Joining a Mass Migration Out of the Pearl River Delta Area

During recent days at the Dongmen shopping district in Shenzhen, lint removers were obviously not the only item in demand. One item in particular stood out.

So many people walked around with pieces of newly purchased luggage, one could wonder whether the world's biggest annual human migration is underway in China. It is. During a 40 day period surrounding the Lunar New Year, Chinese travelers are expected to take 2.9 billion trips. Notably, that's 700 million trips less than last year.

Yesterday, travelers in nearby Guangzhou experienced some of the pains which occur when transporting all of those people doesn't go as planned. Due to bad weather far to the north delaying trains, thousands were stranded — figures range from 38,000 to 100,000. Part of the discrepancy may be due to some figures including Guangzhou East Railway Station. Whatever the case, it was a lot of people and probably a miserable experience.

Yesterday, I made my own journey. Due to my unexpected return to the area and staying in Shenzhen longer than planned, I was not able to buy a train ticket in advance. They were sold out, so I took a bus at roughly twice the cost — partly attributable to the bus company's willingness to raise prices for the holiday. The bus ride lasted over 6 hours instead of the 2 hours possible on a high speed train, though that doesn't factor in the bus stations' more convenient locations. I am not complaining, though, even with the many unexpected detours the bus took to pick up more passengers. I made it to my destination.

No Donkey Today, Just Durian Pizza in Shenzhen

For a late lunch today in Shenzhen, I headed to the COCO Park — a trendy shopping mall with a number of restaurants. After all of the recent posts about donkey meat, I was in the mood to try something different.

In the mall's central courtyard area outside, an advertisement for a Vietnamese restaurant tempted me.

But the restaurant didn't fit the "different" category for me.

Inside the mall I saw a banner inside advertising the Sajiao Chilli Restaurant. It promised "ALL FOODS ARE USED ONLY ONCE!"

I typically eat food which has only been used once. So, again, tempting but not different. Or at least I hope so.

Next, from afar I spotted WareHouse.

Their pizza was tempting too, but it still couldn't pass the "different" test.

But I didn't have to give up hope on enjoying some pizza. Fortunately, I was able to find an appropriate restaurant next to a large sign promoting it.

Like WareHouse, La César specializes in pizza.

More important for today's goal, it specializes in a pizza I had never tried before. No, not donkey meat pizza (still haven't seen that). The main ingredient for their famous pizza is durian — a fruit that evokes a wide range of responses from people. Some can't bear the smell. Some are attracted to the fruit so much they wonder if people have died from durian overdoses. I fall into the latter category, and someday I will write an ode, or perhaps just a post, about durian. Today is just for durian pizza.

The restaurant allows you to order a pizza with two different toppings at no extra cost. So for one half I ordered the standard durian topping (there are pricier varieties of durian available) and for the other half I went for a black mushroom topping with tomato sauce (they have a number of other non-durian options as well).

The half and half option is an excellent offering since the durian pizza is sweet and could serve as a dessert. One drawback is that the strong durian smell can coverup some of the smells from the other pizza. Ideally, I would want the durian half of the pizza brought out later, though it's hard to escape durian smells regardless since the durian pizza is a popular choice.

The results? Keeping the dessert theme in mind, I started with the more savory mushroom side. It was good although more fresh basil would have been appreciated. The crust reminded me of Little Caesars in the U.S.

The all-important durian side was pretty good as well. It works, though I'm not sure the cheese was really necessary other than for texture. Which leads to my common impression when trying durian ice cream, durian cookies, etc. I like them but often feel like I would be better off just eating a plain durian.

If you like pizza and you like durian, the durian pizza will probably pass. As long as the half/half option remains, I can see myself returning someday. Tomorrow, I look forward to seeing whether leftover durian pizza works for breakfast.

Tough Choices: Lamb, Donkey, Noodles, or Food With a British Theme in Zhuhai

I have seen many restaurants in China serving donkey meat in addition to the ones I tried in Handan and in Huizhou. These restaurants often specialize in donkey meat. But some offer options, such as this restaurant in Zhuhai, Guangdong:

Lamb or donkey both readily available

If those options didn't appeal, across the street in front of the New Yuan Ming Palace (a place deserving a post of its own someday) another set of options were available.



I didn't take advantage of any of these choices. And I am not sure whether Sweet Home serves authentic British food. Pizza appears to be on the menu though. I doubt you can get donkey meat as a topping, but it's worth asking.

