Shenzhen over Chinese New Year

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  1. #11

    Join Date
    Sep 2009
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    38

    The least crowded border is Futian Kou An (Lok Ma Chau on the HK side). If you have a group you can catch a taxi right up to the MTR/border checkpoint at Lok Ma Chau (and on return home again!).
    Shenzhen Bay is OK but can fill up with tour groups at peak times.
    For Lowu Commercial City, most things are closed but the restaurants are open. Probably better to explore around Futian (where Lok Ma Chau checkpoint is) and you can jump straight on to the Shenzhen metro from Lok Ma Chau.
    For spas, most will be open. (Including Watercube, which you can see on the right as you walk across the Lok Ma Chau footbridge from HK. See large sign saying "Spa".) Many Shenzheners do go home but more and more people have their families in Shenzhen now or the journey home is long and expensive so nowadays not everybody evacuates the city.
    All the malls - Holiday Plaza, Coco Park, Central Walk etc etc will be open (some great inexpensive restaurants). You could get some great specials at the hotels for buffets or accom if you look online. (eg shenzhenparty.com) Xpats Bar, Central Walkway will be open and McCawleys at Coco Park. Book City at Shao Nian Gong is great.
    The parks - eg Lianhuashan in the City CBD - are fantastic.
    The best thing to look at for getting ideas on what you would like to do is the Map of Shenzhen - you can find it at Dymocks IFC, Lyndhurst Terrace, Harbour Centre, Repulse Bay, Citygate etc. It also has diagrams of the border crossings.
    You need to get to the border early - by 8am is best but before 9am is OK. You'll have a great time and everything costs much, much less than HK!


  2. #12

    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Gold Coast Marina
    Posts
    17,862
    Quote Originally Posted by dantart:
    The least crowded border is Futian Kou An (Lok Ma Chau on the HK side). If you have a group you can catch a taxi right up to the MTR/border checkpoint at Lok Ma Chau (and on return home again!).
    Shenzhen Bay is OK but can fill up with tour groups at peak times.
    For Lowu Commercial City, most things are closed but the restaurants are open. Probably better to explore around Futian (where Lok Ma Chau checkpoint is) and you can jump straight on to the Shenzhen metro from Lok Ma Chau.
    For spas, most will be open. (Including Watercube, which you can see on the right as you walk across the Lok Ma Chau footbridge from HK. See large sign saying "Spa".) Many Shenzheners do go home but more and more people have their families in Shenzhen now or the journey home is long and expensive so nowadays not everybody evacuates the city.
    All the malls - Holiday Plaza, Coco Park, Central Walk etc etc will be open (some great inexpensive restaurants). You could get some great specials at the hotels for buffets or accom if you look online. (eg shenzhenparty.com) Xpats Bar, Central Walkway will be open and McCawleys at Coco Park. Book City at Shao Nian Gong is great.
    The parks - eg Lianhuashan in the City CBD - are fantastic.
    The best thing to look at for getting ideas on what you would like to do is the Map of Shenzhen - you can find it at Dymocks IFC, Lyndhurst Terrace, Harbour Centre, Repulse Bay, Citygate etc. It also has diagrams of the border crossings.
    You need to get to the border early - by 8am is best but before 9am is OK. You'll have a great time and everything costs much, much less than HK!
    Make sure you find the RIGHT Lok Ma Chau if you follow this advice .. because if you go to Lok Ma Chau on a bus you end up at the wrong one, which is NOT near the watercube and NOT near the metro! (despite being only about 300m away from the right border, go figure). But catch the MTR to Lok Ma Chau and you will be fine.

  3. #13

    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Posts
    38

    Just to clarify, on the Chinese side the checkpoint for road traffic is Huanggang and the checkpoint for train arrivals is Futian Kou'An, both only a block away from each other as the post above says. So for a HK taxi, just ask for "Lok Ma Chau MTR station" which is the Futian Kou'An train checkpoint. (Taxis can go right up to the building.) This has a walkway to the Shenzhen metro and a taxi stand outside the building - much, much better checkpoint than Horrible Huanggang.


  4. #14

    The flower market has started in futian, it's really good. If you hop on Line 1 from Luo Wu and go to where the 2 metro lines cross and get off at that station, there is a whole road of awesome flowers and plants in the middle of a CBD. Pretty cool. Also if you reach the end, there is a new Irish bar which has opened up called Macawlays on the same street further down......


  5. #15

    Join Date
    May 2008
    Posts
    730

    While on the subject of shopping.....I noticed that many laptops were more expensive in Shenzhen and Guangzhou than in the USA. However, other electronic items, e.g. security cameras, computer components, DVD players, etc were cheaper in those two cities (in comparison to the USA). Why was that.....because of the taxes in China?


  6. #16

    Join Date
    May 2008
    Posts
    730

    Sorry to be intrusive, but why shopping in Shenzhen? Nothing seemed to be cheaper there and you would be running a very high risk of buying "knockoffs". Restaurants were definitely a bargin in Shenzhen and that was about it......well may be foot massage,spa and might be dried/dehydrated seafood......but we never tried them. We did look around the shops but nothing appealed to us as being cheaper. Might be we missed something?

    Just curious and please excuse me!

    Last edited by Renotommy; 11-02-2010 at 01:44 PM.

  7. #17

    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Gold Coast Marina
    Posts
    17,862
    Quote Originally Posted by Renotommy:
    Sorry to be intrusive, but why shopping in Shenzhen? Nothing seemed to be cheaper there and you would be running a very high risk of buying "knockoffs". Restaurants were definitely a bargin in Shenzhen and that was about it......well may be foot massage,spa and might be dried/dehydrated seafood......but we never tried them. We did look around the shops but nothing appealed to us as being cheaper. Might be we missed something?

    Just curious and please excuse me!
    Clothes. Household furniture. Made-to-measure anything (clothes, curtains etc). Knockoffs (yes, sometimes you want a knockoff). All much cheaper.

  8. #18

    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Posts
    38

    The difference in price is that in China anything imported can be subject to tax whereas HK is of course duty free. This means that Chinese goods are cheaper in SZ and you can find some great ones. (Electronics - any Sundan store, see their website; arts, crafts and household items - Yi Zhan Zhong Xin , see Map of Shenzhen in Dymocks stores in HK; Spas and massages, again the Dymocks Map or this website; five star hotels have great rates bargains (one is advertising in McDonalds in HK at the moment!); furniture etc etc.)
    Anything imported, HK is without a doubt better.