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SHENZHEN. The Lonely Planet stated: "Tourists, Do Not Come Here."
But, we did. As a means to a destination ... the only mode of travel choice we had was by Ferry. It was a thoroughfare to catch a sleeper train to continue our travels. Upon arrival, we made our way to the train Station to purchase our tickets to continue on to Xian.
Multitudes of people, and frenzied noise and commotion unravelled before us. Communication was almost impossible as nobody spoke English, and didn't want to speak English. We wandered around aimlessly with our luggage held close, amongst the seedy onslaught of a thousand unsavoury people. They watched us, they followed us. Joining the longest queue I have ever seen, we waited in line amongst the bustling, shoving, relentless crowds. Finally we made it to the caged counter where an angry looking lady rudely spoke to us, waving her arms and rambling in her foreign language. We tried to explain that we needed to purchase tickets, she ignored us and didn't bother to try and understand English. People behind us were leaning over us and being served, frustrated and angry with the hold up. The situation
was futile. We had a train to catch and time was running out. The debate continued, angry people jostled us and pushed past us. We may as well have been invisible. Eventually, and inevitably, we missed our train.
Standing defeated, we were approached by a number of unsavoury looking men who began to load our luggage on to a trolley. In very broken English, and through missing teeth, they announced that they would help us get tickets. Credit cards were not accepted, and they proceeded to lead us down alleyways and stairs which seemed to go on forever, to the "only" working ATM machine available, so we could pay with cash. We followed them, leaving my partner waiting with the luggage. We followed our newly acquired guides for what seemed like an eternity, too late now not to trust them, hoping we would somehow manage to live through this situation. We didn't know where we were, everyone looked the same, sounded the same. Surrounded by copious amounts of faceless people, beggars, frantic movement and strange sinister stares, we trudged on until finally we arrived at the elusive cash machine. We looked at each other, my daughter and I, with
a mutual shared silent fear and dread, but managed between us to withdraw our cash, holding it close. We felt so alone, and so vulnerable.
We resumed the frantic journey, hoping these strangers would lead us back to the only familiarity we knew. And so the return trek began, until finally, and much to our combined relief, we were reunited with our luggage and fellow traveller. Huge sighs of relief were shared, and stress levels lowered somewhat, as we went to an agent who provided us with tickets to travel for the following day. We also booked a hotel and paid the "guides" an exorbitant amount of money for their trouble.
We were alive. We had our tickets. We unloaded our gear at the hotel and sat for awhile, gathering our bearings, before venturing out to face the bedlam we knew would be waiting, and buy some food. Eyes were everywhere, watching us. We walked miles through the eerie darkness of the descending night, through streets littered with foul smelling rubbish, through crowds of faceless people, and misty dew silently falling. Not a Westerner in sight, not the soothing familiar sound of the English language. We were in
the Red light district, being continually accosted by all sorts of strange, seedy people and beggars. I ignored one, he only had one leg. He angrily proceeded to chase me, running on two arms and his one leg, with so much speed and agility until finally giving up some streets later. Needless to say, I ran for my life.
Eventually we found food of some description and cautiously retraced our steps and found our way back to our hotel. We caught our train the following day. A sleeper train with bunks stacked three high, which we shared with strangers, and people lurking about the corridors. The incessant yelling from people selling their wares and food continued throughout the night. Using the toilets meant wading through overflowing urine, bringing with it a stench that was foul. We strapped our luggage to ourselves on that journey, afraid to sleep, and the only English that was spoken was our own. We were aware of each and every person who followed us with their dark, threatening eyes, prepared for the unexpected, which thankfully did not eventuate.
Needless to say, we were relieved to be leaving Shenzhen, reasonably unscathed, and preparing to embark
on the next stage of our journey.
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IC1983
non-member comment
I\\\'m looking forward to reading more of your blog entries, Rita. Needless to say I will NEVER be going to Shenzhen!