This is the tale of a day trip from Hong Kong to Shenzhen, complete with the highs, lows, annoyances and some very positive encounters with some of the locals.
Some background: this is not even close to my first visit to Shenzhen or mainland China in general; it has just been a while, with the last visit being back in the '90s
With me being a Hong Kong resident, the process to visit Shenzhen is usually relatively painless, but in this case, I really shot myself in the foot, leaving my resident card back home in Sydney. So, all I can do is get a Visa on Arrival, just like everyone else.
So me being me, I decided to make the effort and visit anyway, I headed to West Kowloon Train station to get some information on how to get the visa on arrival, as the web sites are not good to find anything, to be told "buy the ticket with your passport".
Now that sounds like a plan, and with the high-speed bullet train from HK taking around 20 minutes, it would be a good trip, especially for me, who has been wanting to experience the high-speed rail for a while.
So the following day, passport in hand, I set out, first it's breakfast, then to the ferry into central, then on to the station fairly early, and head for the ticket counter for the high-speed train, to be told there was a seat on one of the morning services, but no they would not sell me the ticket as I did not have a visa.
Yes, I did tell them what I was told the previous day about buying a ticket with my passport to get a visa that way.
Well, as a surprise to absolutely no one, the information I was given the previous day was fiction. It seems that to use the high-speed train, you need to have a full visa. Lesson learned.
Not good, very much not happy, but nothing to be done, and never any reason to shout at the staff. Sounds like the persons on the information desk did not understand my query fully.
Time to go do something else for the day, and do some more research on how to get the visa sorted out.
Research is not as simple as you would expect, as before heading for the station, I did go through the websites, but had issues finding anything conclusive, with one page contradicting others, in short, confusion city.
I did ask my hotel front desk, but they were not able to help, hmmm, interesting, as I would have expected this to be a question they get asked about all the time.
All is not lost. During a previous visit, I stayed at another hotel, this time right in the middle of Kowloon, and they did seem to know about this sort of thing.
So, even though I was not staying with them, I decided to visit them and ask.
This was a good move, as the concierge knew all about this stuff and sent me to see someone at a Shoestring Travel who offers the visa services, etc.
And yes, I did tell the concierge I was not a guest this time, but they were still very friendly and happy to help. So a big shout out to the Marco Polo Hotel, Canton Road in Kowloon.
Anyhow, after speaking with the Shoestring Travel persons, it turns out that ideally I would need a full visa for China, which they could do for me, but it would just take more time than I had, or be very expensive for expedited service.
Not good, but something to note for next time. So I asked about the Visa on Arrival stuff, and it turns out that you can do this via the MTR or fast ferry service.
Even with my well-known liking for boats, I chose to go down the MTR path as to why, put simply, it's more convenient, with more services more frequently.
So, after checking the MTR map, the way to do things is to join the East Rail Line at Admiralty on Hong Kong island and stay on until Lo Wu, right at the end of the line
So now, with the plan sorted out, the following day, I set out to see how "interesting" the whole visa-on-arrival process is.
The following day, I set out: first breakfast, then the usual ferry to central Hong Kong island, and a single stop on the MTR to get to Admiralty station. Now, the trip on the East Rail line was 13 stops to get to Lo Wu, so before getting on the train, I made sure to visit one of the ever-present Seven-Elevens to stock up.
And yes, this is highly recommended for everyone doing this trip.
Anyhow, arriving at Lo Wu MTR station, the first thing I noticed was the lack of station gates, yes, the automated gates between the platform and the train doors. Odd, and the first time I have seen this on the whole MTR network. No idea why, just something I noted.
Moving further into the station, it's no different from the feel of the rest of the network; it's just bigger than most and very busy. I would hate to see how crowded this place would be on the weekend. So, just follow the signs for Shenzhen.
Something else to note is that this station is huge, so expect to do lots of walking, but don't worry, there is AC in most of it.
Before moving on to start the immigration experience, one thing to note is that this is a border crossing, so just like most airports, there are no photos allowed for most of it. And me being me and not wanting to risk getting thrown out of the country, there are no photos for the whole immigration experience.
Going through Hong Kong immigration was, as always, simple, fast, and efficient. You just scan your passport and walk through the automatic barrier.
Moving past the Hong Kong side of the border and walking over the bridge, which marks the actual border.
Now, while there is some signage, it's mainly in Chinese, and while I can read some of that, it's not even close enough to follow the signage, so I just decided to follow the crowds, as they must know where they are going.
