So it’s my last day here in Shenzhen and I cant wait to go home and give Vera a big cuddle!

Everyone in the office have been very kind to me and taken me out for lunch every day. We have had food from all different regions of southern China, but all eaten in the same way. Lots of little dishes on a round table that are shared by everyone. Even though I’m ok eating with chop sticks, some dishes are more challenging than others such as picking up peanuts or slippery tofu. I try to eat everything, but I have to admit that I have struggled with the fish (Kirsten you are absolutely right, 100000 bones in the river fish!) as well as some of the meat. You’re never really sure what kind of meat you are eating and a lot of it is very fatty and have many bones. I try to gnaw off whatever I can and discreetly put the rest down. I love a lot of the vegetables though as well as the custom of sharing all dishes, highlights have been spicy beans and braised lettuce as well as some cool mushrooms that look like ears and apparently are called something similar in Chinese. Also cucumber dipped in soy and wasabi was cool. Today was my absolute favourite though, we went to a hotel and had some gorgeous Cantonese Dim Sum. I should have taken photos!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dim_sum

I went with Daisy and Amy from the office. Amy has a 2-year old daughter and told me about the Chinese one child policy and how it is still followed. If you are a Chinese citizen you get penalized if you have more than one child, although some people here go to Hong Kong to give birth. Fascinating stuff.

George, who is head of sales here and originally from Taiwan, told me that although there is “only” 12 million registered residents in Shenzhen, with all the migrate workers such as himself, that takes the population up to 23 million. Mind blowing stuff. As it is a newly developed city (only 30 years or so) the roads are very wide and the traffic is not that crazy in comparison with other cities. But with 70 million (!) new cars on the road every year in China, you wonder where this is going to end up. Parking in the part of the city where the office is located is very sparse and expensive, so they have come up with some ingenious ways of parking cars, see photos below.

It has been a bit lonely in the hotel at night, eaten alone with all the other lonely business travelers, reading my book. I’m currently reading Roddy Doyle’s “Paula Spencer” so not very uplifting http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2006/sep/03/fiction.roddydoyle

I’m very grateful for Skype and my Cisco VoIP phone so that I have been able to call home.

Leaving the office at 5:30 to go and pick up my bags at the hotel and get changed into jeans. The off with Go Go Bus again back to the airport, via the border crossing. Flight is at 23:55.