Shenzhen

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We took the Hong Kong metro into Shenzhen to spend the day. Since we all held Canadian passports, we were able to get a visitors Visas issued right at the border for a fee of 125 CYN each (renminbi/yuan. $1 Canadian = approx. 5.5 CYN). This is much better than the 500-750 CYN we would have had to pay if we went to a Visa place in Hong Kong - where we would have had to hand over our passports for 3-5 days. It was also way cheaper than it would have been if we were to have got Visas at the Chinese Consulate in Canada. But only people holding certain passports can get Visas right at the border. I don't think Americans can do it, for example. While we were there, someone from Singapore was turned away and told to get the Visa in Hong Kong.

Since we only had a day, we wanted to get on a bus tour, as we thought that would be the quickest way to see the city. We went up to two Visitor Information desks at Luohu station, and both said there were no bus tours. The one had lots of tours for Hong Kong, but nothing for Shenzhen. Pretty disappointing. I had a list of things to do, but we had to first locate all those things on a map, since I wasn't able to find any decent maps on the internet ahead of time. Shenzhen, particularly right at the bus station, is not the kind of place you want to pull out a map and look like a lost tourist. There were 4 of us, and one of my friends speaks Mandarin and the other speaks Cantonese, so this greatly assisted us. But still. As the 4 of us were crowded around looking at a map, some guy was coming real close and checking out my backpack. Chris quickly noticed, and I started to wear my backpack in the front so I could keep an eye on it. I had read beforehand that Shenzhen is really bad for pickpockets, and there have even been reports of kidnapping for ransom. So be careful! Shenzhen is not a place I would want to go without someone who could speak at least a bit of the language. The whole day we were there, we only saw about 6 other Westerners.

So, since a lot of the things I had wanted to do were kind of far away, and we had such a limited time, we decided to go to Dongmen Pedestrian Shopping district first, since I knew I wanted to do some shopping here. While walking away from Luohu station, I was impressed by the incredibly long line of taxis that streched WAY down the street and seemed to go on forever. I've never seen that many taxis all lined up, it was crazy. After a bit of walking, we decided to hop on the metro at Guomao station and took it one stop to Laojie, where Dongmen is. Their subway system seems pretty good - it's very similar to Hong Kong's system. While we were waiting on the platform, a pretty girl horked into a wastebin really loudly. That was pretty gross, and while I've heard that this is something Chinese people do a lot (and something the government was trying to crack down on in the lead up to the Beijing Olympics), I hadn't seen it at all in Hong Kong. At least she did it in a wastebin, right?

Dongmen was pretty cool - I particularly loved the pedestrian aspect of it. But while my friends bought a few things, I didn't find anything that interested me. But quite frankly, I really didn't want to look too closely at anything because the salespeople there are SO aggressive. It's really annoying, and really makes it impossible to have an enjoyable shopping experience. My friend went to buy a bottle of water, and she was swarmed by 5 or 6 different people pushing water bottles in her face - "Buy this one! This one better!" All would say. There were also a lot of women with laminated cards trying to sell hair extensions and gel nails. I don't think I saw a single person there with hair extensions and gel nails, so it was wierd that there were so many women pushing this. If you make eye contact or look at their cards, they'll follow you around for a bit, and might even reach out and grab your arm to prevent you from walking away. One guy was trying to sell my friend an i-phone, and he followed us around quite a bit trying to push this sale, even up an escalator! I heard a lot of "Looky, Missy, Buy!" Perhaps the only 3 english words a lot of these salespeople know.

Once we'd had enough of this overwhelming shopping experience, we had some lunch and then got a taxi to the Meridian View Centre. There is a viewing platform on the 69th floor of this 384 metre high tower - the highest in Shenzhen. There are telescopes and displays about the development and history of Hong Kong and Shenzhen. The cost is 60 CYN per person, and the views are well worth it, if you have a clear day. Most of my pictures of Shenzhen were taken from this tower. The film showing was a bit of a disappointment though - it seemed a lot more like one giant advertisement than the educational film about Shenzhen's quick development that I was hoping for.