After much walking, I came across a large hall that looked like immigration at the airport, with different areas for HK residents and visitors. After leaving my HK ID at home in Sydney, I headed for the visitor's section and joined the queue.
Again, me being me, I talk to everyone, so striking up a conversation with someone in the same queue as me, I asked her if this was the right place to go, and it turned out asking was a very good move, as it turned out, yes, I was in the immigration queue, but not the visa on arrival queue.
The person I was talking to in the queue, who, it turned out, was from Singapore, was unsure where I should go but suggested I ask one of the guards, which is just what I did, and he was very helpful in pointing me in the right direction.
As for the language barrier, so far, other than the signage being mainly in Chinese, everyone I had spoken to had some level of understanding. And again, being me, and being very well-travelled, I have a good history of making myself understood.
After a short conversation with the guard, I headed up to the next level to start the visa on arrival process.
I was expecting the visa application to be very long, and the whole area was packed worse than Kowloon for New Year's Eve. But interesting, it was deserted, with no one waiting, and no sign of any staff. hmmmmmmm....
The first thing I needed to do was to fill in the paperwork, which thankfully had a multilingual sign on the wall, showing me what I needed to do.
Filling in the paperwork was way less complex than expected, just the usual personal details, passport details, etc.
Other than the paperwork, it seemed I needed to get a photo taken using one of the automated booths located just by the paperwork station.
Using these photo booths was simple, with all the onscreen instructions in multiple languages. Again, way less complex than expected.
Heading into the waiting area, which was still totally empty, a staff member appeared at the counter and took my paperwork, passport, etc., and asked me to take a seat and wait for the visa.
This interaction with the desk staff was very simple, polite, very efficient, and good English. I have had a much worse experience going through airports in the UK and the US.
Waiting for the visa, which I was expecting to take a while, not that that was a problem, just annoying and anyhow, the waiting area had air conditioning.
As it happens, the visa wait was not too bad, at under an hour, again much faster than expected.
Now, with my Visa on Arrival in hand and valid for this single trip, I headed back to the lower level to join the queue for visitor immigration.
Arriving back in the immigration hall, things had changed; it was way more crowded, but again, it's a fact of life, so I joined the queue for visitors, and as always, struck up a conversation with someone else in the queue, who it turns out, was also from Singapore, just like the lady I was talking to earlier.
The queue moved slowly, as only a few of the available desks were open. This was annoying, but again, it's a fact of life.
Things improved after the school party jumped the queue, causing the staff to open another desk, which thankfully they did not close after the kids went through.
In total, it took about 3 hours to get through the border, which was way less than expected. One thing to note is that it's way quicker to get a full Chinese visa before you arrive, and a lesson well learned for my next trip.
Heading out from immigration with no real idea of where to head, other than to the metro. Another good surprise was a multilingual sign, which included directions to the metro station.
Exiting the control point, the very first thing that happened to me was that I was approached by various people trying to "help" me with taxi and other services. Hmm, need I say it, do not take their offers, as you have no way of knowing the outcome; they may be ok or maybe a scam. Better safe than sorry.
Annoying, yes, but far from unexpected, and not something unique to China; I get these all the time wandering around in Hong Kong. At least the majority of them accept "No" or "Not Interested", rather than try the hard sell.
Just be aware of this, and remember the old saying, "If it sounds too good to be true, then it usually is."
Before heading down to the metro station, time for a quick look around, as this was not even close to what I was expecting, rather than the usual few places to eat, it was more like a hawker market, with many places to eat and other sellers offering local sim cards and money-changing services.
Getting down to the station, the first problem was that while I knew where I was going, the line, etc., the ticket machines looked like a pain and suffering to figure out, and while they did seem to be multilingual, it was way too crowded to take my time and figure it out.
Yes, I know, very few people would care, it's just me; I am a visitor to China, so I do not want to annoy anyone.
The alternative option was what I figured would be the "customer service" counter, so heading over there, I asked for help and found out very quickly that the staff there spoke little English but was still very helpful, and I am known for not getting stressed over this sort of thing.
We ended up sorting out that the best thing for me was to get a travel pass for the day and pay with a card. This is where the next problem got me; I tried to pay with my HSBC card, which did not work, at the time, I had no idea why, so I tried my Australian card, and that worked without any issues.
Oh well. I did not want to use that card, but I had no real choice. Anyhow, I now had my Metro pass card, so it was time to head for the platform.
