Shenzhen seems to have pretty much the same “vibe” as Rio.  It also has a lot of personality and “soul”, for a city this young.

Seen more overtly gay people on the streets in two days than in 4 years in Beijing.  What's up with that?  Maybe the Beijing gays are more afraid of coming out?  Or maybe they all join the army?  (j/k j/k j/k)

Oh, dumpling-based fast-food chain = win.

On the last few years I've seen a number of anecdotes about buying deodorant in China, topped with a post by Chris about the product apparently being “seasonal” (srsly?????), and lived a few myself.  Well, this morning I beat that one.  I asked my guide/real estate agent about buying some.  He couldn't understand the word.  I got my dictionary.  He read the definition, shook his head knowingly, and told me he never heard of the concept.  He later took me to a large, fancy, “laowai-friendly“ market, as we would have described it in Beijing, where I did indeed find the product.  Then I left for the cashier, while he remained behind studying the shelf in anthropological fascination.

I realised I had never actually seen a border.  It's weird to be in a highway and look out of the window, over a fence, and think that on the other side, people speak a different language (well, dialect), follow different laws, don't have their internet and movie theatre selection randomly censored, and drive on the left side of the road.  Gives you a new appreciation of how arbitrary the whole thing is...