Shenzhen, China (Twinned with Rotheram)

Last weekend, on recommendation by a few guys in D's office, we decided to head into China for the first time since our arrival. Our destination was Shenzhen, which is a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) which sits on the Northern border of Hong Kong mainland and China.

First a bit of background on Shenzhen. About 30 years ago was a small village with a population of around 6,000 people, however, in 1979 the Chinese government, in their plan of self-titled 'openness and opportunity' decided to create a number of SEZs around the country, with Shenzhen strategically chosen for it's locality near a sea-port as well as conveniently located for its proximity to British-run Hong Kong.

Shenzhen Urban Metropolis

Well from a population of just over 6,000, Shenzhen, in 30 years has now grown to an urban metropolis of over 10,000,000 people, with money coming in from all parts of the world, largely through factories and raw material production, but more recently through technology and financial institutions as well.

Once, we had made our way from to the border with China on the HK MTR, we just had to buy a visa from the Chinese, which thanks to its special denomination as a SEZ we were able to get without all of the normal hassle involved in getting a Chinese visa. From the Chinese side we headed straight to the Shangri-La hotel (just next to the station) to grab some lunch in what had been recommended as one of the best Dim-Sum restaurants in Shenzhen. Add to this the fact that they had an all-you-can-eat lunch offer on and it didn't take us long to decide this was the place to eat.Well, we made sure we tried as much as possible off of the menu and we found most things absolutely delicious, with a couple of exceptions I might add, which I will definitely be giving a wide berth next time we decide to have dim-sum.

Dim-Sum Lunch at Shangri-La Hotel

After our huge lunch, we decided to drop our bags off at the hotel before hitting the shops. And after a short ride on one of the most confusing underground systems I have ever seen, we arrived at our hotel, the 33 story Huaqiuan Plaza Hotel. This hotel was again recommended to us and on our arrival we realised straight away that the guys in D's office had pulled another rabbit out of the bag. With the lobby of the hotel located on the 23rd floor, it was a stomach-churning lift ride up to check-in. I am normally fine with lifts, but the designers of this building had decided to put their lift system on the outside of the building, so it was with my fists clenched tightly around anything I could find in the lift that we ascended to the reception.

Our HUGE, extremely vertiginous hotel room

Once checked in we headed to our room on the 25th floor, and the scene that struck us as we entered our room was utterly breath-taking. The outside wall of our room was a floor-t-ceiling glass window which gave us a absolutely stunning panorama of Shenzhen city centre and the urbanised areas all around it. Also, our hotel room was about 8-10 times bigger than our flat in HK, so both of us couldn't hold back the urge to just run around the room enjoying the space. The room was also very nicely decorated and had everything we would need for our stay. But we didn't wait around in the room for too long as their were other things we had come to do and see.

Street-view from our room

As you can probably guess from what I have already said, our trip to Shenzhen was not to see wonderful cultural sights or explore its meandering city streets. No. Our trip to Shenzhen was based around our wish to explore the HUGE bootlegging and knock-off malls which are located all around the city.These vast indoor shopping centres are home to the biggest collection of small vendors and market stools that I have ever seen and they were selling every piece of fake merchandise from handbags to watches to DVDs to headphones.

We were able to pick up a few absolute bargains here and there and the English spoken by the people running the shops was good enough to also allow a lot of good humoured bartering to take place, which I thoroughly enjoyed, mainly because in the end it saved us quite a bit of money.

Well, after heading back to the room for a good nights sleep, we finished off our stay in Shenzhen with one of the best hotel breakfasts I have ever seen. With everything you could ever want, including a delicious selection of small cakes which wouldn't have been out of place on a top London Afternoon Tea menu.

Well, we are off to Ocean Park next weekend, so I am sure I will have plenty more to say then.

Tarah for now!

J x