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Published: April 18th 2012
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The bullet train was pretty quick taking us over an hour to travel 165kms with a few stops along the way! We arrived at our hotel to be surprised to find the most beautiful room yet! We hadn’t paid that much (about €26) in comparison to the prices in other hotels. The accommodation in china is more expensive than South East Asia but the food, transport etc. is very cheap. Anyway back to the room – it was boutique style with separate toilet and shower glass cubicles, lots of mirrored wall space, stripy wall paper, a fancy velvet lounger. A great unexpected find! We found out later that for some reason we got the place for a fraction of the price compared to their price list!!! Thanks Booking.com!
The main reason we have visited Shenzhen is to meet with family friends of John’s grandfather and mother and it is a great opportunity to see what family life in China is like! So we went to meet them at their home, when we finally get there! We are well used to using public transport now so after John checking the address on Google maps we head on the metro in that
direction. We get there and cannot find it anywhere. We ring Lily (who is our host) and my credit runs out. Turns out Google maps put us in the wrong place! So we find a taxi man – ask him to call Lily and we eventually arrive there.
We were introduced to Lily’s parents, her new two month old daughter, Fi Fi (pronounced Fay Fay), her brother (Shan) and nephew (Louis) and given a tour of their home. Lily’s mother has also prepared a lovely egg and rice wine dish for us. It is delicious, a mix of sweet of the rice wine with the savoury of egg and rice! Lily then invites us for dinner at a restaurant as it is considered a special occasion for her family to have guests! So off we go, looking forward to meeting more of the family and experiencing a proper family meal in China!
When we arrive at the restaurant, it is pretty clear that we will be eating in a far more upmarket place than we are used to!!! We are booked into a private room with Lily and her family (her parents, daughter, sister, husband in law, niece,
cousin, brother, nephew) and us! We get to choose a dish from the menu but ask what the normal custom is and we are told that usually 1 person does the ordering for everyone else. As we want it to be what normally happens we go with the flow and Lily’s brother orders for us all. The dinner is a busy experience with introductions to the family, English lessons for the kids, discussions about Ireland and our travels but also I had to give a welcoming speech of sorts (I am dreading the dvd….). When the food arrived, it kept coming, dish after dish. It was served on a turntable in the centre of the table and everyone took as they wanted. The new dishes were almost always rotated around to John and I first. I cannot describe how unbelievably tasty the food was. Everything tasted fresh, had unreal flavour and I can honestly say now, we are being cheated by the Chinese food in Ireland!!!!!
After dinner, Lily takes us to some sights. We visit a square dedicated to the man who was responsible for retrieving Hong Kong from the UK. It is also next to the new
tallest building in Shenzhen, the grand theatre and the night skyline fits with the recurring theme of lighting to show off buildings. The other familiar thing about this place is again the community sense around the square. It was busy with people doing open air rollerblading, dancing, and aerobics. Lily explained that the government funds such activities for people living in cities because those who live in apartment blocks have little opportunities to get out and have free space. I thought this was very progressive and it was clear that these initiatives were very positives for the people.
The next day we were meant to have a dinner at Lily’s home but unfortunately Lily’s sister became ill and was admitted to hospital so we visited some places recommended by Lily to us – the civic centre and its neighbouring park. The civic centre is an amazing expanse of a building with an arty finish. The walkway from it to the park was bustling with people flying kites or walking or roller blading. Behind the centre is a large library. The building itself was extremely fancy for a library! As we walked along the walkway we noticed a book bar
down some steps and walked down to find below the walkway was a whole shopping centre, bookshop and the like!!! Now I’m beginning to think China may be obsessed with shopping!!!!!
We walk up to the park and watch hundreds upon hundreds of people flying kites, some good, some very badly! We hang out for a while before getting a metro towards Coco Park shopping centre as the tourist guide mentions that there is a south east Asian bar street. When we get there it is nothing like a south east Asian bar street!! Just overpriced rows of bars which was disappointing. So we take a walk around the shopping centre, which is also very pricey (there must be so much money here…. Well some people have it anyway). We stop into an Irish bar across the street and have a pint before heading back towards the hotel. We grab a delicious dinner (I really can’t believe how scrumptious the food is here).
Lily and her family were so kind to us and couldn’t have offered us more, we will always be thankful for this wonderful experience. Our few days in China has really been interesting and
I hope we can return again to see some more. The country is so large, populated, busy but is able to function in such an organised manner, we have lots to learn in Ireland!
We are off to Hong Kong tomorrow! Two days left in Asia!!!
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Anne O'Donnell
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Living the dream
Sitting here on a wet Brighton day reading your blogs. I am well behind but catching up. You are living the dream guys - keep enjoying all the amazing sights and experinces.xxxx