I’ve had a special request to show more pictures of the buildings. Well suh, I work in the high tech area of Shenzhen which is loaded with tons of companies and buildings. Each seems to have some interesting architectural trait which certainly isn’t popular in the US. This past weekend, I remember seeing a building that had a giant square (like multiple stories high) that was inserted into the building and slightly rotated. (The next time I’m there’s I’ll take a picture). Stair-stepped buildings are popular. One of the particularly popular oddities is having a large open section in the middle of a building. For example, check out this building:

Here’s one of the more normal buildings near where I work: a simple glass tower. Up close though, you’ll notice graceful curves that forms a soft triangular shape:

One of the most popular building sites here in Shenzhen is the construction crane and tons of scaffolding assembled around the structure. It’s almost possible to stand somewhere in the city and not see a construction crane.

Just as interesting as looking up is looking straight down. Have you ever seen an advertisement scratched into the street? This is quite common in China. I think this picture is the phone number of a company that can help you, yes you!, get a credit card:

Every weekday morning, there’s a group doing Tai Chi set to music consisting of some sort of wind instrument accompanied by a simple drum set. It’s very pleasant to hear when I walk outside. Sometimes there’s a single swordsman or a group as well. Many days this week, I had to get up early, so this morning I decided to get up extra early and take some pictures.

Food is never a reason for me to travel anywhere so I didn’t worry too much when I realized I’d be going to China for 5 months; Chinese happens to rank near the bottom of my cuisine list. (I don’t care how many people say otherwise, “Golden Chopsticks” is the most overpriced, overrated, emperors-clothes Chinese restaurant in Redmond.) OK, so I can handle not having my favorite foods accessible. But, by the end of our lunch today, I had happily proclaimed to Michael and Marshall that the meal was “the best Chinese food I’ve ever had!”

It wasn’t because I had developed such an appetite after the morning’s exercise either. I arrived at the building this morning at 8:45 when a swarm of employees from various companies were also dashing in. The design of the building’s elevators is so bad (more on this in a future post) that I knew I’d be waiting for a while. Sure enough, the elevator hallway was clogged shoulder to shoulder with people. A few sturdy folks exited to the right to the stairs. “Why not?”, I thought. I work on the 15th floor and each floor contained four flights…

I work here:

By the time lunch time had arrived, I was eager to head out. I can’t remember the name of the restaurant, but it’s about 4 times the size of your average restaurant in the US. I guess there’s not really that much to tell other than what we had: small bowls of rice, a cooked spinach dish, some very spicy chicken bits, peanuts, a pork dish that had a fish flavor, and a soupy mix of bits of spicy pork and sprouts. All of it was tasty, but the pork dishes were especially delicious and I had Michael write the names down for me. Shucks, I left the sheet of paper at work so I don’t remember what they were called.

Short movie: Ordering at the restaurant

Check out this picture of the walk home. Pedestrians and bikes share the road almost equally with motor vehicles, but the vehicles naturally are king. Look in the distance of the photo, you can see someone standing in the intersection. It’s not as bad as you may think. Although it can be dangerous, it is no worse than those insane uncontrolled pedestrian crosswalks that we have in Seattle.

OK, I didn’t think I would write an “Engrish” post, but this is just too choice. This is a letter I received from the apartment complex outlining the various Sunday activities that are offered.

Dear Sir or Madam

Thank you for you continuous the understanding and the support that works to us. In order to provides the good communication platform to the apartment long resident guest. We draw up from this Saturday starting apartment collective celebration, specifically activity arrangement following,

And here it goes on to list the various activities like “see bird”.

Please note,

1. This active arrangement like has the change, in separate informs you ahead of time
2. (my favorite) If your excellency has any suggestion or the opinion, please promptly takes charge of with the reception,
3. Please attend, people go to reception center in advance to sign up.

If only I could speak Chinese that “good.”

I got a wake-up call this morning for a “See Bird” activity, or “Bird Watching”.   The place I’m staying has Sunday activities and I figured it would be a great way to meet some more folks.   Well, it turned out to be no more than just biking down to the coast, sitting in the park, trying to play badmitton in the wind, and eating fruit.   That was fine with me.   I guess there was about 10 of us:   me, two more Americans, Don from South Wales, and then the Chinese staff.   Even though I’ve only been here four days, I’m still anxious about learning Chinese.   I was taught a few sayings, but I have forgotten them now.   I need to repeat things over and over.   But, I had a great time being laughed at.

