Hello Shenzhen!

Flying into Shenzhen

Nimen hao!

After spending the night celebrating the start of our break at the Apartment, we managed to survive making our 8:45am flight to Shenzhen on Friday morning. Alex and I flew Air China out of Hongqiao International Airport, which surprisingly wasn't a mob scene! As many of you either know or are able to guess, crowds in China are about as common random people on the street trying to sell you a "Rolex" watch. The ticket counter line moved fast, security was a breeze, and we made it to our gate in time to take a 30minute nap and grab breakfast, which was a egg mcmuffin...yes, I know, why support the global domination of mickey d's? I'll tell you why, 1. it was either that or KFC, 2. real cheese! (none of that random sweet stuff they produce here)...also, there may have been a cup of coffee and hashbrown involved.

Shenzhen

Our flight was pretty normal, except for a random 20minute layover in a city called Jingdezhen. We had no idea that this layover existed, so as the plane descended almost 2 hours ahead of schedule, we were a bit confused. Luckily we finally got the message that we were supposed to disembark for our odd 20 minute layover and then quickly return.

Shenzhen is gorgeous! It's apparently like a smaller version of Singapore; with palm trees, tropical flowers, and temperatures that are currently around 86/90 (which is going to make going to Harbin where it's 30deg a be a traumatizing experience). We're only here for 5 days, but the hotel is really nice and the food is pretty great; so even though we're technically working for GMUNC, it's like a mini vacation.

Shenzhen

Yesterday, after a team meeting, a group of us went to Luohu Shopping center. Now, if you didn't already know, China's like the bargaining/fake capital of the world; and since we're so close to Hong Kong, the quality, variety, and overall craziness of shopping in a knock off market is pretty much incomparable to anything else. We went with the intent of spending 2-3hours, and somehow managed to stay from about 3:30pm-11pm! Let me say though, it was epic. From shoes, to bags, to trench coats, to iphones, to 3hrs massages for 100rmb, and 10rmb pedicures, it's madness!! 

We also grabbed dinner at said knock off superstore. A Chinese man who had been stalking us screaming "missies! gucci! prada! shoes! purses!" for the past five minutes showed us to a restaurant and then proceeded to drag us to his boss's shop while we waiting for a table. The shop was pretty nice. It's amazing how much detail/organization goes into the fake market operation. There are the people to lure you in, the sales people who try to sell you everything, the runners who go to the warehouses to get the best fake stuff (because, yes, there are different levels/qualities of fake everything), and then the owners who you struggle to negotiate with! But anyway, the dinner was pretty amazing too! We had cauliflaouer with corn and this clay pot rice dish with meat and veggies :)

Claypot Rice

Hope everyone's enjoying the start of fall! I'm sort of sad I'm missing the start of Pumpkin Spice season haha.
 <3 from china,

Peking Duck in Shenzhen

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