Visiting Shenzhen, China + Glass Bathrooms and Chicken Heads

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i can’t leave out visiting shenzhen, china on the second part of our trip! we weren’t there for more than 48 hours but we squeezed in what we could around speaking!

my husband put together his favorite 17 pictures from our 17 days in china (where he also gave 17 speeches/workshops) and asked me if i wanted to do a similar post. ummm i took over 3,000 photos so i can’t just select 17 from all those buddy (don’t worry, unless you’re my family i won’t make you sit through all them on here either).

remember when had a fabulous time in shanghai, which included going to the bathroom 100 stories above the ground? well, we had a grand time and then took a two hour flight from shanghai to shenzhen, china!

tip: there are two airports in shanghai that are very far away from each other (1.5 hours if traffic is on your side) so quadruple check where your flight leaves from because you will miss your flight if you go to the wrong one.

the shenzhen airport was one of the trippiest airports we’ve been in. it is HUGE and has lots of crazy architectural aspects throughout the entire thing. i also found cucumber flavored gum here and thought it was mint. you got me, you sneaky green vegetable flavor!

shenzhen airport designshout out to a NWF reader, wei shen! he and the toastmasters district governor of 89, sarah picked us up from the airport and he let me know he’s been reading my blog for a while! the picture of us unfortunately didn’t turn out but know i was very flattered and he and his wife are expecting their first baby any day-hooray!

the weather in shenzhen is much warmer and more humid than in shanghai so no sweaters are needed and you’ll immediately strip it off once you land.

a few of our hotels in china favored the ol’ “glass bathroom” fad, which was something we had not experienced before but found it hilarious. i was trapped in a glass cage of emotion:

shenzhen china glass cage of emotiondon’t worry…there were blinds. the only reason i could find by wanting this is because many of the hotel rooms in china are smaller so maybe it makes it feel bigger?

our hotel was by this very cool park that had so many people doing different things. i saw three different groups of people practicing instruments, about 10 people ballroom dancing under a bridge, children playing with the grandparents, some sort of group sport being played and then a costume fashion show by adorable children. i really liked seeing the community out and together, even if doing different things.

IMG_0805after we dropped off our 200 lbs of luggage, we ventured to the SEG Plaza Tower and although it was unfortunately cloudy out, still a fun view to see. you can actually see hong kong from there on a clear day!

shenzhen china observation deckshenzhen is actually only about 30 years old! it used to be a fishing village until just a few decades ago and now is a massive city in the south of china. crazy to think about such a vast city not having huge skyscrapers just 30 years ago!

shenzhen tower observationthey had pieces of history on the inner wall of the observation deck and this particular picture made me laugh (lower left corner). was he so high and so happy because of the opium because i’m pretty sure he’s standing in a field of poppies? it didn’t say.

shenzhen old chinathe next day, we had a few hours to explore before we left for the conference in zhuhai. first we went to a very nice  restaurant, where i experienced my first chicken head! by ‘experience’ i don’t mean that i put it in my mouth…i only experienced it with my eyes.

warning: fried bird head below!

that radish looking thing was actually a decorative sculpture made out of sugar!

shenzhen china chicken headmaybe i’ll do a blog about all the different food we had because it was very different than my normal mac-n-cheese and PB&J! there are so many different foods based on the region and province you’re in in china so it was interesting to see that as we moved from nothern china to southern.

a pretty big tourist attraction in shenzhen in the ‘window to the world’ and we didn’t have enough time to go in but it was sure interesting to walk through the entry part! my blogging buddy, rachel (the random writings of rachel) actually lives in shenzhen so you check out her blog to get a better feel for the city AND when she visited here a few weeks ago. she is also a hilarious writer so check it. interesting to hear what monuments/structures they selected and what they left out!

shenzhen world park louvrethey have these perfectly trimmed trees that you can walk under to get there.

shenzhen world parkthe average height of people using this is apparently a lot shorter than 6’4. this made me laugh for about 3 minutes straight. i like to pretend he was just wearing a huge leafy hat.

shenzhen world park raverybefore we got on the ferry, we made a quick stop to the pier. apparently you can also see hong kong from here too on a clear day but we just had to believe it. i loved this scene though and the trees being held up by bamboo!

although it looks cold, it was actually about 75 degrees F, which meant i was sweating and my hair was frizzy so i had that going for me.

shenzhen view from pierwe took a one-hour ferry from shenzhen to zhuhai, where ravery and i looked at all the pictures from the beginning of the year and had to pinch ourselves because sometimes our life feels fake. i mean, we were just in china and only returned a few months ago from thailand!

so there are my 11 pictures from shenzhen. stay tuned for our adventures in zhuhai and then ending with hong kong because more interesting things were seen, eaten and experienced (like people commenting on my weight and dress and how handsome my husband is).

over and out because i’ve got a date with a 6’4 man with a leafy green hat!

questions:
1) last time you played in a park?
2) have you or would you try a chicken’s head?

7 Comments

  1. Rachel G

    November 15, 2014 at 4:16 pm

    Well now we’ve walked on exactly the same places in ShenZhen!! How cool. I always just eat around the chicken heads and feet. That photo with his head in the tree cracked me up!!
    Rachel G recently posted…5 Things I Miss (And 5 I Don’t)

    • chelsea

      November 16, 2014 at 2:32 pm

      that is actually SUPER cool, rachel! i was totally thinking that as we strolled around the city 🙂 i was honestly quite shocked the first time i saw them on the table but as the weeks wore on, i could much more easily look around them.

  2. Nick

    November 16, 2014 at 12:45 am

    1) I cannot recall the last time I played a prank.

    2) Nope, wouldn’t either. I’m pretty much not gonna eat the nervous system/brains of any animal. Prion type diseases creep me out seriously.

    • chelsea

      November 16, 2014 at 2:33 pm

      ahhh i don’t know what prion type diseases are and i’m not googling it because i know i will panick but glad i stayed away too nick 🙂

  3. Papa

    November 16, 2014 at 3:45 am

    Kept ’em coming
    Reliving every minute of it!!

    • chelsea

      November 16, 2014 at 2:33 pm

      yay! comment from the papa! cannot wait to compare notes of our china trips when i get to see you guys at christmas (and of course hear all about panama!) xo

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