escape

After being sleepless in the village for three consecutive nights, i made a last minute decision

to escape to Shenzhen for city life and hotel stay*. The ride to Shenzhen via coach was about

3 hours. Before that, we had to arrange for a van to take us to town, then changed to another

van arranged by the coach company to take us to the main coach pickup point. It was quite a

hassle but totally worth it.

i was told by my relatives to check out Shenzhen’s must-visit Splendid China (锦绣中华 ).

Turned out, it was so damn boring! Luckily, i managed to do a bit of online reading while

in the hotel and found out about OCT Loft (Overseas Chinese Town Loft) – a community

that houses designers, architects and avant-garde artists. It’s a pity that there wasn’t many

exhibitions going on then and also i didn’t have the chance to see the Street Creative Bazaar

which was held on the first weekend of every month. Nevertheless, it was still a nice area to

spend a leisure afternoon.

Huge types are cool.

Interesting drinking place with a tree in it.

A random installation of dissected duck and tree trunk placed out of nowhere in the middle

of the pavement. Immediately, this artwork in the glass container reminded me of

Damien Hirst’s animal series in formaldehyde.

Furniture made of dried twigs.

Huge typography vase.

Window facade of shops / work rooms.

Stampings on a trolley cart.

Abandoned art.

The only beverage they drank in the village was Chinese tea. After going ‘coffeeless’ for the

past few days, imagine how happy i was to see Starbucks. Sipping ice cold latte in the air-

conditioned cafe made my day :-)

*i can’t stop smiling in the hotel room, bed with mattress in an air-conditioned room,

whatelse can i asked for? Oh, and the hotel breakfast... give me my toast, omelette and

coffee NOW!