Downtime

I was pretty excited to return to Shenzhen, see my friends and relax a bit. 

One nice thing about flying in China is that security is much quicker and less of a hassle. 

One of the worst chinglish signs i have seen in a women's toilet in the Chengdu airport

Our flight had a layover/stop in this tiny airport that was about 40 minutes north of Chengdu. There was one terminal where we got off then headed back 15 minutes later. 

The day I returned was Chinese valentines day, couples everywhere

After getting my deposit back and doing my visa in Hong Kong I spent a lot of time just chilling out, eating good food, hanging out with friends, and watching the New Girl

A Chinese fast food restaurant that is known for being healthy. The white weird custardy dish was new to me; its egg whites with meat balls in it. 

Another bad chinglish sign! I guess this bank accepts ripped//torn money

Rainy day in Shenzhen (every single day of the week and a half I was back rained) 

yummmmm any guesses what flavor this is?

My friend helped out one of her friends and his boss gave her a his gift card to this fabulous restaurant. We got a bunch of starter veggie dishes, steak, and egg tarts. It was the first time I tried egg tarts even though they are everywhere here--they were amazing!

It cracks me up how fancy places in China are so decorated so distastefully. They had some retro plates, a retro light fixture, then some chandeliers, big velvet seats, couches that looked like they were from the 1920's and then wall decorations that looked Victorian. 

I grabbed coldstone with a friend--amazing! Its crazy how they have imported products here that i can never find in the store (heath bars, reeses, cool whip)

A break dancing competition--there were 12 year olds dancing off against 25+ guys

Happy hour--some real beer!

And hummus! 

I wanted to go to Macau or Kaiping but due to the weather taking an hour ferry to Macau or a three hour bus ride to Kaiping wasn't looking like a good day trip. 

So I went out (about an hour West on the metro) to Shekou/Sea World. Its a very expat-y area with international schools and a lot of business men in importing and exporting. 

The main areas were a little deserted which was weird but a really pretty area! A lot of chains that are either in the expat area in the CBD or that I'm familiar with from home. 

But it was also full of construction! It would be really neat to go back to Shenzhen over the next year or so...so much will be different!