Asia Awaits: Shenzhen Shopping !

A new adventure this week was for Mum and I went to take a trip to Shenzhen in China. It is a really easy MTR ride from Hong Kong, and for Australians and Hong Kong residents, you can get a day visa at the border. Not all nationalities have this luxury but we do.

We caught the MTR all the way to Lo Wu Station which is on the border. You then 'depart' Hong Kong and walk across a bridge walkway to enter China. When you get there you have to go upstairs and apply for a Visa, by completing the one page application and then lodging this with the first of 3 desks. This process takes about 5 minutes (that's if there is no queue.....), you pay the 178 yuan ($ 40 AUD) and the Visa is stuck in your passport. All very simple. Once you clear Immigration and Customs you are then in China, and free to start shopping !!

Shenzhen is renowned for knockoff designer bags and shoes, but things are being clamped down on a lot more than it used to be. We were keen to see how 'good' the knock-offs' were. We weren't really in for a full day of shopping - just wanted to check out the 'fabric floor', the handbags and maybe some shoes....... well that was the plan ! I had read up and heard that as a first timer it might be best to stick to one place and not to go too far. So we decided that we would stay within the Louhu Commercial City building which is directly outside the border crossing.

The centre doesn't open until about 10.30am, so if you come early (like we did) you will have people chasing you and promising you great bargains at their stores. We had one guy that sadly saw the not-so-nice side of Susie when I gave him a very stern talking too ! I am happy to play their games but only to a certain point - when this guy continued to follow us floor after floor and jump in the lift with us, I lost my patience !!

Commercial City has 5 floors of shopping - with everything from toys, sunglasses, jewellery, shoes, men, women and children clothing, bags, fabric....... it is quite the sight. We managed to find a place to kick-start our day right with a very decent coffee. After that we started shopping !!

The general rule of thumb is to get a price from the seller, and then divide by a third. The seller will then say no and you can move upwards from your starting point. Apparently if you pay more than half of the original price, it is not worth the money. You can also happily walk away and they will chase you if they think the sale is valid.

I am useless at this type of haggling but I did manage to do ok for Mum this week. It is not something I enjoy - definitely a person who likes a clearly marked price tag ! We shopped for a few hours and managed to get a few good bargains, one of which was a store that sells Diane Von Furstenberg replica dresses - I love her dresses and managed to score 3 for $150 !! I also grabbed some nice fabric for next to nothing and am hoping to find a local tailor to make me a couple of things. Some of the knockoffs were really good and I can see why people shop here rather than paying for the real deal, but also understand the issues associated with this type of market and the conditions these items are processed in.

We had a fun time but the process is exhausting, having to bargain for everything and most shops are very very tiny with boxes and bags of goods everywhere. So a little time there is enough for me. Will I go again ? Definitely but not for a while.