For the Love of Street Food

Street food is an integral part of Chinese culture and one of my favourite "everyday" activities to witness. There's nothing like hunkering down on miniature stools at an equally miniature table at 2 am watching the vendor, squatting in front of a grill (the Chinese are masters at squatting for hours on end), skillfully doing up a couple dozen mutton skewers, an egglpant or two, some green beans, and an oyster to fill your hungry stomach. Or perhaps watching the man at the wok, maneuvering it back and forth and tossing a generous serving of rice noodles, egg, chicken and veggies in the air which you paid the equivalent of a couple quarters to eat. Sometimes they're roasting sweet potatoes or chestnuts or chopping up fresh pineapple and melon. It's very colourful and amusing to watch, and the vendors are typically friendly and of course eager for business - meaning some bartering can be done (but it's all super cheap compared to the restaurants). My favourite? Stir-fried rice noodles!

The oddest thing happened the last time my friends and I were gobbling down some street fare. One of the many beggars came up to us shaking a container at us, mumbling something unintelligible, to which we replied "meiyou" (don't have). They are a persistent bunch so he hung around, but when we still refused to give him anything, he then (quite calmly) resorted to lifting my almost-finished beer off of the table and chugging the rest of it. I, too bewildered and amused to say anything, just watched. I was beginning to think, hey if this is what he wanted, sure, why not? when instead of swallowing the beer he spit it out at our feet, and then proceeded to spit quite loudly on top of it. OK, I get it now - damn rich foreigners wouldn't spare me a kuai. We left, still amused, but feeling slightly flattened by the experience. Shenzhen has its share of beggars in this city, along with thieves. And when they see foreigners I'm sure many of them automatically think "dumb and has money. Excellent target." Just tonight two girls tried to con me into buying them McDonalds. Well maybe they outright asked me but it was hard to understand in Chinese. At first it just seemed as though they were inviting me to eat with them. Luckily I hate McDonalds and more importantly I had the sense to inquire whether they had any money and they shook their heads. The lightbulb went on and I decided to call it a night and walk in the other direction.

Just a few of the run-ins with the locals! Paul Theroux words ring clear in my mind: "We all know that a vast amount of travel is accumulated nuisance." At times it's no fun being "Other". But it sure is amusing.

Of course this is the negative side. Believe me, I have seen the opposite end of the spectrum as well, and have met some people who will bend over backwards to help you out and who are just genuinely curious about you and want to be your friend. And in a country where you barely speak the language and just can't make sense of those Chinese characters and don't always know which direction you're going in, these people are certainly nice to find :).