My colleague Bill, an American, invited me to go with his wife, Tien Tien, and him to the famouse Luohu market where all the counterfeit goods are haggled over and sold. This place has quite a reputation and, sure enough, it was unbridled capitalism – the latest pirated DVDs of movies still in the theaters, rip-offs of Armani, North Face, Ray-Ban, and hundreds others are laid out wall-to-wall in the 6-story mega complex. Having been to South America a few times prepared me for it well. This was more entertaing, I thought, because it wasn’t just homemade goods or souvenirs, but almost anything you could imagine. Westerners, of course, are viewed as pigeons so I just wanted to watch, not participate.

We took the subway there, which is spotless. So, I’ve learned another means of transportation. The subway is actually much simpler than speaking with my driver, but the latter helps me with Mandarin.

As we entered the market, I heard calls of, “Hello hello, Mister! DVDs for you! Cheap for you!!” If I even slightly turned my head, I had them pawing at me, grabbing my arm and beckoning me into their small booth. You just have to keep walking. While Tien Tien was away, Bill and I found a leather jacket that I liked and the salesman told me all about it in memorized words of English. She was intent on showing me it was real leather by putting a lighter right next to it and showing me that it wouldn’t burn. The asking price was quite high for a rip-off leather jacket and super high for a plastic one. We left the store, hands still grasping at us, to get Tien Tien to examine the coat more closely. We returned, she grabbed the jacket, and within 5 seconds proclaimed, “It’s plastic!” The salesman looked away with an apethetic, if not irritated, look.   So, what about the lighter, you ask?   Tien Tien explained it well.   The salesman put the burner so close to the fabric that the flame did not have enough oxygen to be sufficiently hot.   Hold the flame two inches underneath the fabric – different story.   Brilliant!

I did manage to get myself two pairs of Ray-Ban glasses for $8 American. I needed them badly. Tien Tien was away again and I was impressed by Bill’s negotiating ability. They started out wanting $350 RMB…we, or rather he, got them down to $80. Nice glasses too.

(l-r) 1) The famous market at Luohu, 2) Tien Tien and Bill

We hopped the subway back towards home and got off at Mix City along the way. I can’t remember the name of the stop in Chinese. This was a bonafide “mall”, the kind of place that I’ve avoided like smoking bars back in the US. But, this was an experience too: 7 stories, maybe, immaculately clean, with a skating rink on the third floor. There were some insanely expensive shops in here, way beyond my price range, but obviously for a rich local clientelle. I was impressed just with looking through the various levels at all sorts of escalators jutting out and reaching various levels.

(l-r) Inside Mix City, a glass needle outside

After saying goodbye, I wandered home and found another colleauge, Greg (from Poland), having coffee. We sat for a while and chatted and then decided to play tennis that evening. Excellent excercise and a new skilled tennis partner.

(l-r) More high-rise apartments (these are everywhere), a relaxing environment for coffee

Isn’t it funny that I’m here in China writing about Wal-Mart, of all places? I was wandering around in the early evening around where I was living, checking out various stores, and I came upon a grocery store. Since I enjoy cooking, I made my way inside to see what sort of options I would have. Not much, I reckon; I didn’t recognize almost anything. This didn’t really surprise me, but I certainly didn’t have any answers about what I could cook. So, I wandered a few aisles and then left. The following day, I had to leave early from work because, the jet lag, which was totally manageable, caught up with me and I barely could stay awake at work. So, I took the prescription from many people and went home and slept. In the afternoon though, two of my Chinese colleagues, Marshall and Michael, came by to take me to Wal-Mart. Never before had I been so eager to see that store. Of course, the goods were very different, but just seeing it was a treat. There were easily 5 times as many employees in the store, so asking where something was (not me, of course) entailed just turning your head and asking and then being pointed in the right direction. Like a Wal-Mart in the US, I couldn’t believe the quantity of items available…and there were two floors. I especially enjoyed the food area, which included all sorts of live fish that people caught with nets to purchase.

