During my three day trip in Guangzhou, I spent one day trip to nearby city by high speed train, Shenzhen (深圳), one of the most developed city in China to see the modern of China is. The travel time between these 2 cities with high speed train is just about 35 minutes (135 km). The train ticket can be purchased 2-4 weeks in advance in trip.com. The ticket cost was just only 10 – 12 USD/trip (Second class seat). The trains were available almost 24 hours a day.
I planned to leave Guangzhou from Guangzhou South Railways Station, the hub of high speed train at 8.32AM and arrive Shenzhen North Railways Station at 9.09AM. On the way back, I would leave from Shenzhen at 5.07PM and arrive Guangzhou at 5.44PM. I had about 8 hours to explore the Silicon Valley of China. 🇨🇳
In the morning, I left from the hotel at Zhongshan 6th road at 7.15AM to get Guangzhou South Railway Station before 8AM. Once I arrived, I just looked at the screen to see my train number and platform. The security checkpoint in Chinese railways station is strict like the airport but it took only 3-5 minutes to complete. To board the train, as a foreigner, I just used my passport to get in manual checkin lane at the platform gate. NO NEED TO SHOW THE TICKET, EVERYTHING IS IN THE SYSTEM. 😃
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After I got in the train and seated, it was departed right on-time. Just few blinks, the train was arrived Shenzhen North Railways Station according to the schedule. Shenzhen has well developed metro system like in Guangzhou, it covers every area and Alipay is super-app to use to board the metro, but just change the location in app to Shenzhen. Only that, I was ready to explore the city as I planned.
The first destination of the day was Nantou Ancient City (新安故城). To get there, I just used Metro Line-5 to Lingzhi station and connect with Line-12 to Nantou Ancient City station. I arrived there about 10.45AM. Nantou Ancient City was formerly a walled city facing Qianhai Bay what was built in 1394. The charming of this area is traditional residential houses and temples with styles from the Qing Dynasty. Nowadays, the narrow streets lined with all manner of small shops and restaurants.
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About noon, I left Nantou Ancient City to find the local lunch style. The best place for this mission is Dongmen Pedestrian Street (东门步行街). I reached there by Metro Line-12 to Taoyuan station and change to Line-1 and get-off at Laojie station. It spent an hour from Nantou Ancient City.
Dongmen Pedestrian Street is the shopping district and one of the oldest area of Shenzhen. It was established about 300 years ago as the centre of the Shenzhen Market. Currently, this street has been a prosperous commercial area now integrating tourism, catering, leisure and shopping.
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It had plenty of choices for local Chinese food and international dish. All restaurants and food stalls are decorated with colorful style. It makes the food looked yummy and makes this area so vibrant. I could not imagine how the atmosphere is in the night. It would be full of lighting and lively for sure.
In the afternoon, after I had lunch at Dongmen pedestrian street, I moved to one of biggest shopping center of Shenzhen, Coco Park. I geo there by Metro Line-1 to Shopping Park Station. Coco Park is shopping complex in Futian district what was established in 2007. It has numerous choices of restaurant, luxury store and of course the coffee shop to escape from strong sunlight in the afternoon.😌
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About 2.30PM, I used Metro next destination of the day, Civic Center (市民中心), the station name is same as this place. The purpose to visit Civic Center is to see gorgeous building in Shenzhen and surrounding area. Civic Center is the most remarkable building in this area with a wing roof in the shape of a mythical bird named Dapeng. It is a multi-purpose public building with government offices as well as book store, Shenzhen library, Shenzhen museum and public park.
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Civic center is super huge area which is unable to cover by foot. It also has many building and sections in the complex. I just selected to see some point with limited time. Next to Civic Center, it has public park, Lianhuashan Park (莲花山公园). it is a hill and urban park inaugurated in 1997 with cover the area of 370 acres. This park is a well-regarded natural and recreational area in Shenzhen. It is also the large grass land in the park is an ideal place for kite flying.
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After I enjoy and fulfill my heart with Civic center and Lianhuashan Park, about 4PM, it was the time to bid farewell to Shenzhen. I caught the Metro Line-4 back to Shenzhen North Railways Station, the hub for high speed train. Before boarding the train, I alerted that it still had one thing left to fulfill my will of this trip, sipping the bottled peach tea. It was not hard to find as it is widely sold in convenient store and vending machine.
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Despite it was one single day trip to the most developed city in China, I understood that it was not unable to cover everything. But, it was able fulfill my expectation to see how hi-tech it is as well as the past of this city until present days. Shenzhen had changed my attitude about China. I could not wait to see how Chinese can develop the country in the future. 🇨🇳😇
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Written by : Shipy Siwarit Tiasuwattiseth
Shipy-Ship 