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Asia » China » Guangdong » Shenzhen June 23rd 2023

23rd Jun: I think I must have woken everyone in the guesthouse up by going to the bathroom at 5 am. The perks of a communal bathroom and old, heavy doors that make a lot of noise when you open them. I went back to sleep for a bit and was woken again by the rain pouring down outside. I hoped that it was just a short shower and not last all day as I had planned to go to the beach. Once up and sorted, my first stop was breakfast. I headed to the breakfast place I'd frequented last time for ease. It was a lot quieter than last time. I ordered a bit of a random combination of sweet soymilk, fried egg and Xiaolongbao (soup dumplings). And who says only English food is beige, ... read more
Dongchong Beach
Dongchong Beach
Dongchong Beach

Asia » China » Guangdong » Shenzhen May 20th 2023

Hongfa Temple is located within Fairy Lake Botanical Garden. I had been to the garden before but didn't visit the temple at that time as the place is just too big to be covered in one trip. Today, I finally made it back there to visit the temple. I had booked my ticket online in advance. There seemed to be no limit on the number of tickets sold unlike last time I was there. The walk from the subway station to the main gate didn't take too long, 5-10 minutes and then it was probably about another 20-30 stroll to the temple. There is also a shuttle bus to take you to the temple, but it had quite the queue. The walk through the botanical gardens was nice. There wasn't a lot to see, just greenery, ... read more
Fairy Lake Botanical Garden
Hongfa Temple
Hongfa Temple

Asia » China » Guangdong » Shenzhen April 16th 2023

At the end of the subway line 4 are a couple of villages that I have wanted to visit; the Aohu Art Village and the Guanlan Printmakers' Village. Today was the turn of Aohu Art Village. To be fair these villages are quite near each other (I think only a couple of kilometres), but it was too hot to stay out too long. The village seems to be having a bit of an identity crisis as it goes by three different names, Aohu Art Village, Nuihu Art Village and New Who Art Village. Confusing? Yes! From the subway station, it was a short walk to the entrance to the art village. I liked the lake and the row of houses at the entrance to the art village. The area looked small, cosy, quaint and arty. We ... read more
Aohu Art Village
Aohu Art Village
Aohu Art Village

Asia » China » Guangdong » Shenzhen April 15th 2023

The Red Bridge Path is in Guangming and it took me about thirty minutes to walk there from the subway station (Fenghuang Town). The walk was fine. The area was quiet and new. I walked past another park to get there, I wish I’d had more time to have a look around there too. I could see the red bridge from the main road. I headed into the park. The first part was all concrete with a few trees evenly planted about. Since it was the weekend there were plenty of kids and families about. Just beyond that there was a service centre under the bridge and some steps leading up. From where I was standing, it looked like you couldn’t access the bridge from here (I later saw this was wrong), so I headed over ... read more
Red Bridge Park
Red Bridge Park
Red Bridge Park

Asia » China » Guangdong » Shenzhen April 8th 2023

I had been wanting to visit the Guanlan area for a while as there is an old print making Hakka village and an art village. However, my first visit to the area brought me to Guanlan Ancient Market, which I had never heard of before. This area had been under reconstruction for a few years and is now open. It was a short walk from Guanlan metro station on line 10. We came to the entrance to the main street. There was a nice wall sign saying ‘Yes, I like Longhua too’ surrounded by house numbers. Lots of people getting selfies there. I saw a dragon’s head costume behind a fence. It would have been nice to have seen it in action, but I don’t know if it had been used recently or was just out ... read more
Guanlan Ancient Market
Guanlan Ancient Market
Guanlan Ancient Market

Asia » China » Guangdong » Shenzhen March 18th 2023

Luohu is one of the oldest districts in Shenzhen and close to the border with Hong Kong. Originally, there was only one or two checkpoints to enter Hong Kong from Shenzhen and one is located here in Luohu. The neighbourhoods here are quite old and the apartment buildings definitely looked past their prime. We wandered down a shopping street and most businesses were open and while not exactly busy were ticking over. Since the border has only fully re-opened recently, I wonder how quiet this area was before and how many businesses folded in that time. Our walk took us past a few places that hadn't survived the pandemic. One place looked like a spa and there was a bus terminal that was closed. I would have liked to have had a walk around the inside ... read more
Luohu
Luohu
Luohu

Asia » China » Guangdong » Shenzhen March 5th 2023

A beautiful sunny day, so I headed to the coast. I have been meaning to visit Yantian Boardwalk for a while, but I've either been busy or the weather has been terrible. It was really easy to get to, taking line 2 to Haishan Station and then a straight walk down the road to the water. There were quite a few people at the entrance to the boardwalk and here the boardwalk juts out into the water more, so lots of people were there taking photos. There was even a wedding shoot going on. There was a cute looking café/restaurant there too. I could just imagine sitting in the shade of its terrace and enjoying an iced coffee there. The entrance to the board walk was kind of in the middle, so I had to decide ... read more
Yantian Boardwalk
Yantian Boardwalk
Yantian Boardwalk

Asia » China » Guangdong » Shenzhen February 25th 2023

Another weekend, another part of Shenzhen to explore. Today it was the turn of Minzhi, which is situated in Longhua district. I don't think I've been to Longhua before, maybe to an art gallery, but I'm really not sure. I was shocked when I came out of Minzhi subway station to see how busy it was. I know it was a Saturday evening, but I didn't expect there to be so many people about. Another sign that Covid is well and truly over. We headed down the packed main street and into one of the urban villages nearby. One of the guys was telling me that during Covid all these villages were locked up and if you didn't live there you couldn't enter. Now we were able to freely wander the streets. We wandered the backstreets, ... read more
Minzhi
Minzhi
Minzhi

Asia » China » Guangdong » Shenzhen February 19th 2023

Since I'd been feeling a bit under the weather, a nice and easy relaxing stroll/hike was what I needed and Bijiashan Park fitted the bill nicely. It was a short hop on the subway and and about a ten minute or so walk from the subway to the park's (east?) entrance. I passed an abandoned apartment complex that was getting ready for demolition, I would have loved to have had a look around and get some photos, but it was all boarded up and there were a few security guards looking after the place. At the entrance there were lots of nicely shaded places for people to sit and relax. I had read that there was a small hill to hike which offered some views of the city, so I followed the signposts for that. I ... read more
Bijiashan Park
Shenzhen
View from Bi Guan Peak

Asia » China » Guangdong » Shenzhen February 11th 2023

Took the subway to Chiwan again, this place is becoming like a second home to me. However, from the subway I headed off in a different direction. It was about a twenty minute walk or so to my first destination. The only thing of interest that I passed on the way was Tianhou Palace. I had thought about visiting, but there were only two reviews online (in Chinese) one that gave it a 5* review and the other gave it 1*. To be honest, it didn't look very open or inviting, so I nixed that idea for my return journey to the subway station. I arrived at the entrance to the tomb of Zhao Bing, who was the last emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279) and it is the only royal tomb in Guangdong Province. ... read more
Street Art
Street Art
Street Art




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