When you went to the zoo as a kid, which animals were you most excited to see? Monkeys? Lions? How about dogs? Or a pig? If you visit the small zoo attached to the Guanlan Mountain & Lake Garden Farm in Shenzhen, China, you won’t find the first two, but you’ll find plenty of dogs, […]
The Flooded Streets of Shenzhen
It rains a lot in southern China. Most of that rain falls during the monsoon season from April to September. This can be a little annoying if you’re traveling around China during the summer and you enjoy doing anything other than sitting in your hotel room. It can also wreak havoc on transportation in rural […]
I Love Chinese Repairmen!
When you live in a Chinese apartment, something will stop working. Actually, most things will stop working. The majority can be fixed using duct tape, paper clips, newspapers, rubber bands, chewing gum and/or various other items laying around the house. Occasionally none of those will work and you have to call a repairman. That’s when […]
How Long Does It Really Take To Pick Ten Lychees?
I’ve been on a number of sightseeing tours in China and they all had one thing in common: they were bad. Often very, very bad (like this one in Xi’an). Despite that, I enjoyed most of them. Having the right people on the tour helps, but the most important factor is attitude. If you go […]
Sweating Away at Shenzhen’s Meilin Reservoir
Summers in China are horrible. They’re hot and humid and anyone who sets foot outside is instantly soaked in sweat. When I lived in Shanghai, I escaped to Kashgar in the far west of China for the summer. The temperatures are even higher there, but the complete lack of moisture makes life much more pleasant. […]
Bad English Sign for Fat Food in Shenzhen
If this bad English sign near the Shenzhen Railway Station at the Luohu border crossing with Hong Kong is any indication, it seems China finally passed some truth-in-advertising laws. Get info on Shenzhen here and China in general here.