The entrance to happy Wal-Mart

I’ve been in Shenzhen for over 24 hours now. Already, I have learned a lot. What is most interesting is the expectations I had and how they differ from reality. I thought it would be wilder than I thought. Of course, I am living in the most tame, wealthy, and western parts of the city. That is nice for easing into the real insanity of China. Some examples of my expectations: I had almost no trouble getting to Shenzhen on my own. First, Pavan gave me excellent directions which were completely accurate (except it’s two floors up the escalator instead of three to the ferry departures) and I was surprised at how much English there was. Most of it was quite rudimentary (way beyond my pitiful Chinese), but enough to get by. Another thing was I was warned by multiple people of the crazy driving. Well, it’s nothing worse than what I’ve seen in South America, in fact, it’s probably a little more tame. I like the driving in South America; it is much more “free” than the US. There are less rules and the drivers have to rely more on working together to get places than rules. I still think this works much better. One huge benefit is that I still haven’t seen anything close to the road rage in South America or China that we have in the US. And, Seattle is quite a mellow place compared to other places I’ve lived, so that’s saying something. The city is cleaner than I thought, but way more smoggy! I was warned of the smog, but it’s beyond what I was expecting! I imagine the brown cloud of Denver multiplied by about twenty! It’s fairly clear in the morning but a thick gray soup by the afternoon. I understand it’s much worse in summer.

I’m still suffering from lack of money, or the ability to change it. I’ve been working during business hours so I keep missing the opportunity to change money and easily buy stuff. Thankfully, I met a restaurant owner who speaks great English who accepts American dollars. I’m losing weight at this pace. No problem, I need to gain muscle now for rock climbing season.

I am excited to learn Chinese but the opening moves are very tough. For example, I can hardly go beyond greetings, salutations, and “thank you”s. When anyone tries anything else, I don’t get anything. Occasionally, I can pick up a word here and there, I reckon that’s something. But, the pronunciation is a killer. Right now, it’s almost impossible for me to tell the difference between “to go” and “to eat”; they both sound like weird variations of the word “chew”.

Here’s where I work. Nice view, but check out the smog:

Here are various shots of the immediate area that I live in. Hardly roughing it:

After an excellent western style breakfast, I took the crosswalk over Salisbury Road in Kowloon and to walk along the promenade. An Indian yogi stopped me and before I knew it, he was telling my future. Well, I knew what was coming, and at least it was entertaining, but this was my fairly expensive lesson in how to avoid street performers. But, I learned I have a lucky face and that February will be a good month for me. The promenade was delightful. It later turned into an “Avenue of the Stars” with all sorts of famous Chinese movie stars. There’s a statue of Bruce Lee too. I was blown away by the skyline of Hong Kong island. I thought I saw the tallest tower in front of me, then looked over to the right to see a huge glass needle dominating the horizon. I couldn’t believe how long the skyline was, like 10 times as long as Seattle’s. I walked streets, subways, and parks back to the hotel. Unfortunately, I only had an hour and a half, but I will be back. On the way back, another Indian approached me asking me to come look at his clothing, so I spoke to him in Spanish.

Hong Kong skyline and a street in Kowloon:

I haven’t taken one of these in a long time, but I brought them along for the jet lag. I arrived at the Kowloon Shangri-La after midnight and took one as soon as I got to my room. Then I showered and tried to send a couple of last minute emails. Ambien apparently takes about 30 minutes to kick in. Not long after starting the emails, my computer screen went 3D on me, with windows pulsing and protruding off the screen. I remember the characters falling off the windows or fading away. The windows then started bending on the edges. I was at least cognisant of Ambien’s effects so I tried willing myself to finish the last email. I couldn’t, so I immediately tried to shut down the computer. But, I started feeling so dizzy that I could barely sit in the chair, so I just slammed the laptop shut and staggered to the bed. I fumbled with the lights but managed to turn them off. By the time I got to the bed though, it felt like I was in a dream. My head crashed on the pillow and the bed felt more like a nest of sandy lumps. I remember feeling that I wasn’t on a bed. It felt like the rough, loose surface was moving, like it was turning on it side and I was struggling to hold on to keep from sliding into the unknown. I turned over and the lights, or what I discovered the following morning were reflections of the city lights on the ceiling, looked like marching figures coming towards me. It felt like I was in a crowded street trying to hold onto a sandy wall to keep from falling. Then I felt nauseous and started coughing. I realized what was coming…thankfully; I knew that I would soon be spared this awful ‘trip’. I somehow remembered where the bathroom was (I honestly don’t know how) and then got sick. I crashed back on the bed afterwords and passed out. When I woke up the following morning feeling refreshed, I vaguely remembered the event. Was it a dream? I got up and went to the bathroom and discovered it wasn’t.