Well it is my 2nd last day here in Hong Kong and I will post more about my impressions of Hong Kong tommorrow (as I haven’t really done all that much that is extraordinary etc) but what i will tell you about was my day on Saturday where I went to China, for only a few hours really.
When originally planning this holiday I had decided that I wanted to try and visit China, originally I was tossing up just visiting Shanghai for a day to get on the Maglev, but the flights were crap and I couldn’t justify it. Then I read about Shenzen. Easily accessible for a day trip from Hong Kong and fantastic shopping for fakes. Hello!!!! So really although my visit to “China” was not all that long or extensive (probably never strayed more than a few hundred metres from the border really) but it was a great day.
The shopping in Shenzen is pretty damn good and I only went to one of the big shopping areas “Louhu Commercial City.” Although not the true experience of China it is the true experience of shopping for fakes in China. Touts galore, crazy hassling but if you can bargain (and I probably can’t bargain all that well) you can do yourself a good deal. I managed to pick up quite a haul of stuff for around $400 AUD. A couple of fake rolexs, mont blanc pens and some clothes, some cufflinks, ring and even some sunglasses.
Now you might be chastising me in your head right about now for buying a fake rolex. I mean seriously, have you ever not wanted to buy a fake rolex? Now these are not crappy quality ones either. The weight is dead on right, nice and heavy just the way a rolex should be, the movement of the piece was right, the look was spot on, the quality was there, so a fake rolex for $100 compared to $2000+ for the real thing. I don’t mind. To be honest, I won’t wear it all that much as it is more a dress watch for me, but I like the look of it, and it was good enough for me! The clothes, it remains to be seen how long they last but hey, I don’t mind. If they don’t last long thats all fine and dandy, means my better clothes don’t get warn as much.
The shopping area was pretty packed full of both chinese and international tourists and people coming over to visit for the day from Hong Kong but people going the other way were just as prolifferant. To be honest, the longest parts of my day were spent queueing up for immigration. But I got a chinese visa, immigration stamp and an extra one for Hong Kong, adding more stamps to my passport. Love it!
I had a good time in Shenzen and managed to spend every last RMB (Chinese Yuan pretty much) I took with me. Pretty good few hours spent shopping and then I returned to Hong Kong, to keep the shopping up for the real stuff then.