Shenzhen

While preparing for this trip, I picked up a multiple entry visa from the PRC consulate.
The single entry visa is $60 and the multiple is $75, if I remember correctly. SZ is sooo close that it’s almost a foregone conclusion that it may be part of a HK visit. It’s about 40 minutes on the KCR, but it’s a fast trip.
However, under the fiction of “one country 2 systems”, it still requires a visa to visit. And getting an on-the-spot visa issued at the border or at the consulate in HKG is an exercise in patience.
Best to cough up the extra $15 when you’re getting your visa in advance. Saves time and headaches.
Anyhoo, since SZ was there, I went. Solo. Alone. Tis a bit of an adventure, yah?
Most people who go to SZ head directly to the LoWu Commercial Center. It’s a big mall rignt next to the border crossing that has tailors, artisans, the usual bootleg DVD hawkers, bootleg golf shops, bootleg leather goods and ready to wear clothing.
In short, it’s a place where HKG people go to shop for stuff now (cuz it’s way cheeper).
If you’ve been there before (hey Ana, are you reading this?), you’ll notice that there’s a big hole in the ground where there once was a plaza. I think maybe there’s a skyscraper going up. It would explain the escalators coming up from the ground.
I got fitted for a tailor made suit jacket. Fitting took about 1/2 hour with the assistance of an HKG gent who was picking up his shirts.
Travel tip: Bring someone who is fluent in Putonghua. If the HKG gent wasn’t there, I would have gotten a slim-fit euro tailoring that doesn’t work with my body type (yet).
Now here’s the deal about tailor made clothes over there. Normally the turnaround time is 3 days. But you need to have a visa to get back into China. Normally a multiple entry visa would be fine, but if you’re going to pick one up just to go to SZ, you’ve tacked on an extra US$75 to your purchases over there. That’s not a great deal. But…
Since I’m going to Beijing later this month, I’m going to use the second entry for that and then I’m flying to SZ after I leave BJ. It’s 1/3 the price of flying into HKG AND I can pick up my jacket on the way back.
See? Genius!