JOHNNY Warren Medal winner Marcos Flores is happy with the decision to play football in China.

The popular former Adelaide United playmaker said he initially struggled to settle into the environment in Zhenghzou - a city with a population of

7.35 million - after making the move to Henan Jianye from the Reds in June.

"When I came here everything here was different," Flores said.

"I don't know the language, the TV stations are all in Chinese and the food was very different ... but I made my home like Disneyworld.

"My iPod, playstation, internet, big speakers, a new big TV and I find Spanish radio stations on the internet and all those little things helped me make the connection across the world with my friends."

Flores said he was now cooking much more often.

Living at Glenelg, where he had gastronomic choices galore on Jetty Rd whenever he was hungry, had spoiled the playmaker.

Although Flores said he was a fan of Chinese cuisine, the only way to end the craving for Argentinean and traditional Mediterranean dishes was to be master chef. "At the supermarket here I found frogs next to the chicken. They have the food I want," he said.

"But I miss going to my favourite restaurants in Adelaide and the people where I could spend hours talking football and drinking coffee.

"I can't do that here because I don't speak their language and I have an interpreter here where I have to tell them everything before I get an answer.

"So even the basic things - like when I want to tell a teammate about a move on the pitch - this has to go through an interpreter, and this can take minutes at training before I get the message through."

Flores scored his first goal for Henan in his second match.

The feat immediately propelled the Argentinean to superstar status among his new legion of fans.

The club's ultras made up a T-shirt with his face on the front above the Chinese words UFO Dong (dynamic beauty).

And while Flores said he misses Adelaide's camaraderie, he has made friends with the captain of Zambia, Christopher Katongo.

"But I will come back in November, my friends."