A TRAVEL EXPERIENCE TO SHENZHEN,CHINA

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A TRAVEL FROM KUNMING TO SHENZHEN CITY OF CHINA VIA GUANGZHOU, CAPITAL OF GUANGDONG PROVINCE

After staying the night in a guest house in Kunming, enjoying excellent hospitality and foods ; Me, my son and a ‘guide cum instigator’ who could very nicely convince us & my family (before our departure to China) that the ‘sample goods’ we were carrying as allowed by China customs, will fetch a hand sum of money, once this is handed over to the buyer, who is waiting to receive us at China /Hong Kong border to welcome us with honor, and assured us with firm conviction to receive our full payment in cash within a day or two. This ‘xyz’ by name, who was staying in Hong Kong for long many years (as he said) was traveling on my expense, and was so smart and cunning to the extreme, who could allure my son, that great fortune is awaiting for us, and could manage him to spend our small amount of USD lavishly, that we bought on our travel quota. This man was so expert in cheating to manage a simple and honest prey like me and my family; enjoying our hospitality, simplicity and honesty which we inherited in our blood stream to enjoy a modest and simple living with our limited earning. To assure us not to bother at all, he even stopped me of my intention to take more dollars for our convenient stay in China; he just stopped me doing so, as, once we are in China, all the expenses will be born by him as marketing manager of the buyer Company. This great cheater could convince me not to worry at all, as he has done all the arrangement needed for our best journey, stay and hospitality, as, once we are in China all the expenses for stay in both Shenzhen and Hong Kong will be of the responsibility of the customer, who is just staying in Kunming to escort us to Shenzhen and than to Hong Kong. So, what is the use to carry more money😞, rather, we will be over burdened with the huge sale proceeds we are sure to get from the buyer😱

Just after we stepped in the Kunming guest house, privately I warned my son to be very cautious to spend money, as ‘xyz’ appeared to be a cheater to me on first instance not finding any one in waiting; but my son was so overwhelmed with confidence on ‘xyz’ he didn’t bother to stand on my advise and continued spending our small amount as dictated by the great ‘xyz’

However, let me continue the experience of our onward journey toward Guangzhou by China Eastern Airline. In the domestic flight, CEA use older version of Boeing aircraft, may be the reason is, most of the passengers are of China, who are encouraged by the government to be modest and simple living, But the on-flight food was excellence of Chinese cushiness, that I enjoyed to the best of my satisfaction.

After smooth touch down at the Guangzhou’s very large and most modern airport, we were transported by bus into the arrival lounge of a very large newly constructed Terminal building. Here also, we could collect our luggage within a very short time and going out of the terminal, we found lot of taxies waiting on queue. After having some bargain; we choose two cabs for our journey to bus station on our onward journey to Shenzhen. The taxi fare was found to be quite reasonable, and on reaching the ever busy bus station, which was packed with waiting passengers on queue for ticket purchase and to board the buses in a very disciplined fashion, that impressed me a lot in contrast as we developed a culture to enjoy the reverse situation every where in our country. After having some rest, we bought our tickets @ Y80, and just on schedule, the deluxe bus started it,s journey to Shenzhen. The distance between Guangzhou and Shenzhen is 166 km by super express highway and it took less than two hours to reach our destination. The journey was very smooth, comfortable and fast, and we kept ourselves busy enjoying beautiful way side flower gardens, hills of various sizes, and at one stage we patch of about 70-80 km stretched ‘Special Economic Zone’ north of Shenzhen, so nice and neatly constructed high-rise numerous factory buildings, that are built with the latest and most modern architectural design, we are simply amazed to see a glimpse of economical advancement of present day China, and how it could maintain a GDP growth rate of two digits plus for the last few years, to emerge as a giant to dominate the world with their hundreds of thousands of cheap consumer products.



Reaching at Shenzhen, we could find a nice hotel in Louhu area, that is owned by a local Chinese old man, who once stayed in our country for few years while he was young, which is not far away from the bus stand with reasonable rent, as fixed after having some bargain with the Manager. The staff members were so courteous and hospitable, we could smoothly settle down in our rooms; a double bedded one for me and my son & a single bedded for our honorable ‘guide’, ‘xyz’ by name who so ‘kindly honored’ us totally depending on my expenses; a glairing example of a great cheater ever I encountered in my life.

