[DIARIES] 20141219 Day 3 Shenzhen - Luohu

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Day 3 - 19 Dec 2014 (p.m.)




Continuation from my Day 3 Hong Kong post, I arrived at Luoho terminal about 5:45pm in the evening and having a mixed feeling about what to expect in China as much heard about the people and community there but this is the first time stepping foot onto China to really experience it. I refunded my octopus card at the counter before moving on to the immigration counter. Visa is required for Malaysian citizen to enter China. No pictures are allowed at the immigration counter. I filled up the yellow "Alien" pass for my travel details in China.

The alien pass is actually the immigration entry card just like any other country but I called it the yellow alien card because of the English translation that labelled external visitors as "Alien".

There are many lanes at the immigration counter, to cater for the huge Chinese crowds. While the Chinese citizen requires to queue, international visitors have fewer and no queue was observed. The process was fast and swift with immigration officers acted very professionally. 


Here I'm, in Shenzhen, stepping on China's land. First impression, everything is freaking big in China, the terminal, the walkway, the corridor, one word to describe all, HUGE. It seems like passing through a time machine where you end up at a place which probably 10 years behind (no offence, but Malaysia is equally backward in some areas). Luohu Kou'An (Immigration Centre) is the main connection between Hong Kong and China, and also acts as the transport terminal for metro, buses, cabs and intercity trains.

I purchased a sim card from a telco stall within the terminal, the guy tried to sweet talk by saying I will have 3GB of data with just RMB88 but I have actually done my research before this and already know that the catch for this sim. Upon activation, only 500MB data is available for use and the remaining 2.5GB is complementary from 11pm to 9am the next day. So, technically, it's just a 500MB sim card, save your data surfing for the night.


My nightmare starts here as I saw the freaking long queue for cab, or commonly known as the cab-line in many places. There are many hagglers trying to sweet talk you to skip the cab-line and follow his car, which is illegal, and often end up being much more expensive than taking a cab as they will "slaughter" you for being a tourist. My oh my, I tuned up my security alert to max level from now on to avoid being con.

I start queuing about 6:15pm and there's this cute Chinese mother with two kids behind me. A haggler tried to convince her to take a ride with him, she asked for the price and he said RMB200, she said RMB90 then I follow you. The guy declined and say RMB200 is a fair price. The woman scolded him and say that RMB90 is more than enough, take it or forget it. The guy mumbles and "wished" her good luck in waiting your cab. He then moves away to approach other passengers. The lady then randomly talks to me and say that those people are too greedy for asking so much and at the same time trying to comfort her kids because her kids are complaining of hunger and exhaustion. Three of them keep talking in the phone with their husband/father. A very adorable family.

After an hour of lining up, a fight almost occur between an middle-aged man with a young guy because the old man with his partner is suspected of cutting queue and the young man voiced out. The middle-aged man initially ignores the young man and pretend that nothing happened. The young guy then raised his voice and people started to look at them. The middle-aged guy can no longer ignore and tried to argue and claimed that no one said the same and asked him to mind his own business. Both parties almost end up fighting while the crowd tried to calm the situation. All kinds of rude words came out and finally the middle-aged man and his partner gave in and moved away. Everyone resumed queueing after that. What a drama! Sorry no pictures to be uploaded despite I actually took some.

Remember the lady behind me? She was busying educating her sons on the bad behaviour of the middle-aged man and reminded them not to behave as such (not bad..). His son keep complaining on the grumbling stomach and the mother keep saying awhile more. I offered him a mentos but he politely declined (not bad..). The mother gave him a packet of drinks and after finishing, he threw it on the floor. The mother picked it up and told him not to throw on the floor (not bad again..) Then she continued saying, "you must throw at a proper place!" then she walked to the bush beside and threw it there (I almost fainted..). After all the thumbs up given, she decided to spoilt it all. What a joker!

After one and half hours of wait, finally it's my turn to grab a cab. The long wait was not due to slow arrival of cabs, it's just merely due to the huge number of passengers. Well, deal with it, I'm in China! The largest population in the world. I told the cab driver my hotel location but he don't seemed to know where is it. I then gave him the hotel's contact number and he made a call to the reception counter and the receptionist guided him. It was my first time to sit in a car with a heater on due to the winter weather and I dislike it due to the smell. 

Shenzhen is a vibrant city with big and tall buildings everywhere, if Shenzhen is already like this, I can't imagine the capital like Beijing or Shanghai. It's still raining outside and it took some time before I arrived at my hotel lobby. The cab fare was relatively cheap, which is just about RMB10+ (less than RM10) for a 10 minutes ride, as compared to the exorbitant price that the hagglers tried to charge.


After checking in and unloading, it's almost 9pm and I have no idea where to head for dinner. There's not much info about food in Shenzhen available in the internet and I have planned to self-explore the area myself. It's still raining and I decided just to settle my dinner nearby the hotel. There's this small row of eatery by the side of the hotel, serving braised pork and some other ala-carte menu.


I ordered a plate of fried rice with a plate of braised pork knuckle and some zucchini salad. The price of food here is higher than expected given the standards of living and average wages is much lower than Malaysia. A plate of fried rice like this cost almost the same in Malaysia, which is about RM5-6. Taste wise is nothing spectacular as expected but surprisingly comforting. Probably due to the long day and tiring wait at the terminal just now. The portion here is double of what I get in Hong Kong anyway.

While I'm eating, the staff of the eatery is also starting their dinner. I noticed they keep eyeing on me (not trying to rob me). Then I saw their dinner is very basic and simple, just white rice and a plate of vegetable with no meat. Everyone just trying to fill up their stomach with white rice. Life is hard I guessed. I wanted to buy them a plate of meat to go along but was afraid that I might hurt their ego as if I'm looking down on them. They seemed like a good bunch of lads working hard for a living. Having felt that, I did not waste any food that I ordered and finished it as a respect. It makes you appreciate what you have on the table, and how hard other people wished to have it on theirs.


After my dinner, I went to the convenient store nearby to stock up some drinking water and saw some beers selling. Have long heard of Chinese beers such as Qingdao and Harbin for some time now and the Harbin beer is in promotion with two big bottles just cost RMB8, yes that's about RM2 per bottle, much cheaper than my drinking water behind it. 

I requested the cashier to open both bottles for me as I don't a can opener and carried it back to the hotel. When on the way back, the people looked at me as if I'm some drunkard with two bottles of beers on hand. Well, you can't blame me guys, beers are too expensive in Malaysia and when I saw the price tag of RMB8 for two bottles, I simply couldn't resist.

Back in hotel, instead of using the heater, I turned on the air cond to enjoy the double cooling in my room. Yes, I like it that way, the colder the better. After a good bath, I spent the rest of the night trying to bypass the "Great Wall of China" because all google services along with facebook and Instagram are banned in China (except in certain FTZ) and I have to bypass it via VPN or re-routing. I did it using an app called fqrouter2 (not very stable and not sure still usable or not now), which means fan qiang (translate: flip over the wall) and managed to gain access to facebook, google and other services.

I guess I will just call it a day with a bottle of beer under the cold rainy weather. Good night.


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