Day 4 - Shenzhen and the Flower and Jade Markets

Today we took the KCR (Kowloon Canton Rail) to Shenzhen. It was surprisingly easy! We just had to take it directly all the way to the border at Lo Wu. Its quite a sight to see all the mainland Chinese lugging along huge barangs en masse like they were fleeing from war. Customs was a smooth process and soon we were out in Shenzhen. It was a lot colder than in Hongkong and the wind was pretty strong. The Shenzhen metro, which was very new and clean, brought us to Dong Men where we tried to do some shopping. Unfortunately, the stuff there didn't seem to suit our tastes and the rip-offs weren't off that high quality. There was even a store with the Muji sign that sold nothing like what Muji really sells. Haha. I suppose shopping there in summer would be a better idea. Cheapo jackets and coats aren't really useful for us Singaporeans. I did however, manage to have some very good takoyaki. They were slightly different from the ones I've had before because they had a very crispy outer shell. Yummy! And p.s. people really do spit anywhere. Thankfully, they seem to show some discretion as to where they do it, meaning you won't really get spit on. Oh yah McDonald's is very cheap there. A McChicken only costs 5 yuan! That's like $1.


Shenzhen. Not really a very picturesque city in my opinion.  


Very pretty ceiling of one of the shopping malls in Shenzhen, made entirely of umbrellas! 

When we got back to Hongkong, we decided to go shopping at the Flower Market near the KCR station. There weren't really flowers on sale. Managed to get several items of clothing and bags so I was happy. Later we took the MTR to Yau Ma Tei to try going to Temple Market but only ended up walking through the Jade Market. Not very exciting cos its more for the super touristy amg mohs who want to buy jade bangles and old chinese coins, that kind of thing. But wait! Something exciting did happen.


Big fire near the Jade Market! Goodness me. Can't believe I actually witnessed it. There was lots of smoke billowing from the roof of the building, lots of people gawking, and an old uncle said to me, "hahaha, mm jee siew meh leh?", which loosely translates as "hahaha, wonder what's burning?" A bit of an odd question if you ask me. Then as we were watching, suddenly there was a loud explosion and part of the roof flew off, together with a lot of ash and sparks. Very interesting spectacle but I hope no one was hurt. Thus concluded our day.