HUMEN TOWN (虎门镇)

Humen? Errr..where? Pardon my ignorance but I have never heard of this place before right until the day Hubby persuaded me to go with him. Of course, the first thing I did was to google for it but nothing much came out. Anyway, Hubby's friend owns a Malaysian restaurant there and business is doing quite well, so much so he is looking at possible sites at nearby town to open up more outlets. Hubby was invited to invest but of course, he wanted to have a look at the place before parting with any money, so this was how the trip came about.

Humen Town or directly translated as "Tiger Door Town" is located within the Dongguan city in the Guangdong Province of southern China. We flew directly to Shenzhen. From the airport, Hubby's friend arranged for a cab driver to pick us up and headed straight to Humen Town with is located about 40 mins away. This is our hotel called Sumptuous Hotel which I rated it 3Cs - Clean, Convenient and CHEAP!


Call me bias (I am) as I was expecting the place to be dirty, outdated countryside with nothing much to offer. I admit it now, I was the outdated one here. The place is absolutely beyond my expectation....it's a SHOPPING HEAVEN!!!! Move away Hong Kong or Bandung!!!!!

I found out that Humen Town is famous for its apparel wholesale market. Rows after rows of shops offering latest and stylish ladies clothing could really make one faint with too much choices. BUT...unless you are buying in bulk, it's not cheap if you walk in to get only one or two items. Before we went off shopping, we were told that we must bargain up to 75% of the quoted price and most importantly, we must be louder than them. I was not interested as bargaining turns me off so I didn't even bother trying. The friend's wife later told me she tried her best but they refuse to give her any discount..maybe she wasn't loud enough.

Am impressed with the place, really. Unlike the toilet controversy we always hear about China, all the public toilets I went to were sparkling clean, floor is dry and odourless. Malaysian ought to learn from them on how to keep public toilet clean!! But the way they drive, one word 'crazy'. They just don't care whether there is a pedestrian crossing or if there are any cars coming from the opposite side. They turn as and when they like, they u-turn in the middle of the road, and they really put their car horn into good use. Throughout the journey, I could only hear "beep beep beep beep beep beep beep"...my legs would certainly go weak if you ask me to drive here.


We went for sites visit the next day, exploring prospective nearby towns for new outlets. First stop was the unimpressive Shatian Town (沙田镇) which we didn't even bother to stop and walk around. Next stop was Houjie Town(厚街镇) which is , another shopping heaven and here you will find only retail outlets! Upon request from the 'wives', we stopped to shop.

Surprise surprise, right behind the modern retail outlets, we stumbled upon a wet market. What a find!! Looking at the variety of fresh vegetables here, I really wished I have a kitchen to cook them for dinner. There are so many greens and squashes that I have never seen before and they sure looks good!


Fancy having a bird for dinner?? Or maybe freshly laid eggs??

I used to vow to never ever eat a terrapin after Hubby accidentally scooped a piece of claws onto my plate many many years ago. I was horrified with the experience, till recently I discover by chance how yummy the gelatinous shell is. When cooked perfectly, the texture is exactly like sea cucumber...gelatinously chewy and crunchy that comes with a very special taste. I was asking around the other day where I could find live terrapin as I wanna cook at home and the responses I get was 'Ueegghhh'!! Terrapin is so common in China, you can even find live terrapins swimming in the tank at Walmart!!!!

The Walmart I meant was in Chang'an Town (长安镇) , our last stop for the day. A very nice place and yes, it's another shopping paradise too.

You must be wondering why nothing was mentioned about the delicacy here right? Well....cos that would be in the next post! I assure you it's gonna be a Hot and Spicy post!