Shenzhen (ie, the world's manufacturing hub)

Buildings in Shenzhen

A highlight of this past week was a relatively spur of the moment trip to Shenzhen, one of the largest manufacturing bases in the world, located less than an hour north of Hong Kong in Mainland China. Lisa and I went on Tuesday night with a group of friends - Spanish ex-pats bankers here in Hong Kong - who had Wednesday off because of a national holiday. They've been to Shenzhen numerous times so knew what to do and where to go, thankfully! Otherwise may have been a bit overwhelming. And not much English spoken there.

Never-ending lineup of cabs at Shenzhen train statio

Shenzhen was China's first Special Economic Zone, established in 1979, and thus has attracted significant foreign investment over the years, primarily for manufacturing. The city was established as an SEZ because of its close proximity to Hong Kong, and the two cities today have close business and trade ties.

Upon arriving we went through immigration, showing our Mainland China visas. We then walked over to our hotel and headed out for dinner, followed by a Chinese nightclub. With hardly any Westerners in the club, we were treated like celebrities! The club played a mix of Western music and Asian music. My one complaint was the unescapable smoke - made me realize how nice CA & NY's no smoking inside policy is.

Shenzhen nightclub

The next day we went to a spa for a few hours of major relaxation. I had a great 100-minute massage for US$20. Then... the shopping! Went to a 5 story mall full of little shops, all of them brimming with fakes. Handbags, shoes, jeans, sunglasses, tennis racquets, golf clubs, electronics, cameras, binoculars, etc.... The list goes on and on. The Chinese are known for being good copiers, and I can attest to this firsthand. They literally had catalogs of all the new designer handbags and accessories, then showed us their versions. They are all willing to strike a bargain, of course. Rule of thumb is to pay less than 1/2 of the starting asking price. The going rate for DVDs is US$1.00 each. 

Made it back to Hong Kong Wednesday night, exhausted from 24 hours in Shenzhen. It's not unusual for Hong Kong'ers to head to Shenzhen for a very cheap day of food, spa and shopping. I'll be back!