Day 12: Shenzhen

Ah - Friday! There was a last minute need to leave Humen a day early and head down to the border city of Shenzhen in the afternoon. I can't say I was too sad to leave. At this point, I had had enough of the Humen experience this trip. Besides, I had never really been to Shenzhen - I mean, sure, I passed through there several times on the way to/from Hong Kong (the Lowu border is there), but this time I would be spending a little more time there.

About 25 years ago, Shenzhen was a small fishing village. Today, it is a sprawling metropolis - the poster child for China's economic boom. Shenzhen was designated as a "special econimic zone" (SEZ) by the Chinese government in 1979. Apparently, there were some in Beijing who recognized the need for Chinese economic policy reform and decided to experiment with Shenzhen due to its closeness to Hong Kong. Since Shenzhen was so small (and therefore contributed a negligible amount to the communist country's coffers), it was considered as a no-lose situation. In China, SEZ's are free from many of the laws and restrictions imposed on the rest of the country. In effect, they are areas where capitalism is promoted and allowed to flourish. Since receiveing that status, business in this area has exploded. Check out some of the buildings that dot the skyline (pay attention to the year of construction). Shenzhen is now known as "the Hong Kong of China." That's a side of the city I had never seen before now.

Construction scenes like this one are a dime a dozen in Shenzhen.

The Shenzhen World Trade Centre building.

I have some colleagues in Shenzhen that we met up with for a one-night whirlwind tour. We were taken to this western style luxury apartment complex called 'Portofino,' where apartment rents can reach US$12,500 per month. The architecture was decidedly not Chinese - more like Ft. Lauderdale I would say. We took a walk around the property, past elaborate water fountains, the private lake, and a small man-made beachfront. I had never seen an area so nice in China before. But, the real reason we came here was for dinner. Laurel serves innovative Cantonese cuisine, and with such an upscale clientele, I was hoping it would live up to the hype. We arrived on the late side, so unfortunately, a few of the well-known house specialties were already sold out for the evening. Nevertheless, the food was high quality and delicious. A couple of standout dishes were this fried chicken breast smothered in a sweet lemon sauce, and these thin rice noodles in beef broth, served with tableside-grilled thin beef slices. The broth was spectacular, it really captured the essence of beef (great, now I'm sounding like the Iron Chef commentators).

Portofino - just like Miami, only Chinese.

We headed out to hit this hot night spot, Vbar. (use euro accent here) It is soooo uber-cooool, yah? (end euro accent). I have to say, if I ignored all the Chinese characters splashed all about, I would have thought I was in Miami. There was a live pop/hip hop band (played by real live westerners), Chinese guys dressed in slanty-striped shirts, crazy patrons packing into this small semicircle bar area around the stage, and drinks flying off the neon shelves. It was actually hard to believe that I was still in China. This kind of place exists in freaking China!!!

Soooooo keeewwwllllll!

It's Vbar! It's so hot right now!

In the early morning hours, we headed back to our ridiculously nice rooms at the Swiss Belhotel. 80 square meters (that would be 861 sq. ft. for the non-geeks) of space at my disposal. All I can say is 'unreal.' I'll have to come back to this place again.