I am not very sure, how my readers will react with my exclusive personal experience of ordeal as stated so far, but I have reasons to let my readers know the lateral experience we gathered, when in the next morning, all on sudden this ‘xyz’ entered into my room to ask us to be ready immediately to move to Hong Kong and escorted us to a nearby bus station, that contained in a very large area, well constructed structure of boarder check point, crowded with both out and incoming travelers ; all are on queue for check-in and out for Hong Kong. We did not had any idea that there are certain restrictions imposed by Hong Kong administration for nationals of certain counties, who is holding Chinese Visa, but barred to get temporary entry permit. And our ‘xyz’ knowingly kept us in the darkness, what is more waiting for us there in Hongkong and instead, told us to just board a Hong Kong bound bus with the sample goods for which the representative is waiting on the China/Hong Kong border to escort us to a Hong Kong hotel. He assured us not to remain in tension with gloomy face, as once the goods is handed over to the buyer and we are sure to get our billed amount in a day or two. He also reminded us that as all expenses of our stay in Hong Kong will be on account of the ‘Buyer’, we don,t need to be worried having very small cash is left with us to face any eventuality. I was just praying to the CEATOR of all human being, to be kind enough to save us from more sufferings, if we are refused entry into Hong Kong.

All of my readers will understand that at that situation, we had no other options left but to obey ‘xyz’,s advise, although, I could guess well that, something is going grossly wrong, as, instead of accompanying us on way to Hong Kong, he just left us there in the bus station abruptly, saying that he is entering into Hong Kong on a separate route by boat. As I suspected, me & my son with the 60 kgs of ‘most valuable fortune’, had been forced by the bus driver to get down from the bus to face check-out through Hong Kong immigration office. I was so shaken and felt sick when the officers guided us to their office and after lot of interview and cross interrogations, they asked me and my son to sign some papers and later, so kindly escorted us back to China border out post and handed us to Chinese officials to decide our fate. One aspect that everybody should be aware that, in China, only the Chinese language is the only option of all communication, and that is why our sufferings in Shenzhen multiplied further. I believe, if we could communicate our sufferings, lot of ordeal and untold tension we faced would not happen at all, if we could find some one who understand English language. Finally, on the basis of visiting card of the hotel where we were staying was the only resource, which helped the driver to reach us back to the hotel.

After all these happenings, we tried to explore the local Chinese markets to find buyer and handed them with sample of the item, but unfortunately, after putting this sample on tests, we were told that they cannot offer any price for the item, as due prolonged storage in a very humid condition, the product quality has deteriorated and the item has lost it’s economic value. Getting this feedback, I became so frustrated I just keept me confined in the hotel for five remaining days and was just waiting for our confirmed date of return air ticket. I could manage to borrow some money from a sympathetic gentleman of my country, who was in Shenzhen on a business tour to bear the hotel rent and conveyance for our return journey, Guangzhou / Kunming / Dhaka. In those remaining days of stay at Shenzhen, My son moved around with the gentleman, who was so kind to help us in our distress and could manage to see lot of shanties with poor people living in there in compact room with no modern amenities or healthy environment, but in contrast you will find modern high-rise buildings with numerous wide roads with hundreds of flyovers and express highways, having very busy vehicular traffic with latest design deluxe bus and taxi moving with ever busy and discipline people of China, advancing forward with a very fast economic growth.

The name of Shenzhen refers to three places; Shenzhen city, (Shenzhen shi, opposite the border crossing at Lo WU); Shenzhen special economic Zone (SEZ): and Shenzhen county which extends north of the SEZ. The majority of foreigners who come here are on business. When you are coming from north, Shenzhen city will seem as replica of Hong Kong and actually it was developed by Chinese Government to a substitute against dominant existence of Hong Kong under British rule. The northern part of SEZ is walled off from the rest of China by electrified fence, to prevent smuggling and to keep a control of the people trying to enter illegally in to ShenZhen and Hong Kong.

Present days, Shenzhen has become an extended shopping mall for Hong Kong residence and much attraction of Hong Kong retailers. Shenzhen has no doubt is manifest of commercial success, but the city has attracted a lot of unwanted friends; and two thirds of its residence have no valid permit to live in there.

To conclude our experience and ordeal we had gone through in China, due to our misguided guide cum escort, finally we could manage to back to Dhaka with very kind support of our countryman, who helped us to buy some cheap items in Kunming for our family members and finally landed back at Dhaka International Airport on schedule, was so happy to see again our dearest and dearest ones.

To conclude our travel experience in CHINA, I would like my readers to remain aware and be cautious of such type of culprits, who are ever busy to grasp the oppotunity for 'fool' like us to be their next target to prey.

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