Shenzhen

Finally a day off! And what better way to wake up than to a fire alarm at 6am?! As long as I'm up, I make breakfast and take it Sunday-slow. Eventually, I make my way to Wan Chai to pick up my mainland China visa. China loves to gouge the U.S. passport holders (I hear it's because the U.S. does it to the Chinese when they apply for a visa) - the prices are higher and the wait time is longer (with a U.K. passport you can apply at the border). And rather than be lazy and sleep in, I'm off to Shenzhen...

Shenzhen was one of cities where the first four Special Economy Zones (SEZ) in China were established in 1980, and according to the Shenzhen Window (http://www.shenzhenwindow.net/home.htm), the style of Shenzhen's city planning and construction is trying to achieve is "Singapore's City Environment plus Hong Kong's City Efficiency." But most people just go there because the shopping is cheaper.

I really should know better than go shopping at a crowded mall with literally hundreds of mini-shops where "Hey, missy" is shouted at you as you walk past every store front over and over and over. Not exactly relaxing. And although I'm sure there are good deals to be had, the only place I spent any time at was one with hand-painted canvases. I found two interesting paintings and picked them both up.

With time to kill, I stopped at a manicure place with some statues and artwork across the way, put on my iPod and sat down for a HK$15 manicure and HK$20 pedicure (TOTAL US$4.50). But for the entire 45 minutes I was there they kept pestering me to upgrade to a different type or pay more for another service and pretending not to understand the word "no". This pretty much ruined the entire trip and I caught the next train home.

But now I've been to "mainland" China and my visa allows one more entry into the country in the next 6 weeks...

... and on my next day off I might just sleep in and read a good book.