Shenzhen

So today was an interesting day with shopping, bartering, arguing, and even FIGHTING!

We hopped on the train (first class, just to try it out, it's cheap) to the last station heading north in Hong Kong. Since Shenzhen is right on the border of Hong Kong, everybody walks over once they get to the border.

I had to get a single-visit visa to get over the border which ran me about 150 HKD (approx $25.00 CAD). It was a really simple process. Show your passport to the Hong Kong side officials, fill out a form, then show your info to the China side officials. There, done, you're through. No questions asked.

There's a HUGE mall right at the border which occupied us for the entire day. The mall mostly consisted of clothing, golf gear, memory stick/card, shoe, and mp3/mp4 knockoffs. Jay had a ball of a time bartering for items to bring them to half or even a third of the originally asked price. We got great deals on everything we bought. But we'll have to see how long everything lasts.

There was even one merchant that chased us out of a shoe store as we were leaving just to give us the price we had asked for. Jay was also buying a pair of knock-off Nikes and the merchant agreed to sell them for 110 HKD (approx $16.00 CAD). But when Jay put the shoes on and went to pay for them, the merchant raised the price to 120. They argued the principle (10 HKD is not even $2.00 CAD) for a while and Jay finally gave in and gave him the 120. The entertainment value was priceless!

It wasn't all fun and games while we were there however. There were also officers (not sure if thye were police officers) at the mall who were there to control the illegal 'fake' products that were being sold. While I was bartering for (an item that can't be mentioned yet), I heard some comotion right outside the store. It turns out that while one merchant was getting busted, he got pissed off and sprayed the officer with a fire extinguisher. Everybody went running every which way, the cops were everywhere, and you could tell that everyone in the mall was in a panic. The guy I was originally bartering with told me just to come back later because he wouldn't be able to get me my 'goods' until everything died down.

This episode was a little too epic for my liking and made me feel kindof uneasy for the rest of the day.

We went back over the border to Hong Kong just as easy as we went in. Filled out a form, showed it and our passports to the China side, then same thing on the Hong Kong side. I definately felt safer as soon as we crossed to border.

Later that night we met up with my cousin Tony for some dinner at a little noodle house in Causeway Bay. We chatted for a while, played some chinese checkers and had a late dinner.

Then we decided we'd check out the Hong Kong nightlife for the first time since we started our trip.

We took a taxi over to Lan Kwai Fong, a famous Hong Kong bar/restaurant district. For a Wednesday night I must say it was fairly busy.

After having one over-priced beer there we walked over to Hollywood Blvd.

We stumbled upon this snooty VIP-only (unless they weren't busy) bar called Dragon-R. We were let in despite our non-VIP status. It was a bit of a joke. They music was cool, atmosphere and setup was even better, but the people there were definately your typical 'We're too good for anyone' types. Eyeing you up and down and shunning you due to the lack of designer shit (since we're in Hong Kong, I guess we were lacking knock-off designer shit). We got out of there just as quick as we got in.

After that we decided to continue checking out a few other places on Hollywood Rd. One of them being a bar called Home. It's supposed to be a renowned breaks bar here in Hong Kong. There was nobody in there so I introduced myself and left them a demo. Did the same at a few other places that sounded like they had a good electro vibe then came home for some rest after yet another busy day.