Deja Vu in (China)

There were places in my travels — like the old quarter of Xian, where I felt that I had been there before and somehow I knew the way around. And I feel the same about Vladivostok. But this time the deja vu was real. I had just randomly walked across a couple of streets in Zhuhai and turned a corner and I found myself in front of the border post between China and Macau. I was here in Jan 2001. That was my first trip to China. I have travelled to many places in China since then but never got a chance to come back to Zhuhai. The city, like any other Chinese city, has changed a lot. There are bigger buildings and sharper fashion. Some places I spent time in 2001 have disappeared.

Below, the same place seen from the hotel I was staying at in early 2001.

Another change from that time in China, is the popularity of Coffee. It was much harder to find coffee then. Now they have so many options. Part of the way I was traveling with someone who needed coffe a few times a day. She carried packs of Nestle coffee sachets from her home country.

These new cafes are all over, most selling beer, juice and coffee. Another trend you see in Chinese cities is that the smaller shops that lined the main streets have moved to back alleys — rising rents means the front row of shops now are fashion shops or stylish fast food chains. Every possible empty space has some business activity on.

Same cafes at night turns into bars where hostesses get you to stay longer by engaging you in all sorts of card and dice games.

Zhuhai has its own beer now and it is called Hai Zhu, that’s ZhuHai spelt backwards. (Hai=Sea, Zhu=Pearl)

Fast Food joints are always full, I have never seen an empty McDonalds in China.

A local fast food chain.

Every possible empty space has some business activity on, like these street side pop up store that is advertising for a hairdressing school.

Six years ago, I entered China with a thick guidebook. Now I don’t even have a map — getting lost is half the fun.