History Maven

Almost thought I lost my taxi mojo today. Easiest way to get around is to take a taxi – rates are cheap, and taxi drivers knowledgeable about the places I want to go.

Today I decided to take the metro back to Dongmen Market. I wanted to try the metro, and by looking at maps, I discovered . . . → Read More: Taxi mojo and public transport

Did a day trip to Hong Kong, which while part of China, has a complicated relationship with China. For example, you must pass through immigration and customs in both directions.

Geoff gives an account of all our modes of transportation. One of the most exciting was a tramway that took us to top of Victoria . . . → Read More: Hong Kong

In front of the Police Office of Lianshuan Park was a large sign with what appear to be warnings about possible park hazards. Of course, I do not read Chinese, but this one seems clear.

Be Wary of Women Fishermen

Or maybe it’s something else?

But I wonder what this one is?
Beware of teenagers . . . → Read More: Weird Warnings

Lianshuanhan Park is a large park in the center of Shenzhen, most famous because it has a statue of Deng Xioping, the Chinese leader, who laid the ground work for the economic policies that made Shenzhen an economic powerhouse.

It’s also a park where people go with their children and see some greenery in this very . . . → Read More: Lianshuan Park

As I went into the 7-11 near the hotel to pick up some bottled water, a group of neatly dressed late teens were snapping pictures of each other. They all called out “Hallo” “Hallo”. This had happened the first day that I was here, but I wasn’t sure if it was friendly. After a couple . . . → Read More: My new friends

My mother asked that I send her a letter from China. She does not “do” the Internet. So yesterday, I wrote my parents a letter, and selected an envelope supplied by the hotel, so that it would have interesting characters on it, to add to the exotic feel.

Popped the letter into the envelope, and . . . → Read More: Mailing a letter

Dongmen Market is a collection of shops and marketplaces crowded together in a roughly 4 by 6 block area. This is one of the places to go to buy all the designer clones “Vear Wang”, “La Polo”, and so on. Parts of it are sheer madness, multi story buildings with tons of little stalls . . . → Read More: Visiting Dongmen Market

Got in last night around 10pm, and took a long cab ride to my hotel. First impression – this is a big city, very modern, with many high rises, lots of neon and large flat screen displays. Reminiscent of Tokyo in the sense of population density and modernity.

View from window

Many more image here.

Today, I . . . → Read More: Shenzhen – Day 1