Last weekend I was originally planning on going to Shanghai.
I had the hotel booked for 4 nights, but due to a delay for my last pay check I
had to book plane tickets rather late on. This backfired and made prices more
than twice as much.
So I rescheduled my trip to Shanghai for Thursday and
decided to use this opportunity of a free weekend to visit my chum Dave from
university, who is currently teaching English in Shenzhen!
Shenzhen is only 1 hour away on the train, situated just north
of Hong Kong. It’s a very modern city, having only been a small village around
30 years ago – since then exploding with new development and a population of 10
million! It truly encapsulates the immensity of China's speed of development.
I arrived at Shenzhen by 10:30am and met Dave in the train
station. This was truly surreal, as I have had very little face-to-face contact
with any westerners since coming to China – with the added fact that I lived
with Dave for 2 years at university, it felt unreal to be meeting him on the
other side of the world! I think the first thing he said to me was along the
lines of ‘small world, eh’, which was quite fitting.
He showed me around the city where we had a few beers and a
good Chinese curry, discussing our experiences. I gathered that he came to
China for similar reasons as me; a chance to grow socially, improve future job
prospects and a fresh start with a big adventure.
We shared how we both found China to be rather overwhelming
at first, but have gradually grown to adore the country and struggle with the idea
that one day we must leave – this day is much closer for me however, as Dave’s
plan will keep him in China for at least another year!
That afternoon we met up with his work colleagues to go on a
bike ride along the coast of Shenzhen. Luckily this meant flat terrain and made
for a very chilled ride – well for me anyway, Dave’s bike chain kept coming
loose every 2 minutes.
The setting was fantastic, and although I was concerned about
riding a bike after having nearly no exercise in 5 months (besides climbing
mountains) it turned out to be a great mode of transport in the insane 28
degree heat, generating a breeze which handily cooled me down.
At the end of the trail we stopped at a German restaurant
for a mighty good meal. This area was like a ‘Foreigners’ paradise’ packed full
of westerners - I’m talking 80% of the surrounding population; which was so bizarre
for me due to my relatively secluded Guangzhou nurture where I’d maybe see two
foreigners in an average week.
Overall it was a brilliant day. I’m glad me and Dave were
able to meet while we were both stationed in China, and hopefully he will come
to visit Guangzhou in 2 weeks’ time!
Zai'jian!
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