This is the last of my August 2025 Shenzhen trip, so it feels like I’m dumping everything at once.. please bear with me..

Roasted cashews in the shell

The taste wasn’t bad, and the illustration was cute, so I bought them. Not as good as the ones in Cambodia, but the price was decent too and they were great with drinks.

Dried passion fruit

When I first saw this I thought, how do you even dry passion fruit? So I bought some anyway..

Like this..

It kind of looks like dried apricot.. When I tried it, the aroma was definitely passion fruit.. and the ingredient list on the back said 100% passion fruit.. This wasn’t the passion fruit I knew, so I wondered what was going on. After a lot of searching.. it turns out it’s the white rind of the passion fruit candied in sugar.. That makes sense, and anyway it has that rich, genuine passion fruit aroma, so it’s wonderful as a dessert.. So I bought a whole bunch..

Hawthorn sticks

They sell tons of this kind of thing. So I bought one. It was decent, I’d say..

Wax apple

This felt kind of like a bell pepper.. not that tasty..

Golden groundcherries, aka goldenberries

I’m not sure how many people know this one, but I ate these as a kid. It tastes like a sweet tomato crossed with a bell pepper; as fruit goes the sugar content isn’t that high, but I bought some for the memories. They’re not cheap either, so I doubt I’ll eat them a second time..

Cup noodles

There’s a five-spice beef flavor. I used to buy things like this, but now I have so much to carry in my bag that I just take a photo and leave it..

Wuchang rice

So many kinds. And lots of hot pot sauces too..

Butcher’s counter

Still a scene I can’t quite get used to..

Plums

These were just ordinary..

Thumb watermelons

I bought them thinking, watermelons this small? But they just tasted like cucumber.. They were fine in a salad though.

Pepino melon

This didn’t have much flavor either.. like a melon with the juice drained out.. Why on earth do they sell fruit like this..

Fenjiu

It’s 66 yuan, about 13,000 won, and in Korea it sells for around 15,000 won.. This liquor is nice for a quick drink.

Evening scene

All kinds of places here..

Chain restaurant

Shaanxi restaurants everywhere you look. Maybe because the noodles are famous..

Star fruit

I honestly couldn’t figure out the taste of this one.. Seems to be for salads..

Melon

This one didn’t have much flavor either.. There are lots of melon varieties, but it’s hit or miss.

Nuts

Something I didn’t know: apparently at supermarkets in China, if there are nuts like these, you’re allowed to sample them. So you try a few and buy whichever tastes good. Who knew.. Anyway, this supermarket didn’t have that many good nuts.

Taiwanese kaoliang liquor

They come in 53% and 58%.. and I wondered, is this price right? The 58% is 18.8 yuan, a bit under 4,000 won, and the 53% is about 3,000 won.. It seems unbelievable to sell liquor this strong at this price, and on top of that it’s perfectly drinkable, even if not premium. Apparently Taiwan’s Kinmen Kaoliang company is making it cheaply in a joint venture with China, probably competing with Erguotou.

Beer

I think I’m holding it upside down.. Anyway, I heard it’s good, so I’m noting it down..

Sea cucumber fruit (haishen guo)

This looked so unusual that I bought it, but it just tastes like cucumber. A really big cucumber, I guess.. Hard to call it a fruit..

Dragon fruit

There are tasty dragon fruits and bland ones, and this was a bland one.. Also salad material.. There are quite a few things that look like fruit but have to be eaten as salad.

Chinese mango..

This was a bit disappointing.. It looked perfectly fine though.

Frozen tanghulu

So this is how they sell it..

Peaches

These peaches are about the size of a finger joint, and they were incredibly delicious. They taste like a regular, nicely ripe peach, but the small size makes them easy to eat. I had no idea such a variety existed.. so fascinating..

Dried sweet potato

Ordinary.. probably shouldn’t have bought it..

Durian

I bought one on clearance at the supermarket. It was already fully ripe, so it’s delicious eaten right away. But on the way back to the hotel the smell was overwhelming. Even sealed in plastic wrap, the smell came right through. So I ate it as fast as I could. Tastes great, but in many ways a fruit that bothers everyone around you..

Passion fruit

This is real passion fruit.

Cut in half..

You can eat the inside seeds and all, or skip the seeds, but normally you just scoop out the inside and throw the rest away. Yet if you scoop out the inside, peel the skin, and simmer just the white part in sugar, it turns out that delicious. Anyway, passion fruit, true to its name, has a gorgeous aroma, but in Korea it’s expensive and hard to ripen, so whenever I see it abroad, eating as much as possible is the way to go.

Street scene in Shenzhen

Snapped this while passing by.

People waiting for their deliveries

There’s a parcel locker in front of the office, so they pick things up there? Scenes like this are fascinating too. Seems like a win-win for both the recipients and the delivery workers.

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