Sarah Jordan: March 2025

I have a couple of minutes wait before the East Rail Line MTR arrives at the platform on Friday 21 March 2025. I’m off to Shenzhen for the weekend.

The 45 minute train trip passes by quickly.

Walking across the river from the HK border to China border is super easy even though there are so many people around.

I complete the form then go down the special lane. When it’s my turn it takes forever and I have zero idea why. Thankfully my password wasn’t taken off me like it was for another foreigner in the lane next to me. In the end I’m free to go, and enter China.

I follow the sign for taxis and when I see a very high staircase to cross over the road I decide to instead walk to the Shangri-La hotel and get a taxi from there.

This time I’d already researched the Horel’s address in Chinese - made it so much easier! Within seconds I’m in a taxi and out onto the Shenzhen Streets.

My taxi driver takes a wrong turn but we get there in the end.

Ooh no! My WeChat pay won’t work. It asks me to re-verify which I do, then it says it will take 2 working days to process. Right, this is going to be fun!!!

Thankfully the manager on duty can speak English and pays for my taxi. I now need to work out how to pay him back……

Two hours after leaving my apartment I’m in my room and unpacked. A very strong drink is needed!!! Thankfully happy hour beings in one hour at 5.30pm.

It’s freezing when I walk into the club lounge so I drop my things at a table. Google translate what I want to tell the staff and then run back to my room to get my Pashmina. Hopefully my things will be ok!

Dead on 5.30pm I get up to get a drink. Wow what a spread - this will be dinner too.

The braised eggplant is delicious! No photo as it was soooo good, I ate it immediately.

The lounge is a lot quieter than it was last time. Let’s hope that will be the same tomorrow as well.

I have a good few hours “attacking” my travel blogs, as I am extremely behind! Super pleased to have made some serious progress. Now I just need to post them.

Saturday 22 March I wake to my alarm at 8.30am. It had been an interesting night - too hot, the smell of smoke (again!) and something else. Not pleasant.

I’m lucky to get at window seat at breakfast. The views are amazing.

I received a message from WeChat this morning which I was able to translate through Bing.com. It appears my WeChat pay is now working - ye ha! But I’m not going to get too excited in case it’s not.

When I go to leave my room there is a notice from housekeeping saying they tried to come. Right I need to find them.

Lady located. I hand over the piece of paper then show her my phone. Thank goodness the Marriott app shows my room number.

Getting to the metro station is super easy! Buying a ticket not at all!!!

In the end a lady buys my ticket for me, beyond kind. Thankfully there was someone else who was having a hard time purchasing his ticket too, so it wasn’t just me. Very odd.

Anyway, I’m off to explore Shenzhen. Zero idea how I’ll get back to the hotel but that is a problem for later on.

I get off at Qiaocheng East Station and try again to buy a train ticket. No luck whatsoever.

I go to the customer service center and with the help of Google Translate we try my credit card, but it doesn’t work. Oh no. I then asked her to try my WeChat QR code to see if that works and it does bingo. At least I have a train ticket back to the hotel. For now, a very happy Sadj is off exploring.

OCT (Overseas Chinese Town) Loft Creative Culture Park a former industrial zone specializing in electronics such as television, is now filled with art galleries, coffee shops, bookstores, fashion shops and markets in the weekend.

As I wander into OCT Loft I notice small market stalls set up so decide to go and explore. The second stall is selling candles in old wine bottles. The girl on the stall starts chatting to me. She’s been to NZ so we swap stories of our travels in NZ and China.

I keep wandering around. It’s super peaceful here, even with the odd motorbike zooming by.

I had seen earlier on maps.me that there was some kind of park opposite the metro station exit I took, so decide to walk there.

It’s nice to be in the shade and get a small breeze.

I get to a culture center of some kind - but as I’m going to do something tomorrow (fingers crossed!) I decide instead to walk back to the metro.

This is a nice place to sit for a hair cut.

When I get down to the platform, I’m surprised that there is no one around. I have a couple of minutes wait to the metro arrives.

On arrival back at Guo Mao station I decide to have some lunch at the hotel. Can’t go through WeChat pay not working again.

Lunch doesn’t disappoint! And of course WeChat pay works perfectly fine.

I have a couple of hours in my room sending off resumes to a few recruitment agencies.

Just after 5pm I head down to the club lounge. When I arrive I’m surprised how many people are already in here.

At 5.29pm there is a line up for food. You would think these people have never eaten before. And some of them have their plates piled up. Crazy.

I make a beeline for the wine instead - food can wait.

Within an hour the place has emptied out and it’s peaceful again.

Aah it’s earth hour tonight, thank goodness for a reminder on my phone. I decide to head back to the room, want to ensure no lights are on (just the tv).

My alarm wakes me on Sunday 23 March.

When I walk outside for a walk, the chilly air hits me, luckily it didn’t doesn’t last long with walking fast.

Breakfast appears busier this morning but there is no issue with finding a table.

As I walk outside the sun hits me. It’s going to be another beautiful blue sky hot day. I’m off to Nantou Ancient City, by metro of course as at least I know now how to purchase a ticket.

Ye ha WeChat pay works without being on the internet! I try to ask for a return ticket but it doesn’t work. No worries, I’ll worry about the return trip later on.

As I reach the platform the train is pulling into the station. Talk about timing. It seems a lot busier today so I walk up a few carriages. Then at the next stop lots of people get off and I get a seat. Amazing! I have 15 steps (roughly half an hour) then need to change metros for one stop.

Nantou Ancient village was built first to guard Dongguan then later it became a government departure location for a county. Now it features a mix of retail concept and art exhibition spaces in between the apartments.

Maps.me takes me on a local route to enter Nantou Ancient Village, but that’s ok with me. Means a lot less people.

I enjoy wandering around the alleyways for a couple of hours.

As the number of people increases, I decide it’s time for me to evacuate.

As it’s such a beautiful day I decide to walk to Taoyuan Station (where I changed metro’s earlier).

Buying a ticket through the service center was super easy. I test again to see if WeChat pay will work when on airplane mode, and it does. Great!

I have a couple of hours in my room before going to the Club Lounge. It’s definitely busier than I expected it would be for a Sunday night.

I get chatting to the family next to me, they are front HK and like me came for the weekend.

I wake to me alarm on Monday 24 March - I can’t wait to be able to control my own air conditioner tonight! It had been another warm night.

When I head outside for a walk there is a lot more people around! Monday morning and heading to work. Have fun!

Breakfast is a lot more civilised this morning, it’s on the second floor so a lot smaller.

I decide there is no point hanging out, so shower and pack up. Time to head home.

Check-out is very easy. I leave CNY 15 for Clinton (thanks to the family I met last night) before leaving the hotel.

The best laid plans. I have to go through security with my suitcase, no problem, and then when I put my ticket through the machine to enter into the Metro area, it tells me it does not work. Ooh no!

Back out I go and unfortunately it means another security area.

The lady at the service center doesn’t speak English and my mandarin is non-existence! In the end she calls someone who can assist.

He’s super helpful and informs me the ticket I brought for yesterday should have been used yesterday. Whoops! And I was trying to be organized. He kindly exchanges my ticket for me.

While there are lots of people around when I reach the border crossing security, China immigration and HK immigration all go smoothly.

As I reach the platform the train doors open. My break away in Shenzhen has come to an end, time to return to reality.