Today I went to HK in search of 壶铃 (kettlebells) at one store and imported 辣椒酱 (hot sauce) of a particular brand at another.  While I ended up searching for the kettlebells on 淘宝 (Taobao, an online Chinese retailer), I’m still happy to have made the effort to look.  I was able to find some 风干肉 (air-cured meat) for sale at the imported foods market, although it was being sold at a 昂贵 (very expensive) price.  As I took the boat across the harbor with a high school classmate, I realized that the ferry operators must be 亏本 (losing money) as they do not put advertisements on the interior of the boats.  Not long afterward, I realized that they must have rights to the 码头 (piers), potentially guaranteeing their revenues.  After returning to Shenzhen, I played arcade games with my classmate and found that the 金币 (gold coins [used to play the games]) cost only 0.5RMB (that’s roughly 7 cents in US Dollar terms).  What an inexpensive way to have fun!  We probably could have gotten to the arcade earlier if my friend’s passport hadn’t 烂掉 (fallen/rotten apart) in the washing machine several weeks ago, requiring that he get a replacement and produce 2 passports at border control (the rotten one with the current visa and the new, undefaced one).  We grabbed some 牛腩 (beef tenderloin) curry and were on our way to the next adventure.

壶铃 hu2ling2 – kettlebell (a type of weight shaped like a cannonball with a U-shaped handle)
辣椒酱 la4jiao1jiang4 – hot sauce
淘宝 tao2(3)bao3 – Taobao, a Chinese e-commerce site
风干肉 feng1gan1rou4 – air-cured meat
昂贵 ang2gui4 – (highly) expensive
亏本 kui1ben3 – losing money (losing operating expenses)
码头 ma3tou2 – pier/dock
金币 jin1bi4 – gold coin
烂掉 lan4diao4 – to rot/fall/come apart (specifically referring to objects)
牛腩 niu2nan2 – beef tenderloin