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Published: September 18th 2017
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The suitcases are getting heavier, there’s a need for some serious strategising before the long haul home, am sure there’s at least a couple pair of shoes surplus to requirement, not mine though, still Hong Kong and a gazillion malls to go, quite glad of the small trolley case to tuck the camera and computer bags into, these thoughts as we trail behind Emma in the vast Shenzhen airport, merely an indication of the shear scale of this whole area. Hamish quote, “you have to find your own bite sized chunk to live in otherwise its overwhelming.” Overwhelming it has been every day.
Shenzhen has a population of about 20 million, Dongguan 6 million and Guangzhou 25 million another mega city, you cannot tell where one city ends and another begins, what do you call this. Down the other side of the river delta area more joined cities Zhongzheng, Macau, Zhuhai, which make for the megalopolis. Now that whole Delta is to be joined by a bridge, from Hong Kong to Macau and Zhuhai, with 26 km tunnel for the shipping, It’s a spectacular sight stretched across the water as you zip along beside it in the ferry, thinking that
by the time the bridge and proposed full tunnel from Shenzhen to Zhuhai is finished so too will the ferries, perhaps not, there will be enough tourists to take care of that.
Train trip Shenzhen to Kwoloon as in an international airport, security, departure cards, very quiet today can take up to 2-3 hours in the weekends, 50 meters then entry cards, immigration, hours snooze on the train then into the concrete jungle, 35 degrees and humid outside, stick to the subterranean airconditioned malls and passages, how do and how will they handle the summers, revisiting of the meerkat again a sizzling top knot if poked out of the shadows. Bus back, off the bus, security, exit papers, hot walk to another bus, kilometer down the road, off the bus, entry papers, immigration, long hot walk to taxi, pestered by hawkers, I have had enough, fuck shopping in Hong Kong.
We have been privileged to do apartment living in Shenzhen, 3 bedroom apartment on the 21
st floor with Emma, her Daughter Ivy, 7, and assistant Wendy. From the airport to dinner with Ivy and Wendy followed by a spot of grocery shopping at the mother of all SUPER
markets, cross between Briscoe’s, Noel Lemming and PacknSave. Trolleys a meter square, crowded, “what you want,” hang on Emma lets catch our breath, no chance, impulsive, head strong, generous, I have been running to keep up, laying in bliss at the moment KK doing the keeping up getting her toe nails extracted and whatever else they do to you on a Sunday morning make over.
‘We been everywhere man’ a day at the beach with a good look at coast and harbour, Dongguan day trip and look at supper cities joined together, overnight trip to Zhuhai, ferry ride, to stay with Aunty and Uncle in Emma’s retirement apartment in a quieter city, wont be so when both bridge and tunnel are opened up, buy another apartment! Dinner at the fish market with an awesome group of her friends, buy the live fish at the market, take to restaurant where they cook it for you, all the time a constant good natured haggling going on, you’re killing me with that price, we’re not cooking that its too small, half dead, don’t like the look of it, take it back, scrap over whose paying for dinner, we feel very privileged, once
again they come from all over to the grungiest end of town for a wonderful feed and atmosphere. We drive around Zhuhai and Macau, old Macau and new Macau hundreds acres of cranes, bordered up lots on the new build, many times we heard What! What? As Emma kept getting lost as things had changed so much in such a short time, GPS’s have to be continuously updated. Back on the ferry and straight to dinner in Shekou with Mr cosmopolitan himself Liu (Leo) beautiful meal, awesome spot, lovely wine, wheeeeeeew.
Ivy, a little acorn fallen straight from the tree, provides an interesting insight into education. Ivy goes to private primary, $20,000 a year, there is public education. School starts at 7am finishes 7pm, lunch and nap at school, plus an evening meal, some days we don’t see her till 9.30pm if she has dancing and the like, 9.30 pm in the door then clear up the home work. Saturday is piano class and Sunday evening,ballet from 7pm till 9pm
Spoke with an Aussie in Chengdu, does something at the university, young children reckons the child education is particularly gruelling. Its all about reaching the numbers at the
end of high school, the numbers that guide everything, universities, employers, family standing, honour, it is the underlying current in most families.
Apartment living, apartment communities, community schools, kindergardens1000 to 5000 people blocks and more being added on to most communities. Emmas apartment in Zhuhai is in a monster complex, KK and I would not leave it by ourselves for fear of getting lost. Her particular 4 bedroom large apartment is worth about $500,000 US, the separate 4 bedroom houses on the canal $2,000,000 US, this is the cheap end of the megalopolis. Across the small river is another massive apartment block, as they say, in the same garden, still unfinished. I would hazard a guess that a full 25% of the new apartment blocks we have seen are empty, there is so much equity tied up in their properties, the 3 bedroom Shenzhen apartment we are staying in is worth $2,000,000 US so the government can ill afford to flood the market, they are released probably by some government department running a complicated algorithm. They have stock built and waiting for their millions that they encourage out of the country into the city.
Another interesting thing is
water quality, am amazed at the amount of fishing in the streams and rivers passing through these massive cities. We will be able to eat fish out of our rivers again in a few years and it happens.
I would suggest the standard motor car will have a very spectacular and short life span in China, you can pull up to the mega mall now and plug in the tesla while you shop. Chinas structure allows it to move quickly when a course is decided.
The worst of the coal belching power stations and other polluters around Chengdu have been shut down allowing for some sunny blue skies, seldom happened 5 years ago, pollution still clamps down pretty hard in the winter, but it is improving.
Splashing around in the 6
th floor pool tonight looking up 48 floors thinking this could be alright!
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