Shenzhen, China

Despite having a late start this morning , and looking for breakfast only at about 10am, there was very little open near our hotel. We looked along Electric Road, the food street very near our hotel and settled for a noodles shop. Breakfast was a bowl of noodles and a sandwich shared amongst 4 of us.

Grace spoke to our concierge about Shenzhen, and was reminded that most places in China do not accept credit cards but most will accept cash. They all accept AliPay, WeChat and a couple other pay modes, none of which we have. We were unable to get Chinese Yuan out of the ATM near our hotel with our foreign cards although Bank of China ATM had an option for Yuan withdrawal. So onward we went in the MTR to Shenzhen and managed to get Yuan from the ATM on Shenzhen side of the train station before we got into the taxi.

Immigration and customs proceeded easily although we had to fill in a form for the visa at immigration. When we got into the taxi at the taxi rank by the station, the driver insisted on charging us ¥100 for the ride and not use the meter. We exited the taxi, walked away from the station, hailed a taxi. Grace gave him the address written in Chinese by our concierge for the Shenzhen Museum, and the lovely young man pointed to the meter. During the ride, I asked the driver, in my very rusty Mandarin if there was anywhere for lunch near the museum that we could have lunch at then walk to the museum. I specified that we wanted Chinese food and he replied that is Chinese food everywhere, export l except MacDonalds. He dropped us off at a place with a few eateries about 1km from the museum. He pointed to the direction of the museum so we'd know where to go after lunch. As the ATM dispensed only ¥100 notes, the driver just came onto his shift and did not have much change, we told him to give us his ¥35 and we'll give him the ¥100 note. He was horrified as the meter showed only ¥18 (so much for the ¥100 taxi shark) , but we insisted and he thanked us profusely. What a lovely young man. Takeaway lesson from this, NEVER take a taxi from any train station, even if it's from an official taxi rank with a marked taxi.

Lunch was most delicious, with great service. We were even escorted to a toilet that was not a hole in the ground. As we could not work out how to cross a highway to get to the museum, we walked directly to Coco Park Shopping Centre. It was a big shopping centre but nothing appealed to us except more food.

We have a special dinner booked at 7pm tonight and did not want to fill ourselves even more than the substantial lunch we had. So, at about 5pm, we decided to go to the Marriott Hotel where dinner is booked at their Restaurant Man Ho to relax at a lounge or bar before dinner. When we inquired at reception, we were led to the Executive Lounge.. Grace and I refused to pay almost $40 aud at the Executive Lounge so we didn't eat nor drink anything except from our water bottles and the sneaky tonic water in front of Warrick and Kai. When Kai and Warrick went up to pay, the manager told them that he "could not charge them and has cancelled their bill".
Dinner was a gastronomic experience with silver service. We even had a tea sommelier who brewed us a most delicious blend red dates and goji berries in our chrysanthemum tea. She gave Kai 4 packets of the chrysanthemum tea.Read more