Because of my nationality, I can only stay in Hong Kong for 14 days at a time. Therefore, this past Saturday, I left Hong Kong for a couple of days and went to Shenzhen, China.
About 45 mns later, I arrived in Shenzhen. The train ride was smooth, fast and cheap (33 hong kong dollars, about $ 4 US). Things at the immigration of China went fine. The same cannot be said once I left the immigration building.
I woke up early Saturday morning, checked out of my hostel and headed for the train station. With a backpack and a small purse, I took the train from Hung Hom train station in Hong Kong heading towards the immigration of Shenzhen.
About 45 mns later, I arrived in Shenzhen. The train ride was smooth, fast and cheap (33 hong kong dollars, about $ 4 US). Things at the immigration of China went fine. The same cannot be said once I left the immigration building.
My first impression when I left immigration was "OMG!!!!!! too many people!!!". I never understood several millions people living in a city until I saw Shenzhen. The third largest city in China, Shenzhen grew from a village of 30 000 fishermen to one of the fastest growing cities of the world with a population of 12 million.
Up until then, I did not realize that problems would start creeping up as I go. First, I could not see any taxis. I thought to myself "it is impossible that such a frequented place does not have taxi". In my quest for taxis, I meet an old man, who looks european, and asked him for help. He directs me towards what he thought was the taxi stand but he was in fact wrong. W
hile trying to make my way back to where I was before my encounter with the european guy, I attempted to ask several Chinese policemen about where I should go. Well that did not work out because NO ONE SPEAKS ANYTHING BUT CHINESE!!!!
hile trying to make my way back to where I was before my encounter with the european guy, I attempted to ask several Chinese policemen about where I should go. Well that did not work out because NO ONE SPEAKS ANYTHING BUT CHINESE!!!!Oops!!! I should have expected that.
Well, finally I made my way back to the immigration but am still trying to find a taxi. The European man who hel
ped me earlier appears out of nowhere, just in time to save me from cab drivers pursuing me offering a Taksiiiii!!!!! (That is how it sounded). The European man addresses all the cab drivers in perfect mandarin and tells them to leave me alone. They were not the normal cab drivers apparently. Wait what!!! This white man just spoke mandarin. This is good!!!
ped me earlier appears out of nowhere, just in time to save me from cab drivers pursuing me offering a Taksiiiii!!!!! (That is how it sounded). The European man addresses all the cab drivers in perfect mandarin and tells them to leave me alone. They were not the normal cab drivers apparently. Wait what!!! This white man just spoke mandarin. This is good!!! 
When he learned that I was visiting the country by myself, he guided me a little bit more. He asked me several questions and as I was answering his questions, I realized I was not ready for this trip, unlike what I thought when I left Hong Kong. First, my hotel address and name were written in english. I should have had that translated to mandarin in Hong Kong since no cab drivers will be able to read it.
Second, when we asked a young lady at China Mobile offices at the immigration to translate my hotel's name and address, she was unable to because she could not understand my hand writing. And of course I had not copied the hotel's phone number so she was unable to call and ask the adress. I had not thought of any reason why I would need the phone number when I made my reservation (well, lesson learned!!!!!).
Third, I don't have a map of Shenzhen. I thought I would find one once I arrived at the Shenzhen immigration. But that was not the case. Obvisouly, as these little issues come up, I find it more and more amusing. I was learning the hard way how to deal with and plan for China.
The European guy and I finally came up with a solution. Find a hotel around where someone could translate for me. So, I walked to the Shangri La Hotel, famous hotel in the region, and asked the concierge to translate the name and address of my hotel to mandarin, to call a taxi and tell the driver where to go. That is how I finally got out of the immigration and started to make my way towards the Days Inn Shenzhen Hotel.
During the cab ride, for some reason, the cab driver insisted on talking to me. Obviously, he was having a monologue, probably was supposed to be a conversation since he kept on looking back at me from time to time, but big language difference. I am not sure he realized!!!! To everything he said, my answer was to show him the little piece of paper with the name of the hotel translated in mandarin. I am not going to lie after a while, he looked annoyed. 
10 mns later, I arrive to the Days Inn Hotel, which is in the downtown area of Shenzhen. On my way there, I passed by skycrapers after skycrapers and so many stores, rode on paved roads etc... Nothing about the city suggests that 30 years ago, it was a fishermen village.
That night with the help of a hotel guide fluent in english, I did a quick tour of downtown Shenzhen. As I saw more and more stores, McDonals, KFC and all sorts of French stores, I was amazed by the beauty of the city and the level of development that exists there.
That night with the help of a hotel guide fluent in english, I did a quick tour of downtown Shenzhen. As I saw more and more stores, McDonals, KFC and all sorts of French stores, I was amazed by the beauty of the city and the level of development that exists there.
One thing that told me though that the city was just recently developed: traffic an
d traffic patterns. It just made no sense. Pedestrians walked in the middle of the street and some cars insisted on going the wrong way on some one way streets. See the picture for that. Many things when it comes to traffic seems to be only a nice suggestion. No one respects the traffic lanes for example. On a 4-lane highway, cars made 6 lanes and manages to get by with that. No need to say that non traditional cars such as donkeys and bicycles also use the highways.
d traffic patterns. It just made no sense. Pedestrians walked in the middle of the street and some cars insisted on going the wrong way on some one way streets. See the picture for that. Many things when it comes to traffic seems to be only a nice suggestion. No one respects the traffic lanes for example. On a 4-lane highway, cars made 6 lanes and manages to get by with that. No need to say that non traditional cars such as donkeys and bicycles also use the highways. I thought I would share these two images with you as well. I hope they make you laugh:
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