BEST AND WORST

I've just realised what I like most about living in this estate: the magnificent gardens. It's such a pleasure to be able to go for a stroll after dinner each evening . The paths meander around ponds and beautifully laid out lawns and gardens.

And what about the worst thing? It would have to be the shopping plaza opposite the front gate. It's always filthy dirty and very poorly maintained. What's going on? The Park N Shop supermarket is also pretty bad. The meat section is just shocking. Getting across the road from the main gate to the shopping plaza is also quite a challenge due to the insane passing traffic. Perhaps a set of traffic lights might help?

WHAT'S IN THE MAIL?

What do we normally receive in the mail apart from bills? Mostly flyers from Pizza Hut like the one above. This amazing looking concoction is actually the Shenzhen interpretation of a pizza. I think it's quite amazing with the deep fried soft shell crabs and cherry tomatoes. A bit pricey at 90 rmb for the 12" version but I guess there must be a market for them otherwise why would they flood our mailbox with flyers?

Would I buy one? No way. I much prefer the chong yow beng (onion oil flatbread) you can buy at local supermarkets for 2 or 3 rmb. Much tastier and much easier on the wallet.

STARBUCKS SLAYING IT IN SHENZHEN

Popped into the new Starbucks in Nanshan OCT and couldn't believe how busy it was. I know it's a Saturday afternoon but I've heard lots of people griping about how exepensive it is. Not a seat left in the place - standing room only. Ordered an "Australian Style" sausage roll and was amazed to find it tasted just like the crappy sausage rolls you can get in Australia - talk about expert piracy!

Had a quick scan of the China Daily while I was there. In my opinion, its a pretty useless paper but I did notice that they now have a daily section detailing the background of a Chinese character. Might even pay the rmb 1.50 now to get the lesson.

Wandered across the road to check out the "special price" DVD's. The very helpful shop owner explained a new product - better quality pirate DVD's. How amazing is that? I've heard of different grades of fake handbags but this is the first time I've seen different grades of pirate DVD's.

Stopped off at the fresh food market (wet market) to pick up some fruit. The quality and prices in this market are excellent. I'd never buy fruit ever again in a supermarket now I know how good the market produce is. Even Mrs SCC is amazed at the vegetable quality and she's a tough nut to please.

Lastly, the management have hung a huge banner on the wall inside the lift lobby. I think it's trying to encourage residents to stop throwing stuff out of their windows. Sounds trivial but I guess it can get very dangerous when people toss bottles and other crap out of their 30th floor apartment. They even have a big marker pen for residents to sign the banner - an interesting method to encourage good behaviour. Even more interesting, to me at least, was that no one had stolen the marker pen.

HAPPY VALLEY TO SHENZHEN BAY CUSTOMS

Decided to cab it direct to the Shenzhen Bay customs today. Total taxi meter cost, including $40 for the Western Harbour tunnel, was HK$398.00. Not so bad if you share it three or four ways. And, you should be able to negotiate 20% off the taxi fare portion if you have a regular driver. Noticed on the receipt that the total distance is exactly 50 kilometers and that it took 48 minutes. Arcane details I agree, but handy to know if your're doing the "Shenzhen Shuffle".

KOWLOON TONG TO SHENZHEN NANSHAN/SHEKOU

Just found out a new way to quickly get from Kowloon Tong to the western side of Shenzhen, perfect if you want to avoid the crush at Lowu and the madness that is Huang Gang. It's a direct cross border bus that leaves from the bus station next to the Kowloon Tong MTR station. Price is only HK$38.00 and it goes non stop to the new Shenzhen Bay bridge where you get off and go though two sets of customs in one massive hall. On the Shenzhen side you can elect to get back on the bus and continue on to the Windows of the World Metro station or jump in a cab to Shekou or wherever.

Best thing about this method over the Huang Gang bus is that you don't have to get on and off the bus twice. Also, as it's a relatively new route, the buses aren't jammed full just yet.

Now when I want to get to Swan Castle, I cab it over to Kowloon Tong and jump on the bus direct to the Shenzhen Bay crossing. Another short cab ride on the Shenzhen side and I'm there in 90 minutes or so.