As for what the Shenzhen metro is like, well, I was expecting it to be very like the HK MTR, and other than the lack of the ever-present 7-Eleven, each of the stations I visited was modern, clean, had a feeling of safety, etc.
The only thing I did note was the security in the stations, where each one had airport-style X-ray scanners for your bags. I'm not sure if this is common across the whole network, but other than being new to me, it's no real problem; the staff were polite and friendly, and my empty bag was scanned many times.
Getting down to the platform, it was basically the same as what I am used to in HK, the automatic gates, etc., with multilingual line maps shown above the gates.
I was not sure if I was really allowed to take photos, but not seeing any "no photos" signs, I figured it should be ok, but I still made sure not to get in anyone's way, etc.
As you can see from the above shot, the platform was fairly crowded, but not to the point of being unpleasant, which I did expect, and was another reason why my visit was not at the weekend.
My wait was not too long, maybe 5 minutes. Getting on the train, it was very familiar, being almost the same as the MTR, just a little brighter with the lighting. Also, the same as the HK MTR above the doors, there is a multilingual map of the line stops.
With my plan being to visit the Huaqiangbei Electronics Market, my stop was Huaqiang Road, and that was only five stops.
While on the train, I did notice the uniformed security officer walking the train, which is something I don't recall seeing ever on the HK MTR. This guard looked a little bored and just seemed to be keeping an eye on things. And no, he was not armed, nor did he seem to be police, maybe a dedicated metro security.
After getting home, I did some research on this security, and it seems to have been around for quite a while, and according to one article, I found it's related to stopping smuggling and trafficking of illegal substances.
Arriving at my station, again it was just like the HK MTR, another problem, I had no idea of which exit to take to get to my destination, and after walking around, I found no maps of the area, so I decided to head for the main road exit, thinking when on the surface I can use my phones GPS to navigate.
Getting to the surface, the first thing that hit me was the heat; my watch told me it was 36 C with humidity probably around 70%; other than that, the only thing that I noted was the total lack of people, a few shoppers hiding from the sun, and not a single tourist in sight. Interesting
Yes, I know that there is no Google access in China, so thinking I would be smart, I downloaded the whole Shenzhen map locally, thinking I could use the GPS with these maps.
Now did this work, well, NOPE, NOTHING, ZIP, ZERO, AHHHHHHHHH 🤯
The maps worked, but the GPS on my phone did not, yes it told me I was in Shenzhen, but in the middle of Shenzhen Park, which is a location I did not visit, although I do remember visiting a park some 30 years ago on my first visit.
Not a good sign, and a real problem, given my Mandarin ranges from terrible to shocking, and that's on a good day, but at least all the street signs are multilingual, so taking my life in my hands, I decided to search for landmarks to give me a starting point on the map.
Wandering around, looking at street signs and trying to visually figure out where I was on the map, eventually I more or less figured out where I was, and started to close in on my destination.
Yes, I did get lost a few times, and once, I decided I needed help, so I went into a hotel to ask the staff for directions. I'm not sure of the name of the hotel, but the staff at the desk were very friendly and extremely helpful, even though I was not a guest.
Although their English was basic, something they kept on apologising for, we managed to sort out where I was and where I was going. I thanked them for the help and headed off in the direction indicated, another very helpful positive interaction with locals.
I headed off in the direction indicated, and yes, again, I got lost, this time as I was looking for landmarks to match my phone map. A young woman approached me and asked me in perfect English if I needed help.
From our discussion, she was working for a semiconductor sales company and thought I was an overseas buyer looking for part supply.
While I have extensive experience working with electronics, this time I was shopping or trying to.
She knew the area well, took me a few blocks to my destination and even gave me her number to call for help if needed. Not that my phone worked, but it was very thoughtful and about the best experience with locals I have ever had. A big thank you to Nikky
So wandering through the building indicated, not what I was looking for, but it was still interesting; they were full of small booth-type "shops" selling components. Even after decades of working in the electronics business, I have never seen so many surface-mount component spools in one place.
Interesting, yes, but not what I was looking for, so heading for some upper levels, which seemed to contain more of what I was interested in; however, most places were closed as for why, no idea.
I was wandering around, and about to take some more photos, but was approached by someone who very politely said "No photos". Hmm, interesting, but if that's the rule, then there are no more photos in this place for me.
Read into that what you will, but for me, it was getting late in the day, so time to move on.
