Grocery Shopping in Shenzhen

On Tuesday night, a colleague from work offered to take me into Luohu, the shopping district here in Shenzhen. I will write a separate post about that particular experience because it deserves a devoted post; it was that amazing.

Another fascinating aspect of that evening was trying to blend in and do normal things like the locals. In addition to taking me shopping, my new friend showed me some important "take care of myself" activities, such as how to get around on the train (referred to as the Metro) and familiarizing myself with my home-away-from-home.  

The smell of roasted peanuts is especially inviting and surprising, because I had no idea the Chinese were so in love with peanuts. But in love, they surely are as street vendors park outside our hotel, which is conveniently close to the Metro, and sell these peanuts day and night. Peanuts and lemon peel, that is what it smells like when you come out of the Metro as the peanut guy sells his peanuts right next to the girl with the citrus wagon. That is a smell that can turn a frown upside down but no one really frowns in Shenzhen and the people are friendly and cheerful, even though they work awful hard.

On our way back from Luohu, we strolled through a side street near my hotel so my very considerate colleague could show me the ropes of how to get cash from an ATM, how to pick up toiletries and how to get groceries or food outside of the hotel where we all live.

This street was a sort of location warp, being so different from the Western sophistication of our hotel, but definitely my speed.  It is almost like the "back" of the house, while the hotel is the figurative "front" of the house.  Whole families gather in the evenings to share inexpensive eats made by the street vendors here and groups of men gather around tables, under umbrellas and play backgammon. I must ask them if I can take a picture but being new to the neighborhood, I tried to be respectful and just take it all in without intruding on their privacy. It is an everyday thing as I've witnessed this now-familiar street scene almost every night as I pass by on my way home from work. 

It might be difficult to tell from the pictures but they are just gathering around makeshift tables with stools and sharing stir-frys, satays, fresh fruit, steaming bowls of rice and other local goodies; all yummy stuff. They put it all in the middle and just share everything, family-style, everyone taking a bite with chopsticks and passing it around.  No fuss, no fanfare, but lots of lively conversation with bits of Chinese music tinkling in the air. It feels magical, peaceful.

The building on the right is a two story building with lots of small shops and stores inside, selling everything from computer cables, to iPhones, to socks and shoes.  And it isn't cheap-looking crap.  Well, ok, some of it is but for the most part, it betters anything you'd ever find at Wal-Mart or even some stores in the Mall.

The second floor is one, very large grocery store and tucked away in a corner of the grocery store is a Chinese Laundry.  I have no idea what makes Chinese launderers so good but it is a fact, a well known fact amongst my colleagues, that the Chinese KNOW laundry.  We actually have discussions about it on a daily basis and having experienced the magic they do myself, I chime in, gushing about it, too.  I myself, have a laundry budget of $100 RMB, which is the Yuan Renminbi (Yuan, Renminbi, RMB are used interchangeably) and I make a point of using my laundry budget every day because it is really exceptional.  

I am seriously going to miss my Chinese laundry service when I return home... but more than that, I know like I know like I know that I will miss this street in particular and the nightly family scene here even more.