No Freshly Baked Buns: A Donkey Meat Restaurant in Huizhou

Mention of a donkey crisis in China and its possible impact on donkey meat dumplings inspired reader wallaby78 to write:

I love my local donkey meat place! They serve the meat in a freshly baked bun.... I'm hungry now.

This brings to mind places I have tried or seen in Beijing. Due to a technical problem, I can't share photos of them at the moment. So instead, I will continue the theme by sharing where I ate donkey meat over 4 years ago in Huizhou, Guangdong.

The restaurant offered a variety of donkey meat dishes. I went for something simple and also ordered some greens.

No freshly baked buns, but of course there was rice.

Hungrier now?

Gelatin and Dumpling Woes: China Needs More Donkeys

Rare are the days when The New York Times mentions a "donkey crisis" and "ass glue", but such occurred today. Chris Buckley reports a shortage of donkeys in China increases the likelihood your donkey skin gelatin is a fake. This poses a problem especially for people who believe the gelatin has medicinal properties and can't be replaced with even mule skin gelatin or horse skin gelatin — those are completely different.

To my knowledge, I have never ingested donkey skin gelatin. I may have been affected by China's donkey dilemma in another way though. The news made me think of a restaurant in Handan, Hebei province, where five years ago I ate my first donkey dumpling.

Restaurants serving donkey meat generally aren't difficult to find in China, and Handan isn't the only place where I have eaten it. My first experience was at a restaurant in Shanghai and later experiences occurred in Beijing and Huizhou. I didn't expect any special benefits from the meat and selected the dishes out of curiosity and the desire to immerse myself in China's food culture. Donkey dumplings definitely aren't for everybody, but I haven't heard a convincing argument as to why eating donkey meat is ethically very different from eating other meats such as beef.

In dumplings, sandwiches, or hot pots, the meat had a distinctive flavor. When friends have asked about the taste, I stated the obvious: it tastes like ass. But now I have more reason to question whether all of the dishes I tried included genuine donkey meat. Am I more of an ass if they did or they did not? I can easily imagine how some friends might reply.

A Life With Less Lint Embraced at Shenzhen's Dongmen

My recent Shenzhen-themed posts have likely caused some longtime readers to ask an important question: Are people still selling cucumber slicers in the Dongmen shopping area as they were several years ago?

Based on recent observations, they are not. Now something else is sold by many hawkers there in a similar fashion: lint removers.

One of the hawkers was asking 10 yuan (about U.S. $1.50) for a non-electric lint remover and 30 yuan for an electric lint remover (shaver). The latter price could quickly drop to 20 yuan. The lint removers appeared to be in demand, and several were sold during the brief time I watched several of the hawkers. As seen in the second and third photos, most of the hawkers have easily-transportable displays similar to those used for the cucumber slicers — still important for an easy escape from roaming security guards.

And yet again, a loose end is tied up. Though, as usual, more questions arise.

The Name for an Unusual Building in Shenzhen

Yesterday's post included a photo of a building in Shenzhen with an unusual design.

I didn't worry about identifying the building when I took the photo two weeks ago. I expected it would be easy to figure out later online. But the best I could do last night in a short amount of time was find the building on Baidu Map's street view where it is covered by scaffolding. No name appeared for the building, and an image search of the photo proved fruitless.

While at the nearby Dongmen Pedestrian Street area today, I unexpectedly caught a glimpse of the building down an alley. Feeling inspired, I decided to identify it the old fashioned way and made my way to a passageway where I could cross Shennan East Road underground while perusing the items sold by various hawkers. Upon arriving at the building, I considered what appeared to be a bovine-inspired sculpture next to the building's main entrance.

I walked into the main lobby, and a security guard soon approached. Perhaps he was from the nearby Shenzhen Security Service Company.

The seemingly nervous security guard answered a few questions before he stopped to salute an older man walking by. The man had a puzzled expression when he looked at me. Probably to nobody's surprise, we both refrained from any saluting.

After leaving the building, I pondered a nearby Land Rover advertisement with a snow covered scene.

Although Shenzhen has experienced unusually cold weather recently, snowy roads are rarely a worry. It snowed in Guangzhou, not far away to the north, yesterday for the first time in 50 years (added note: parts of Shenzhen reportedly saw snow as well).

