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Published: January 10th 2010
I know, I know, I said you wouldn't hear from us again until Cambodia. I lied. Check out this article about the 31 top places to go in 2010- Shenzhen made the list.
NY Times
Pretty interesting, eh?
I should clarify a little bit, as I think we might have a few readers thinking we're living more of the Peace Corps rural-China lifestyle. We are by no means living in any rural village in China- Shenzhen is one of the wealthiest cities here, and definitely feels like it. Shenzhen is split into six different districts- Futian, Luohu, Yantian, Nanshan, Longgang and Bao'an. Longgang and Bao'an are considered outside of the 'Special Economic Zone'. Futian & Luohu are the 'downtown' areas, Yantian has beaches & mountains and Nanshan has a high concentration of expats. We live in Bao'an, about 35km outside the main city center, in an area that has more factory workers and Chinese people that have likely not seen many (if any) foreigners in their lifetime. There are the poor and the wealthy here, and it's very easy to see the difference. We live about 5 minutes away from the Shenzhen Airport. There's a downtown-ish area to Bao'an District, which we can reach in about 20 minutes by bus. The closest grocery store to us is reached by walking for about 20 minutes to what is called 'Xing Wei Village'. It's definitely a village in comparison to the city of Shenzhen, but not village at all like what you might be picturing as far as something in more inland/rural China.
We live a pretty comfortable life here. We definitely make enough money to be more than comfortable, especially if we don't go out to bars or eat Western food on a daily basis. It takes about an hour by car for us to get to the city center, where we have Chinese class and often spend our Wednesday/Friday evenings shopping or eating dinner.
Hopefully that paints a little bit better of a picture. Enjoy the article- it's definitely interesting!
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mama clare
non-member comment
Who you lie? no......
I enjoyed reading the NY times article altho you guys had already told me about this city being upscale. I enjoy info on these places you are at and visit. I hear via blip and teagone that there are lots of post cards in Thailand hint hint. mabybe I'll even try this mailing system with a few again so we make the happy board ha ha. I've been scared off from mailing things. maybe I'll put into the manila envelope again. I think your upcoming trip will be fantastic:)