shenzhen.

Remember all my stress about getting a chinese visa? Well, i got one (with the multiple entry i was so sure i needed), and until today- one week before i leave for boston- i hadn't used it. Silly, really. I decided i had to at least cross the border once, and since my free time is now limited, i took off for shenzhen today. Shenzhen is a 60 minute train ride from central- nothing big. You go through departure/immigration/customs there, then you're free to shop in the cheap shopping mecca. I've heard mixed reviews from many people about shenzhen. Some love it, others not so much. I'd been forewarned about the hassling there- people grabbing your arm to pull you in their store, calling out "missy! missy!", but that's just part of the experience, plus i became an expert on this form of sales while in southeast asia. The only difference there is that they call out "lady! lady!". 

My trip was doomed from the start. Thinking it would be easier that switching trains three times (which turned out to be incredibly easy), i took the ferry across to hung hom, planning to walk from the ferry pier to the mtr station, thereby only needing to take one train. I left a.'s office, and just missed one ferry. 20 minutes later, a second ones comes, which i get on. During the 10 minute ride, it starts to rain. Great- i have no umbrella because the weather said no rain. Disembarking on the kowloon side, i realize that the mtr station is further from the pier than i thought, and i have no umbrella to walk it with. Grrrr. After a 15 minute wait, i'm back on the ferry returning to central. One hour and 20 minutes after leaving her office, i walk right through it again to get on the mtr at central. The next 60 minutes of transit go remarkably smoothly, and i arrive at the border ready to go. Next up was customs. Now, i've been going back and forth through customs and immigration quite frequently, and have become very adept at filling out my H1N1 form and arrival/departure card. I even have my passport number memorized! But this was a whole new experience. I didn't have a pen with me, which put me at a serious disadvantage from the get go. So i was waiting in lines of pushy chinese people (sorry evil, but they're very pushy!!), trying to use one of the two pens available for filling out forms. I had to fill out the H1N1 form twice- no clue why- and the whole process took me forever to complete. Once i walked out the door of the train station, the hassling began. At first it was just like in cambodia- someone would attach themself to you and talk, talk, talk, while you either ignored them or repeated "no thank you!" as you walked away. I prefer the latter as i like to be friendly and represent my country well. This was effective outside the building, but once i got in, it was a different story. The five floors of the mall were literally packed with little shops, and their owners (or workers) stood outside, grabbing your arms and trying to pull you in. There were so many people continuously calling "missy! missy!" that i wasn't able to give them my "no thank you!" and smile. I was completely overwhelmed and annoyed (my sister julie would have freaked out big time). To add to all this, my atm card wouldn't work here, so i couldn't withdraw any chinese money. Therefore, if i wanted to buy anything, i would have to charge it.  What's the point of charging a $3 pair of earphones? So i walked through the entire place, yanking my arms out of their grasp, and went straight for the train station. Another headache getting through customs, and i was on the train headed back for hong kong. I grabbed a gin and tonic at dinner before meeting up with a. for the cab ride home. That made me feel much better.