Anyway, the building under question holds the Ruihe R & D Center and is creatively named the Ruihe Building (瑞和大厦). According to Reuters:

SHENZHEN RUIHE CONSTRUCTION DECORATION CO., LTD. is principally engaged in the design and construction of building decoration projects. The Company provides decoration and construction services for shopping malls, hotels, hospitals, curtain, subways, finance, office buildings and theaters, among others. The Company operates its businesses in domestic markets.

And now one loose end is tied up.

Two Contemporary Shenzhen Styles

Two photos from the city which borders Hong Kong — Shenzhen:

On Shennan East Road

Portion of an advertisement inside Lilian Sun Plaza, Dongmen

A Café With Ego

Some Hong Kong businesses indicate honesty with their name, others something else.

I have only passed by the cafe near the Kowloon City Ferry Pier in Hong Kong. I wonder if breakfast would be better at a Café de Eggo.

On a deeper note, I saw a remarkable film today which currently can't be seen outside of Hong Kong. China wants to see its movie industry thrive, but this is one film Beijing would be happy to see fail. At the moment, though, available tickets are scarce. Still pondering what I saw, so a few thoughts about the film later.

The Honest Commercial Corporation in Hong Kong

I share this lest people doubt it exists. Assuming they live up to their name, I wish them the best.

I (and My Laptop) Return

I had not planned on taking off several days from blogging and the online world outside China's Great Firewall. I had also not planned for my laptop to stop functioning in a somewhat suspicious fashion soon after posting about Taiwan's recent presidential election. That's just the tip of an undesired adventure which led to a sudden return to Hong Kong yesterday.

The short story is after arriving in Hong Kong I was able to quickly resolve the problem with my computer, which may have been caused by China in an unexpected manner not tied to any of my recent posts. I hope to share more of the story later. All has mostly returned to what counts as normal, though in some ways the adventure itself was normal. Or at least, it's not the first time I have had to make a mad dash from one city in China to another due to computer woes.

I am currently focused on recalibrating plans and am not yet sure what the next week holds. So for now, here's a recent scene from Zhongshan Park in Xiamen. The city where I was yesterday morning. And a few weeks ago. And maybe again soon.

A more peaceful mobile moment

Ten Assorted Taiwan 2016 Election Tweets

I will keep things simple on an historic night in Taiwan and just share some recent tweets (photos in tweets may not appear if viewed through an RSS reader):

Ah, Renegade Province “Election” Day! Time to get up, do some stretches, check the missile codes, make tea...

— The Relevant Organs (@relevantorgans) January 16, 2016

Apple Daily TW: "Tsai Ing-wen: the first female president in the Chinese-speaking world" #TaiwanElection #Taiwan2016 pic.twitter.com/O1KQ6b5EPP

— Kristie Lu Stout CNN (@klustout) January 16, 2016

Breaking: Sina Weibo (western media call it China's Twitter) censors just blocked Taiwan's first female president. pic.twitter.com/2wfggtVQ9Y

— Eddie Du (@Edourdoo) January 16, 2016

It ain't Taiwan without a night market. Even at Tsai's prez announcement. #TaiwanElection pic.twitter.com/vpFZUhW1wH

— Ellis Liang (@EllisLiang) January 16, 2016

Sunflower Movement got far less intl attention than Occupy, but has shaped Taiwan far, far more than HK protests effected situation here.

— James Griffiths (@jgriffiths) January 16, 2016

Banner outside DPP headquarters says step over the corpse of HK and stay away from China #TaiwanElection pic.twitter.com/tdrvosDPq4

— Varsity CUHK (@varsitycuhk) January 16, 2016

Xi Jinping looking a bit outnumbered on @guardian website this weekend pic.twitter.com/MH4gdSGkrN

— Tom Phillips (@tomphillipsin) January 16, 2016

The changing political geography. 2012 on left, 2016 on right pic.twitter.com/SS7Wm8rRDh

— Jonathan Sullivan (@jonlsullivan) January 16, 2016

"China should learn from us". Taiwanese voters elect first female president Tsai Ing-wen https://t.co/2PBJ4hZH8S pic.twitter.com/eDEnIoSEpY

— jonathanwatts (@jonathanwatts) January 16, 2016

Tsai: "Our message to the international community is that democracy as a value is deeply-ingrained in the Taiwanese people."

— Nathan VanderKlippe (@nvanderklippe) January 16, 2016