In and Around Shenzhen

Living in Shenzhen

For over three months, Shenzhen was my home. Shenzhen is a modern city and true it lived up to its expectations. It is a nice place to see the modern China with sky scrapers competing for space and very lush green gardens around the city.  There are hardly any old buildings noticeable in Shenzhen as I was told it is a new city however there is lots of construction was taking place almost on every other street.

Just like China, Shenzhen Special Economic Zone as it is commonly known  is really populated that you have to brace yourself for the crowded streets, metro and railway stations, especially during the rush hour, weekends and holidays if you want to experience the real Shenzhen.

However not to discourage anyone there are couple of places I identified as a must visit while in Shenzhen and these include

Seg Market

This is like the Electronics street of world, with a  number of malls on each side of the street all selling electronic from capacitors and mobile phones to play stations, digital cameras and mobile phones generally you can find any electronic equipment on this area. This area is commonly referred to as Huaqiang Bei I guess driving its name from the Street Huaqiang North

The famous SEG Market in Huaqiang North, Shenzhen Futian District.

Dongmen / Eastgate

This is a concentration of small boutiques and some big brand name shops selling shoes and garments, It is a relatively cheap market but care should be taken when buying items from here as some if not most are brand names knock offs or copies as they are commonly referred to in China. Dongmen can very be crowded over the weekends as seen in the photo below the day I visited there was hardly any room for one to walk comfortably.

Shoppers in at a crowded square in Dongmen during a weekend 

Louhu Commercial City

This is at the border of Shenzhen and Hong Kong, Just like in Dongmen the shops here sell similar stuff like copy designer Garments , shoes, watches, bags, perfumes however one has to really be careful if they want to buy genuine stuff to look closely at the product  and don’t forget to bargain as you can get a good deal.

Window of the World

This is a recreation area with different dedicated areas showing miniature statues like the Elf Tower, the Egyptians Pyramids, the Taj Mah in India among many other areas of the world, it is quite a large area divided into Asia, Europe, North America, South America areas all displaying tourist attractions that would take you to those parts of the world, you can take time and go explore it.  

Parks

There are quite a number of parks in Shenzhen, and I cannot say I went to all of them however I managed to get to some like Xianhu Botanical Park there is a big Buddist temple here worth visiting, also there are a number of other parks around Shenzhen worth visiting. It is best to visit them during the weekdays if you are not busy because on the weekend there are usually crowded and lots of activities taking place in the parks.

Well if you happen to visit China soon, and Shenzhen most especially I hope this can help point you where  to go when you have some time to spare.

Speed Train to Changsha

I had to visit Changsha (长沙) in Hunan (湖南) province for a Kylin software project for one week and thought what better way was there for me to travel other than speed train as it commonly knows here.

Coming from Shenzhen (深圳), I took a train from Guangzhou North Railway Station to Changsha South, this ride took 3 hours however one noticeable thing was that the train top speeds reached 345kph on my trip. This train stops at particular railway stations along the route for some passengers to get on and off usually for 2-5 minutes brief stops.

Train LCD displays moving speed

Prior to the stops, there are announcements through the speakers informing you about the next stop and warn you to be quick while disembarking. These are both in English and Chinese. The display screens also in the cabins are worth looking at as they display the same information in both Chinese and English.

The speed trains also have first class and second class coaches all fitted with toilets and smoking is not allowed on board, a restaurant is available on board just in case one needs a  coffee or a coke.

I got to Changsha early and saved a couple of hours that I channeled to looking around the city and also managed to taste some hot Hunan food. The speed train is highly recommended for anyone who would like to experience the high speeds and also save some money as it is cheaper than air travel.