I always have a good time in Shenzhen’s famed Lo Wu Shopping Centre, even after several hours of “missy missy looking, you buy sunglass okay.” Still, I could really do with less nagging. My student ah-Si and I wondered how many thousands and thousands of yuan more they could have made out of us, had they not at every turn hounded us out of their shops with their incessant “missy-missy”ing… But that’s probably just as well. How many handbags does a woman really need, after all.
After an impressive display of Cantonese on the 5th floor where we both bought materials, the full splendour of which will soon be displayed on these pages, it was off to my tailor on the 3rd floor for some measuring and fulsome praise of our figures. (Too right!)
I had noticed several weeks earlier that a new Sichuan restaurant had opened not far from the shopping centre, and although the 川 (short for 四川，Sei Chuen) had an ominous 粵 (Yuet, the ancient name for Guangdong province) next to it, we thought we’d give it a go.
As expected, it was basically Canto slop with chillies thrown in, but one of the dishes, Lotus Root with Something (after eating several, we couldn’t decide whether the Something was fish or pork) was superb, out of this world and great.
Satisfied! We did everything we came for including buying Sichuan spices and buying a new ceiling fan for my roof.
So now you can book a Sichuan meal for minimum 8 people the rest of this month and early September. The fan is incredibly effective and I’ve just changed my gas canister! It’s all systems go.
羅湖商業城 – Lo Wu Seung Yip Cheng (Lo Wu Shopping Mall)
布 – Bou (material, cloth)
手袋 – Sau doi (Handbag)
There’s a place formerly ‘just outside’ now in Shenzhen called 西麗湖, Sai Lai Wu,West Beautiful Lake. It’s a kind of resort in that there are rooms and some trees around it, as well as a large outdoor pool where you can Tarzan with a rope. You can also fish.
I used to go there a lot when my fight for Cantonese world supremacy was in its infancy, bringing students there for ‘language seminars’ which meant drinking and playing cards. Then the place closed down in 2002 for repairs. Last Friday I thought the repairs must be finished by now, and was very excited when I googled the reformed West Beautiful Lake and found this:
Alas, the information was totally false. Someone had just taken a picture of … a nouveau riche mainlander’s living room? and posted it there. The rooms in West Beautiful Lake were completely ordinary, and absolutely no refurbishment had taken place since I was last there, with the possible exception of a carp pool in the reception. In fact, what had happened during the last five years was the place had been allowed to decay in peace, completely uninterrupted. It was wonderful.
I asked the receptionist, who immediately answered me in Cantonese!!!! what had happened during the last five years of refurbishment and she said they now had fishing.
“But you had that before?”
“Now we have a big outdoor pool.”
“Like before?”
“Er … horseback riding?”
“Just like before.”
“We have a restaurant.”
“Also like before … but possibly moved?”
“He he he.”
“Ha ha ha.”
The “new” restaurant unfortunately didn’t have yam cha, only Canto-slop, so we trudged on down to nearby 南蓉大酒店 Lam Yong Daai Jau Dim, for refreshments. Waaaah, fantastic dim sum! Especially a thing I’ve never tasted before: Pea Cake:
Brilliant! And this all a stone throw from 深圳灣 Sam Jan Waan (Shenzhen Bay) where there’s a completely unused crossing into Hong Kong. What’s not to love?
It rained the whole time, so apart from a brief food sojourn what we did was stare wistfully at the lake:
and leave. Excellent! Recommended!
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