After the Meridian View Centre and some more random walking around, we made our way back to Luohu station to get some massages in the mall near the station. We found a place with a woman holding a card in front advertising a 1 hour full body massage for 45 CYN. But once they got us into the massage rooms, the price was raised to 98 CYN. Still pretty cheap, so we didn't mind too much (still a bit annoying though.) Once the massage got going, other women came in to try to upsell us... "Missy, you want manicure." "Head massage? 30 Extra!" Hard to relax and enjoy your massage that way. But the worst was that my therapist brought her cell phone into the room. It rang twice, and she answered it both times and had a conversation during my massage. Whatever, I thought... this is China afterall. And she kinda made up for it by saying "Missy, you are very beautiful." But the real rub came at the end when they were asking for their tips (despite a large sign on the way in saying that asking for tips is prohibited.) I tipped 10 CYN, but that wasn't enough. "No, no, you must give 20." I hunted my wallet and found another 5, so I handed over 15. But she saw that I had a 100 bill and asked for that! "I'm not going to tip you 100%!!" Maybe I would have if she didn't answer her phone, but that combined with the up selling, and the almost constant talking between therapists (we all got our massages in the same room) there was no way. They ask in english where we are from, and after we answer, they proceed to discuss it in their language. So instead of relaxing, I'm constantly thinking "I wonder what they are saying about where we're from?" I maybe could have asked my friend what they were saying afterward, but she was probably to engrossed in a conversation she was having with her own therapist to hear what the other two were saying. She tipped really well, by the way, and made me look cheap. In her conversation with her therapist she learned that these women hardly see any of the money that we pay for their services. My friend was told they get about 100 CYN per month, the cost of one treatment. So, despite the sign forbidding them from asking for tips, they have to because it's really their only income. After hearing that, I felt really cheap.

At dinner I had my first experience with a squatter toilet. I've done a lot of camping, and since I'm usually drinking during that camping, I've got lots of experience of squatting in the woods. So, it wasn't too bad, but some toilet paper would have been nice.

Shenzhen is interesting because it is the fastest growing city in all of China. 30 years ago, it was still a little village. Now, because of the "Special Economic Zone" designation, migrant workers from all over China flock there for work. And the architecture is truly amazing. There is still a lot of construction going on, so it'll be interesting to see what Shenzhen looks like 5 years from now. Hopefully it'll be a bit more tourist friendly... right now, I think the vast majority of their tourism comes from the rest of China, so they cater to that.

If I had more time in Shenzhen, I would have done the following:
-Window of the World
-Spendid China
-Shenzhen Xianhu Botanical Garden
-Shenzhen Safari Park (many animals are uncaged, and theres some rare tigers and pandas)
- Da Meisha & Xiao Meisha Scenic Area (beaches, with apparently clean bathing water, and sand sculptures)
-Shenzhen Museum
-Zhongshan Park
-Ancient City of Nantou

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Photos

Dongmen Pedestrian Shopping District
I love how the streets are for pedestrians only in this area, and vehicles are not allowed. There's also lots of bargains to be had (mostly for counterfeit goods), but the salespeople are way too agressive.

Shenzhen gold building
I don't know the real name of this building, but I think it's pretty neat looking.

Mao & Margaret Thatcher
This is inside the Meridian View Centre.

Shenzhen rice paddies
Here's hoping they don't build over these rice paddies in the next few years. I like to see farmland so close to the city. It's how it should be.

Shenzhen parks
Lots of parks in Shenzhen... unfortunately we didn't have enough time to explore any of them.

Another pedestrian street
Lots of pedestrian streets and alleys are all over the place, allowing people to get away from the crazy traffic.

Comments

[Carmenchita B. Balmadrid]

Asking
How long to travel from hongkong to Shenzhen? By Train, By Bus

[kbard]

You can get to Shenzhen from Hong Kong by taking Hong Kong's subway system. It doesn't take long - about 40 minutes or so. But you will need a visa. Depending from which country you are from, you can get a visa on the spot. You can do this if you're from Canada, but Americans and many others have to get a visa ahead of time in Hong Kong.