SHENZHEN BAY BRIDGE / 深圳湾桥

Finally got the chance to try out the new Shenzhen Bay Bridge last weekend. Wanted to find out if it would be a more convenient route than going through the Huanggang crossing.

Picked up some relatives from the Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) and arranged a minivan transfer door to door to the Swan Castle. They tried to squeeze HK$1400.00 out of me at the HKIA but I managed to get them down to HK$1200.00 Still a lot more than the HK$800 you can get if you hire a private minivan.

Very smooth run up to and across Shenzhen Bay. Massive customs facility and no need to line up as hardly any other traffic there. Once through the border just a few minutes drive to Swan Castle. Definitely a better option if you are coming by vehicle. Was most impressed with the massive scale of the customs building and also happy to see it's a lot closer to Swan Castle than I previously thought.

FURNITURE WAREHOUSES IN SHENZHEN

I've been asked a couple of times where we bought all the furniture for our renovation of Swan Castle. I quizzed Mrs. SCC the other day and she reckons most of it came from a huge furniture warehouse called Good Hundred Year in the Sun Gang district in Shenzhen. About a 20rmb taxi ride north of the the Lowu border.

Strange name but a whole district of huge furniture warehouses.

If you're heading over there in a taxi you'll need to give them directions in Mandarin;


清送我去笋岗好百年

Pinyin : qing song wo qu Sun Gang Hao Bai Nian

Please deliver me to Sun Gang Hundred Good Year

CHEAP OR INEXPENSIVE?

People keep asking me if it's "cheap" to live in Shenzhen and the answer is - it depends. It depends on if you like imported goods or not. For example an imported Hagen Daaz ice cream costs about rmb 40 at the Seven Eleven in Shenzhen versus about HK$22 in Hong Kong. Almost double! A decent bottle of imported wine costs a lot more in Shenzhen than in Hong Kong even though the import duty rate is supposedly lower in China.

Anything labour intensive, though, is another story. A shampoo with neck and shoulder massage for an hour is a steal at rmb 20 and hiring a part time domestic cleaner ranges between rmb 10 to 15 an hour.

So, if you like a nice clean apartment and lots of massages and dislike Hagen Daaz and red wine, Shenzhen is looking like your paradise. Don't forget, if you are ever visiting friends who live in Shenzhen, pack a couple of nice bottles of red - you'll probably be a very popular guest and will most likely get invited back again and again.

CABLE TV A STEAL

The free to air TV at Swan Castle is pretty grim with only about six local channels. So it was time to hook up the cable TV. Assumed it was going to be expensive with a limited selection. Was pleasantly surprised when I found out the basic package was only rmb 28 per month. This includes about 100 channels including, TVB and ATV from Hong Kong and CCTV 9 English channel. The rest are local channels from around China - perfect if you're learning Putonghua. I like CCTV 5 which is a decent Chinese Language sports channel that broadcasts Formula 1 Grand Prix live.

Cable box also includes radio broadcasts and a local city guide. You can get HBO, CNN, Bloomberg etc. at additional cost - I don't think I'll bother though.

Just had to tell the management office we wanted to connect the cable TV and the guy from Topway showed up the next day - very efficient I must say. Same company has cable broadband as well. That'll be the next project!

HAPPY VALLEY SHENZHEN

Happy Valley Shenzhen (pinyin: huan le gu) is a giant amusement park that is located right across the street from the Swan Castle. It's that close you can hear the visitors squeal each time they get tossed around by the crazy rides. We also get to watch and hear the fireworks explode each night around 8PM.

I haven't been inside yet (waiting for some cooler weather later in the year) but from the outside you can see they have a roller coaster, lots of rides and I think they even have a giant wave pool that only opens in the summer. You can tell the place is very popular as there are hundreds of tourist buses lined up outside every day.

Also in the same suburb, OCT Nanshan, there are two other giant theme parks - Widows of the World and Splendid China. Windows of the World aims to recreate all the major tourist attractions from around the world so that local residents won't have to bother travelling overseas. From the outside you can see replicas of The Eiffel Tower, The Sydney Opera House, etc. And Splendid China is a Chinese Culture themed park. Lots of performances and displays from the various ethnic minorities from around China

If you like theme parks Swan Castle is the place for you.