13th November: Shenzhen, China to Hong Kong SAR, China
Our second sleeper train of the trip is behind us. I actually slept quite well but unfortunately Kaja did not. We shared our compartment with one other person. He was a quiet and polite man from the Chinese Air Force – just the sort of person you want to end up sharing with. I think we made a couple of stops late in the evening and a couple more early in the morning, but we were onboard from start to finish. Just before 7, we pulled into a warm and humid Shenzhen.
We were able to find some millet porridge for breakfast outside the station and, thankfully, leave our bags. We had 7 hours until we could check in to our room in Hong Kong. Our plan for the morning was to wander around Shenzhen trying to find a few of the places I remembered from my previous visit in 2010 and see how they’ve changed. Unfortunately, the weather had other ideas! We got the metro out to Huangmugang and picked up some brown sugar baos to see us through a walk but at the exact moment we set off it started hosing down. The outer rain bands of Typhoon Toraji were just beginning to impact the southern reaches of Guangdong. Time to head back to the city to wait this band out with some delicious and much needed caffeinated drinks!
Once the rain had passed, we found the hotel I’d stayed in before but then got hopelessly lost trying to find other places I recognised. Firstly, you could now see the buildings on the other side of the street which wasn’t always a given with the smog in 2010. The streets had also been cleaned up substantially and a lot of demolition and building work was ongoing everywhere. Eventually, we ended up on Dongmen Plaza and rushed past the overwhelming noise of the street food sellers to find a view I recalled of a small square with mock old buildings in the foreground and a skyscraper with two towers in the distance. Most of the fake football shirt sellers seemed to have long since moved on but the phony Apple stores were still scattered liberally.
Back towards Huangmugang and the park, another rain band came through. Fortunately, there was a well-placed vegan restaurant for us to try. I had a range of tasty snacks – shitake mushrooms, breaded vegan ‘pork’, tofu skin, and a funky peach and herb soup characteristic of Cantonese cuisine. Kaja plumped for some tomato and vegetable noodles, topped with some of the vegan ‘pork’ and little baked herb and seaweed cakes.
Eventually, after numerous false starts, we walked up the hill to Bijiashan Park. This is such a peacefully landscaped place with bamboo, palms, other trees with air-rooted plants and vines hanging from them, all lining a long walkway up the hill. After 10 minutes or so, I spotted our aim through the trees. This is where I had played bowls for England in the 2010 China Open. I had no idea if the greens were still here, but they very much are and were being used today! Just as we arrived, the heavens opened again. The players disappeared and we sheltered under the roof of the clubhouse. Nobody braved the conditions to come to chat with us, but we got a few ‘who the heck are you?‘ looks!
After picking up the bags, we walked across the border out of mainland China and into the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong. The metro networks of HK and Shenzhen neatly match up on either side, so we were able to jump on a train for southern Kowloon. First though we had to get ‘Octopus’ metro cards, which proved a right faff. Incredibly, in 2024, you have to pay for these with cash in local currency. It was quite a shock after the ease of paying for different transport systems in China, but we figured out the noughties tech eventually! Our room is in one of the ‘mansions’ where people live in apartments little bigger than broom cupboards. Ours isn’t actually that bad, although I can’t stretch out fully on the bed. We saw some others which must’ve been 3 square metres! Still, this is our smallest place of the trip and also the most expensive. Welcome to Hong Kong!
The rain radar looked fairly clear for a couple of hours, so we popped out to explore. By now, Hong Kong had issued a ‘Level 3’ Typhoon watch but the storm was still expected to turn southwest well before reaching the Chinese coast. Our first view across the harbour of the lights of Hong Kong Island was reminiscent of the utterly different but similarly impressive views in Istanbul. Both to me, when I was growing up, were ‘world cities’ and feel incredibly significant. The harbour still looked surprisingly calm, so we decided to jump on the Star Ferry. This is another one of those iconic experiences which we’re lucky to be doing. The ride to Central passed quickly as the lights reflected in the inky black waters. We had a relaxing walk along the reclaimed land of the waterfront to Wan Chai dock where we jumped on the Northern Star back to Tsim Sha Tsui. By now, it was a little choppier and the captain had a bit of a job docking. We were glad to be off the water!
As I write, Toraji – now a tropical storm rather than a typhoon – is still heading north-westwards. Every weather model had it having turned well before now but instead it is still tracking directly towards the Pearl River Delta. We can hear the winds and squally showers really picking up out there. A few minutes ago, at 11pm local time, the Hong Kong Observatory hoisted a ‘Signal 8 gale warning’ which effectively shuts the city down for tonight and tomorrow. Perhaps our weather luck is going to run out with a bang!
