One of the must do items on our itinerary was a day trip to Shen Zhen.

Danli was telling us about the bargain shopping, cheap massages, and manicures just across the border. And at that point of time, the 45min journey to Shen Zhen didn’t sound like such a bad idea.

That day turned out to be one of the worst day of our holiday.

Here’s a summary of what went down

• Evan woke up late, so me and Danz went out first
• Miscommunication on where to meet left us both waiting at different MTR stations. I was at Mong Kok, Danli was at Wanchai.
• Plan A: Was supposed to have Dim Sum at Wanchai.
• Change of plans, Danli came to Mong Kok. We converted some currency from HKD to RMB
• Plan B: Was set on eating Dim Sum, walked for an hour and couldn’t find a place in Mong Kok
• Just as we found one, I realized I left my passport behind
• Took a cab back to Wanchai to get passport
• Danli accidently left her Ray Bans in the cab. This was preceded with 30mins of cursing and swearing on her part
• Back to Plan A, walked to original Dim Sum restaurant
• Evan finally met us, it was 2pm
• So by the time we headed to Shen Zhen, half the day was already gone.

Talking about passport, this is my little rant about visas.

If you’re a Singaporean, you don’t need a visa when you cross over to Shen Zhen. I, on the other hand, am holding an EU passport. After checking the Chinese Embassy website, I went down to process my visa.

I left enough days to process the visa in time for my trip, what the website failed to tell you was that following Monday was a public holiday in China! So, instead of the normal price, I had to pay express! It cost me SG$80 FOR A ONE TIME VISA TO VISIT SHEN ZHEN FOR ONE DAY!

*gulp*

Always give yourself enough EXTRA time to get your visa.

Here’s how we got to Shen Zhen from Hong Kong:
Take the East Rail Line MTR from East Tsim Sha Tsui station (Kowloon side) to Lo Wu.

Lo Wu is the Hong Kong/Chinese border crossing, go through border formalities and you’re in the Peoples Republic of China.

Out the door and on your right you’ll see a big modern shopping centre, the Lo Wu Commercial Center. That’s where you want to go if you’re looking for fake goods, cheap shoes, beads, tailors and manicures.

You HAVE to bargain. One third to one half of the original price is about right.
If you need some time to think about buying something, remember to ask the for their business card. Because trust me, you WILL get lost.

The first train leaves East Tsim Sha Tsui at 5:28am and from Lo Wu the last train at 12:30am. Trains from Tsim Sha Tsui East to Lo Wu run every five to eight minutes.

Price: A single ticket costs HK$36.50