept on and off for about 11 hours, walked around the plane a bit, went back to sleep, woke up, ate breakfast, watched a movie, and we were there! I didn't even read a book, which anyone who knows me will find nearly impossible to believe. Flying at night is my new favorite way to fly.

Our home for the next two weeks is an apartment in the Luo Hu district where several D.Light Fellows live. We have a great view of Hong Kong from our 15th-story porch! We spent yesterday with our friend Dorcas (from D.Light) and Daniel, a D.Light Fellow who lives in the apartment. They showed us the local grocery store and took us out to a delicious vegetarian meal at a restaurant next door. Dorcas also took us to the D.Light office neighborhood and a fancy expat grocery store (think Andronico's). Knowing how to get around and where to get food always helps me feel at home!


This morning I went with Daniel to shoot hoops at a basketball court next door to the apartment. I don't think I've touched a basketball in 10 years, so it was novel and a lot of fun! When we showed up, there were two groups of teenagers shooting on the court, but Daniel told me that we could just join in a group. We just walked up and shot our basketball, and then when it rebounded, it was up for grabs for anyone in the group. So they grabbed our ball, we grabbed theirs, and you just took a ball when you could get one. No one passed the ball to anyone else or shared it, so I just had to jump in there and go for it. It was fun and a bit chaotic. I liked the fact that it was a little competitive, since you had to fight for the ball a bit. But the kids weren't all professional or anything, so I didn't feel too intimidated. I shot and missed a whole bunch of times, but I made a few shots, too. It was a fun way to get some exercise first thing in the morning. I walked back to the apartment alone while Daniel went to breakfast, and a few other kids smiled at me and said, "Hello! Go NBA!" It was cute.


Afterward, Doug and I went for a walk in the city and found our way to a crazy shopping area that was jam-packed with people. There were shopkeepers yelling for people to enter their stores, food vendors yelling about their foods, and lots of loud music blaring from all sides. My jet-lagged mind felt foggy and overwhelmed by all of the stimulation, but it was still fun to be out and about! I'll try to take a picture next time. We had lots of food success today: we ordered fried spicy potatoes from a street vendor by pointing, got some yummy pearl milk tea, and ate lunch at the same restaurant next door to our apartment. (I think they'll be seeing a lot of us!) There are so many tall, shiny buildings in Shenzhen - in addition to big skyscrapers, the apartment buildings are each at least 30 stories, and there are tons of them! Here are some photos from inside our apartment:

Dining and living room

Another view of living room (entrance hall on the left; bedrooms through the door on the right)

The kitchen

  

Our bedroom - small but cozy

View from our balcony

 Another view from the balcony - the green hills are part of Hong Kong, which is just across the border from Shenzhen

Leavin' on a jet plane

And...we're off! Tonight we fly to Hong Kong to kick off our grand adventure with 2 weeks at the D.Light offices in China. I feel so many different emotions today: sad, excited, nervous, stoked, jittery. Needless to say, I didn't sleep too much last night. After all of this anticipation, I'm glad we're finally going. But I'm also really scared about letting go of everything that's familiar and jumping into the unknown.

A few weeks ago, I wrote a poem to try to describe my feelings, and I'd like to share it with all of you:

Leap

I am a roller skater

poised atop a steep ramp.

Someone pushes me from behind

and downdowndown

I go.

Miraculously, I keep

my balance and start to

pick up speed. Surely, I think,

this must be someone else's life,

or a dream -- but no,

I see the edge of the ramp

rushing up to greet me, and it is real.

It curves up slightly, a smirk,

a smile, a ski jump,

the swoosh of my life.

In a moment,

gravity and fate shall fling me

into that vast expanse

of the unknown,

and all I can do is pray to God

that my creaky old wings

remember how to

fly.

-JMH, 10/11/09