Shen Zhen (5th - 10th Dec 2008) - what I do...

Strawberry picking

Apparently, it is the strawberry season in Shen Zhen now. So, being the city kids as we were, our cousin-in-law decided to bring us to a strawberry farm to experience the picking of strawberries.

Each of us took a basket and off we went to the field to pick all the blushing red fruits we could find. There was no limit as to the amount we can pick, or how long we can wander around the field. Once done with the picking, some workers will weigh them and charge accordingly. However, the ones we picked were still not as comparable to the ones the experienced uncles and cousins picked from another farm.

One would think that Singaporeans have never seen or eaten strawberries before when they gave us two boxes, about 60-70 in each. And the best thing is, besides being really fresh and sweet, each box cost only RMB60, which converts to about S$12. I think we have eaten enough strawberries within the 5 days for the next 6 months, and they were not sour as what we would usually get from the supermarkets.

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To Hong Kong

I know what you are thinking: Didn't this woman just went to Hong Kong in June? Yes, I did. But the husband and I didn't mind going again. He missed the wonton noodles and the char siew rice, HL thought to go on a shopping spree, and I wanted to do both. Haha.

So, we took a train from Lao Jie station in Shen Zhen to Luo Hu station, which is where the customs to Hong Kong is. The whole journey, including the custom checks, took about 2 hours. It was quite an experience to travel in this way, and you need the stamina and leg muscles to endure the 1-hour standing journey. I might have enjoyed it more if not for my injured foot.

As expected, due to the seasonal changes in Hong Kong, there were not much clothes to buy, and nothing much to shop for either. Majority were selling cold wear, much to HL's disappointment. So, we ended up stuffing our faces with food... wonton noodles, the famous Hui Lau Shan desserts, char siew rice, soy chicken rice, porridge and you tiao, dim sum at Sweet Dynasty.

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Shopping at Luohu (罗湖)

We decided to explore the famous Luohu district since the hotel we were staying at is in the area. We were planning to just have a quick walk around, but when we turned the corner away from the quiet street of our hotel, we were surprised to see a whole different place.

It was not exactly Orchard Road shopping, but more like walking along the different shops in Toa Payoh central. Although there seems to be a lot of shops at the first glance, after a while, we realised that almost every alternate shop sells similar stuff, like shoes, clothes and bags, with almost similar designs for majority too, except maybe for the shop names. The only different thing that we do not see in Singapore is the selling of puppies, where the sellers managed to put three tiny puppies of totally different breeds into a shoe box for sale.