Shenzhen - Window of the World
This is a translation of a German post. View original or Never translate German
01:27
Jan: "Okay, I have absolutely no clue how we are supposed to get to OCT East"
Too bad. Originally we wanted to check out the Chinese imitation of the town of Interlaken complete with the surrounding lake and "mountains" there — but after hours spent researching bus connections on some random map app that is not blocked in China we have to admit defeat and decide to just go to 'OCT' without the 'East'.
The Overseas Chinese Town — short OCT — of Shenzhen is supposed to be a sort of hip neighbourhood with museums, artists, amusement parks and more. When we arrive at the station the next morning we come to notice that both the Art & Design museum and the He Xiangning Art Gallery are closed for renovation. Lacking Internet access and/or knowledge of our surroundings, we end up in the nearby Windows of the World theme park where, aside from copies of famous sights from all over the world (Eiffel tower, Niagara falls, New York, Sphinx, Venice, ...), we also find a indoor ski hall and an ice rink.
Greek Mythology: David versus mecha-kraken
Here, we are walking around various miniature buildings as some of the few foreigners here, watch the local visitors posing on an Italian plaza at 1:2 scale and get to experience a real Hawaiian flash flood (12:00, 14:30, 16:00).
Posing Asians #21
A sought after photo location in real life, too
Because we are both not too keen on walking long distances today, we take a longer pause beneath the Niagara falls in which I manage to extend my photo project by a few shots.
High Sight-density
Looks like home (but is actually Belgium)
A (hasty?) review
Technically, Shenzhen is a reasonably modern, large city with solid infrastructure that should easily be able to provide enough touristy things to do for a couple of days. But nonetheless we don't really warm up to the city.
The electronics district and the botanic gardens make for a nice day trip, but after that, we're already beginning to struggle with what to do next — at least partially due to our heavily restricted research capabilities. In my opinion, the city is lacking its own character in a way that Hong Kong does not — if there is a 'Shenzhen Feeling' at all, we couldn't find it.
We only spent two full days here, but we still notice that we feel less at home here than in Hong Kong — where we felt like having some overview over the city after a few days and could say that we more or less know our way around.
Consequently, Jan and I have to agree: We probably won't come here again — the city is not much more than a huge accumulation of people and doesn't convey a distinct sense of life. Still, Shenzhen definitely makes for a great day trip from Hong Kong.
Our general China review will follow in about a week.