Shenzhen

Our visas for mainland China had one more entry and were due to expire, so we hopped across the border to visit our neighbor to the north, Shenzhen. We were very curious, as Shenzhen definitely has a certain reputation in Hong Kong; it's where people are stabbed, kidnapped, or die of the bird flu. To use a Star Wars analogy, Shenzhen is to South China as Mos Eisley is to Tatooine. As Obi Wan said, "You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy." Would he be right? We set off to find out.

Shenzhen is a huge city literally right across the border from Hong Kong. Getting there couldn't have been easier, as the metro line that we live by terminates in Shenzhen. Although its population is around ten million, it's a migrant city, so almost half are factory workers who stay in dorms during the week and then go home on the weekends. Industry is booming, with a lot of business centers and tech development as well as the many factories. For instance, Walmart has its China headquarters in Shenzhen. There are quite a few Hong Kongers that commute to Shenzhen, but it seems most people go there to shop.

The plaza just outside of customs

Our first stop was the famous "Copy Mall" in Lo Wu, which is the building on the right of the above picture. True to its nickname, you go there to buy replications of name-brand handbags, watches, clothes, glasses, etc. 

Six floors of madness

Every floor was packed with little shops selling their specialized wares. Some of the shops had all of their merchandise on display, but the serious ones had an off-site location to store their huge inventory (maybe in trucks?). I was pulled--literally--into a handbag store where they had dozens and dozens of catalogs organized by luxury brand. You pick out the models that you would like to see, and then the shopkeeper has someone fetch them for you. A serious fashion maven would have a field day; I was completely overwhelmed, as I have next to no interest in purses.

Bargaining is expected and essential. We were told that since we were foreigners, we should try to get down to a third of the initial price, and to definitely pay no more than 50%, ever. Although I hate haggling, we did very well, especially using the walk-away technique. I think there was only one vendor who actually let us walk away; every other time they would shout at us down the hall until finally relenting. Maybe it helped that we weren't seriously shopping for need, just for fun. It's definitely my least favorite way to shop, but I have to admit to feeling the thrill of victory when I got them down to the 30% mark.

Looking through stacks of oils on canvas

Drumming at a toy stand

Shenzhen is famous for its tailors, much like Hong Kong was decades ago. You can bring favorite articles of clothing and they will match them perfectly for very reasonable prices. The husband of one of my friends is larger and has a hard time in Hong Kong, so he has almost all of his work clothes made in Shenzhen. It would have been fun to have something made, but that would require another trip to go pick it up, and we didn't want to have to get another visa just for that.

Also, because labor is so cheap, spa services are very inexpensive. If massages are your thing, you can get them at rock bottom prices. Evangeline and I decided to get our nails done, so she had a manicure and I had a pedicure.

She chose green, her favorite color

Pretty flowers!

I paid extra to get the "high quality" pedicure, and I was amazed at how well it lasted. I didn't have so much as a hint of a chip, even though I do a lot of walking here and can really put my feet through the wringer. However, when my nails started to grow out, I tried to take the polish off. Scarily enough, I could not make a dent in the polish, no matter which remover I used. I scoured the internet for suggestions and nothing worked. They must have used some sort of industrial-strength paint, which I'm trying not to think about too much for fear of freaking out. Needless to say, I don't think I'll be getting a pedicure again without knowing in advance what kind of polish they're using...

Shenzhen isn't a huge tourist destination, so there isn't a ton to see, but we tried to get around the city a bit to get a feel for it. We walked around the Dongmen area, where a lot of locals like to shop.

A lot of people in Asia like to have shirts with Western letters on them. They don't have to be coherent, although sometimes they're much funnier when they are. There was a classy looking middle-aged lady in our estate whose shirt read in cursive letters, "Life's a bitch and then you die." It was really hard for me not to burst out laughing. Another favorite of mine are the many older ladies who walk around in shirts with obvious marijuana leaves on them. Pot isn't very popular here, so people don't realize what they're advertising. There was a lady in our supermarket last week who had a huge Pepsi logo on her shirt with a marijuana leaf overlay. Classic combo! I'm sure Pepsi would be horrified. :) In Shenzhen, there were many examples of the nonsense shirts:

We also saw a lot of people sleeping on the ground, which you don't see here in Hong Kong:

Meat on a stick was very big, with stalls everywhere we looked

Crabs, anyone?

The best sign of the trip

There are very few buskers in HK, so it was nice to see this guy and his guitar living the dream

All in all, we were glad to go back to Hong Kong. And I can see where the superiority complex of the Hong Kongers comes from. Hong Kong can smell bad, but Shenzhen smells worse. Hong Kong has bad air, but Shenzhen's is even nastier. We didn't see any stabbings or kidnappings while we were there, but maybe next time. :)