Given the problems with paying for things and the total lack of navigation that worked, I decided to go have a look around the area of the Luoho port, so back to the metro and a few stops later, exiting to ground level.
Interesting combination of the old and new architecture; er well, I suspect the older-looking building is not all it seems to be. But regardless, it's still something to get a closer look at.
Getting closer, yes, dead right. It's a fairly modern building made to look old. It's a nice touch, contrasting the old and new, but nothing special.
Also located at the Luoho Port is one place which various people in HK told me to visit, with a few warnings about pushy salespeople and many fake goods, was the Luoho Commercial City, which is a large indoor shopping centre.
Yes, I was recommended to visit this place, but still with warnings as to why; well, they told me it's an experience, and they know I am not one to be taken in by scams, etc.
That understood, I headed in the general direction of the mall, with the first thing I saw where various shops around the outside on the ground floor.
Me being me, I decided to take a walk around the outside of the building, basically to see if there was anything interesting to see.
As for the warnings from my friends in HK, multiple times walking around the outside of the building, I was approached by several people, asking if I needed a taxi, wanted a suit, food, etc.
Not unexpected, but at least they all accepted the "head shake", "raised hand", "thank you, but no" and left me alone. The nightmare of the Jade Markets back in Hong Kong could learn from them.
So, arriving at the back of the building, I found one of many entrances and wandered in. Other than the expected extreme air conditioning, the first thing I noted was the crowds.
No real surprises, so far anyway, this place reminds me of various shopping centres I have visited in multiple Asian countries, lots of small shops all packed in close with a sea of people.
Moving further in, things opened up into a large atrium again lined with shops, and interestingly enough, it was less crowded than where I started from.
Wandering around on the ground level, I noticed a few shops closed, no idea why, and with nothing of interest to me, I headed to the upper levels.
From what I found, the types of goods sold here included food, fabrics, clothes, souvenirs, and even some electronics.
My interest in Chinese arts and crafts meant I was drawn to those types of shops, and with my friend's warnings in mind, I carefully examined a few items that interested me.
In one store, I found what initially looked like a small wood carving, but on closer examination, it was clearly resin, with casting marks, etc. But still of interest to me if the price was right.
This being my first interaction with the staff in this mall, it was interesting at first. They said in broken English that it was hard carved by their family and quoted me a very high price.
Knowing that both the made of wood, and the hand-carved parts were fiction, I started haggling, and unusually for me, I went in very low at about 1/4 of the original price, and after a short negotiation, we reached a good price which I was happy to pay.
I get the feeling that the staff in this shop knew full well that I knew it was resin right out of a container, but they were happy to make a sale, and as I liked it, I was quite happy to buy.
After the sale, we had a very pleasant conversation about where I came from, what I was doing in China, etc. So, it was another good interaction with locals, but then again, I am known for talking to everyone.
Be warned, this place is very rabbit warren-like, with shops packed into every corner, so take your time to look around and remember to be very careful with the quality of the products.
Before moving on, there is the elephant in the room: Is there a language barrier? Well, in this centre, my experience is that the level of English is similar to some parts of HK, but then again, I do understand and speak some Mandarin and have spent many years in Asia.
Remember, the staff want to sell, you want to buy, haggling is a way of life, cash rules, and as always, treat all the staff with respect, you will be understood and have a positive experience.
So, it has been a long day, and I have a very long trip back to HK on the MTR, so it is time to deal with the exit process to get back across the border.
Lessions Learnt June 2024 top ]
Throughout this short day trip, based on the experiences I had, there are many things I learnt that will be taken into account for the next visit, which, with any luck, should happen sometime next year or so.
- Do not forget your passport and/or Hong Kong ID with a mainland travel permit (if you have one).
- Google is blocked in the mainland, so you cannot rely on Google Maps; even offline Google Maps did not work for me.
- The GPS on my phone did not work; I am not sure why, as it's not a Google function. Maybe something to do with Android. Just be aware of this.
- My HSBC credit card did not work in the mainland; however, my Australian one did.
- If you are using the HSBC multi-currency account, get the yuan added before trying to use the account in China.
- Get a full Chinese visa if you can; it's much faster than the visa on arrival and lets you use the high-speed rail from HK.
- On the China side of the border, the signage is minimal (in English anyway), but the staff are very helpful.
- Get a local sim card and change some money before heading into the metro; it will save a mountain of pain later on.
- Cash seems to rule, so before venturing further into Shenzhen, change some money and do not rely on credit cards.