Well...I've been in China for over a day now, and last night was definately the crash that everyone predicted. There's no way to get around the fact that you are exactly 12 hours out of whack with what your body expects. But it's nothing that 9 hours of sleep won't cure. So...these are some pics from yesterday.
This is the view from outside our office window. This isn't by any means the main part of Shenzhen, and there are plenty of large buildings everywhere. Shenzhen is a thriving city with lots of construction still going on everywhere.
The main roads all have a bike road on both sides. There is definately a lot of biking that goes on. Although the bikes all look like they are from 1950.
And, there is no trumpet playing along the roads either.
There is a large expatriate place nearby where everybody goes to eat. It's called Sea World, (no, not that Sea World). It had a McDonalds, of course, and a Starbucks that looked inside just like it came out of Hamilton County. And of course....
Beer Paradise!!! We didn't go here. Although we did have have a beer at the Irish Pub around the corner. They had an Irish guy, who I swear they paid just to sit out front and drink beer and garner customers, who said it was the "graitist beeah een town". So we went in, and I had a pint of beer and some nuts that cost all of 22 yuan, which is less than 3 bucks.
This is the mermaid that sits at the entrance to the harbour. It's about 50 feet tall. We couldn't read the significance of the thing, since it was all in Chinese.
Hah! We did see a stray dog! He was pretty scrawny though. This is to one side of the mermaid. It brings up a valid point that one of the guys on my trip noticed. It seems like they do a good job of making things nice in certain areas, but then they get to a point and just get tired and stop trying. It's this wierd combination of nice and grimy and clean and run-down, all at the same time. I guess that's the way many cities are, but it is very apparent here.