My Top Ten in Shenzhen

A quick life update…

It’s officially November, which means there’s only one month until the Christmas season begins! Despite our close proximity to the holiday season, it’s still 70-80 degrees and sunny outside! November also means that it’s National Novel Writing Month, i.e. I’ll be writing 350 words per day if I want to achieve my goal of finishing a 10,000-word novel. Let me know if you’re participating in NaNoWriMo!

This week, I’ve gathered my 10 favorite things to do in Shenzhen. Enjoy!

Hey Tea

Bubble Tea, Boba, weird milk thing with weird chewy spheres in it: whatever you call it, I like it. Bubble Tea is one of my favorite drinks and it’s very popular in China. Hey Tea’s bubble tea is creamy with brown sugar on top. They also have delicious milk tea ice cream with bubbles on top. In addition to bubble tea, Hey Tea also has tons of other experimental drinks, like cheezo tea: thick, fruity tea with a layer of cream cheese on the top (not my favorite).

Tequila Coyotes

This is Dad’s favorite place in Shenzhen and one of two great Mexican restaurants in Sea World. Their enchiladas are fantastic and Mom and I go pretty often! They even have Jarritos sodas. We went for dinner two days ago for the Day of the Dead and they were all decorated with orange flower petals and sugar skulls.

Emily’s Cafe

For an American breakfast on a weekend morning, Emily’s café is perfect. They have smoothie bowls, scrambled eggs, and fresh juices. For lunch or dinner, there’s a steaming hot mushroom risotto, a variety of salads, and an Australian beef burger. My favorite, though, is their Poke bowls: rice bowls like the one above with fresh vegetables, meat, and sometimes mango, wasabi peanuts, or seaweed. I usually get the teriyaki chicken bowl, which has radishes, cucumbers, shredded carrots, and more.

H&M

H&M used to be the only clothing store that had clothes that fit me and that I liked. Now that I’m bigger, I can find more in other places, but I still like the style of H&M and it’s not too expensive. There are multiple branches near me, so I shop there pretty often.

Miniso

For gifts or just for fun, Miniso has lots of cute products, from headphones and stuffed animals to makeup and snacks. If I’m going to waste money, it’ll probably be at Miniso. Again, there are multiple branches nearby, so I wander around here with my friends a lot.

Hotwind

I don’t actually shop here a lot, but they have nice shoes. In fact, I just got a pair of black boots for the Fall/Winter yesterday from Hotwind. Last year, mom got nice heels here too, so they have a variety that changes by season. They have clothes as well, but the one in the mall near our apartment is small and I’ve never found anything clothing-wise that I particularly liked.

Muji

SCHOOL SUPPLIESSSS!!! My favorite thing! Muji has plain and simple supplies and I love their binder notebooks because you can take out pages and move them around. I have one and it’s the only notebook I use for school, so I don’t have to carry around a bunch of them at a time. Muji also has nice pens and art supplies, as well as scent diffusers and even clothes (although I’m not a fan of their fashion). There’s a Muji in the same mall as the closest H&M, so if I go to H&M I tend to go to Muji too and vise-versa.

The Blossom Bridge

Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures of this, but there’s a bridge behind my friend’s house that is lined with some sort of blossoming tree and towards the end of last year, we went up there and they were all bright pink! Underneath it, there’s a small creek or possibly a lake of some sort. The mosquito bites are worth it for the view!

Auntie Anne’s Pretzels

I just had to include this one even though I can’t eat pretzels. There’s a mall a little ways a way that my friends and I go to sometimes and they have an Auntie Anne’s there. Every time we go to this mall, Auntie Anne’s is a necessity. Once, we waited two hours for pretzels. I always get a lemonade because it’s not too sweet and there’s real lemon slices in it!

Vivo Lab

Last but not least, Vivo has what they call a concept store in Sea World and upstairs, there’s this whole light up display. In the back of the above photo, there’s a half sphere and the lights can be changed using a controller inside. You choose a setting, like starry night, and it’s supposed to sort of simulate that. There’s also lots of neon signs to take photos with and those hanging things in the front of the photo sense movement and change color. It’s a pretty cool experience and it’s free, although I’ve only done it once.

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Thanks for reading; I hope you enjoyed and I’ll see you next week! Happy Dia De Los Muertos!