Living in Chinatown

Within Shenzhen, we're settling in the community called Shekou. It has historically been the expatriate community - historically being a limited term, as the entire city is only about 30 years old. Its located on a small peninsula, looking out over the South China Sea and toward Hong Kong. At some point, the Shenzhen government decided to capitalize on the international community and dub it Shekou International Village. They placed a big boat in the center of town and called it Sea World. Its now surrounded by overpriced restaurants selling mediocre food. But fittingly, all of the food is foreign. So we've got Brazilian, Irish, Mexican, Indian and Thai food all within easy walking distance - and all of it overpriced and under-tasty. Amusingly, there is no Chinese food to be found.

I suppose its a lot like living in Chinatown in the states. Americans go there for Chinese food - but the kind that we like to eat; not the kind they serve in China. And you certainly don't go there for a good burger. So, we're trying the foreign places - the Mexican place had really good guacamole! But we're also on the hunt for where the locals eat. At least, the non-foreign locals.

But the big selling point on Shekou is the proximity to Hong Kong. Our family hopped a ferry over to Hong Kong on Sunday morning, and the trip only took us one hour. We met friends for breakfast and the girls were home in time for naps. I stuck around to do some shopping, and then took the 3:00 ferry back - home in plenty of time to make dinner (although Dave always cooks on pizza night). Did some map shopping, some birthday shopping for Lilly, and checked out the grocery stores. And then back out to my foreign suburb for the evening.