nov-9-07

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We're in Shenzhen

After freezing it up in the late fall climate of Beijing, we flew 3 hours to the sunny south and the Chinese city of Shenzhen. In Shenzhen, we were really excited to meet up with Andrea Shantz and Nick Martin. They have been teaching at a school there for 2.5 years now and we were looking forward to some fun checking out all there is to see and do in their town.

When we got off the plane it was time to shed our coats. The temperature that in Beijing had hovered between 5-15 degrees had now jumped to 25 degrees! After a half hour cab ride and a nice dinner it was time for bed since we were still weary from our Beijing sightseeing.

After a nice sleep in, we woke up and had a lazy morning while Ange and Nick taught a half day. When they got back, we went out for a nice walk through their neighbourhood. We first climbed a nearby mountain with a beautiful scenic lookout of the city. The city of Shenzhen is a relatively new city. It began to grow in the late 80’s when it was designated a “special economic zone” by the Chinese government.

As we looked out from the lookout point, we could see that none of the high-rise buildings looked more than 20 years old. Just as we had seen in Beijing, we noticed the Chinese trademark for designing groundbreaking and visually inspiring buildings – of which Shenzhen has many. We also noticed the government buildings at the city centre (left) had a particularly striking wave-like design to them. Nick also told us that all of the buildings were built at a certain height and a certain line so that they point directly to Hong Kong. This Chinese desire for straight lines and positioning was once again similar of our blog recounting Beijing's cultural vein -including Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City etc...

The city of Shenzhen

After enjoying the view from the mountain, we took the subway downtown to the most important stop on any Chinese vacation: the electronics market and Ange and Nick's favourite bootleg DVD store (left). We browsed through the selection, and a picked up a few good movies to keep us busy for the rest of our trip.

Later on, after our trip downtown, Ange and Nick took us out for a nice Chinese dinner. The food was excellent and ironically enough Chris got to try Peking duck (something we missed out on in Beijing). The duck and the rest of the food was excellent, but our night wasn’t to end there.

Chris looks on as the Peking-style duck is carved at our table.

Following supper we went to get foot massages (right). The hour-and-a-half long massage was a really excellent bit of pampering – notwithstanding the foot soaking, massage, and hot rocks treatment - the best part was that it cost a total of $6 Canadian per person!

All in all, our first two days in Shenzhen have shaped up pretty well, so you can understand how we are excited for the rest of our weekend!

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