Shenzhen Smash Meatsoy We've been in Hong Kong for 21 months now, and despite the fact that a mere 40 minutes away is the Rest of China, I still haven't been there since we got here.

The easiest part of China to get to from here is Shenzhen, which snuggles up to the Hong Kong border. So on Saturday we hopped on the train and sped off to Shenzhen. After the minor inconvenience of not having a visa, we were finally let in.

Shenzhen used to be a fishing village of about 30,000 people - these days there are 8 million. So Hong Kong and Shenzhen's combined population (15 million) is roughly two thirds of Australia's. The first thing a lot of people do when they get off the train is head straight for the Lo Wu Commercial Centre, which is an ugly mall full of tiny shops, most of which sell fake watches, DVDs, golf clubs and massages. We left it fairly quickly, hopped on the subway and set off to see the rest of the city.

And I was pleasantly surprised - I kind of thought it would be a bit of a dump. Instead it was fairly clean (better air than Hong Kong!), and has a lot of very interesting modern buildings. Getting around on the subway was incredibly easy, and the taxi drivers were good as well (although they do exhibit some of the crazy-driving characteristics I've seen in other parts of China).

So after an enjoyable day traipsing around Shenzhen we hopped back on the train and headed back to Hong Kong. I would definitely like to go back and have another look. And perhaps I'll take more than just one photograph:



Smash meatsoy - my favourite!  ¶ 10:05 AM