From Hong Kong to Shenzhen

After spending 2 weeks in the suburbs of Atlanta earlier this month, we realize we really are living in a huge metropolitan city. It’s a concrete jungle surrounded with high rises where about 14 million other people hang out along side us. We live at the southern edge of the city and we’re fortunate to have a great view of Shenzhen Bay, part of the South China Sea.

To our left we can see a very large bridge that cars drive across the water to travel between mainland China and Hong Kong. Hong Kong Island, or more specifically, the New Territories portion of Hong Kong (HK), is directly across the bay from us about 3 miles away.

Even though HK is a part of China, it was "owned" by the British for many decades until 1997, when possession returned to China. We fly into HK when traveling to China, and travel by car for about an hour to get to our apartment. When we flew to Atlanta on July 1st, the driver that took us to the airport told us it was a national holiday recognizing 13 years since the British gave up possession of the islands.

From what I've read, a lot has changed in the past 13 years, and yet it still feels in many ways like Hong Kong and China are 2 separate countries.

One of the things you have to do in order to get from Hong Kong to Shenzhen is go through immigration and customs. It’s kind of similar to clearing customs and immigration at the airport in the U.S., although sometimes the process takes 20 minutes, other times it takes an hour and a half or more.

The actual customs process involves presenting your passport along with a white HK departure form to an agent who clears you to leave HK. Once your passport is screened, reviewed, and stamped, you then walk through an open area with a few duty free shops mostly selling alcohol. There are digital machines mounted on the wall that scan your temperature as you walk through. In Dean’s case, a woman wearing a surgical mask usually runs up and shoots a thermometer gun at his head to make sure his temperature is recorded properly. The process made me a little nervous the first time we did it, just because I wasn’t sure how sensitive the machines are or what they’re looking for. Officials will detain you or refuse to let you pass through if you have a fever over a certain number or if they suspect you are ill, but so far we’ve never had any problems or witnessed anyone else with issues.

After passing through the middle section, you get in another line to be given permission to enter China. You again show your passport along with a yellow China arrival form, and once permitted through, voila! You’re in what is considered Mainland China.

There are a few other quirky tidbits and differences we’ve discovered about HK vs. mainland China since moving to Shenzhen in April. Thought we’d share them here:

#1 Driving on different sides of the road. In HK, like in Great Britain, cars drive on the left side of the road. The steering wheel is located on the right side of the car, where the passenger seat would be in the U.S. In China, cars drive on the right side of the road.

#2 Cabs and anyone driving a car must have a special permit to drive between the two cities. That means that you can’t just hop in a cab in Shenzhen and ask them to take you to Hong Kong or vice versa. You catch a green Chinese cab to the border and walk through the border, then catch a red Hong Kong cab on the other side (or a bus, which is much cheaper).

#3 A working metro line exists in HK.“Mind the gap” – you hear this British phrase on all the metro lines in Hong Kong! There is one just now under construction in Shenzhen. We are told it should be up and running by the end of this year, but I am sure you won't be warned to mind the gap when getting on or off.

#4 Different Money. In HK you pay for things with Hong Kong Dollars, while in China you use RMB / Yuan.

I tried to pay for a drink at a Starbucks in HK once with the wrong kind of money and the woman behind the counter looked at me in disgust. I now carry 2 different change purses or wallets if traveling back and forth b/w HK and Shenzhen so I don’t get confused.

#5 You see a ton more international faces and hear English spoken much more frequently in HK than Shenzhen. People have never stopped us to oogle over Dean or get their picture taken with him while in HK.

We really haven’t spent much time in Hong Kong since it’s such a hassle and a bit expensive to travel back and forth. The cheapest way to get to downtown Hong Kong is by bus, which costs about $7.00 per person. Taking the bus adds some time to the commute, so it ends up being about 3 hours for us to get from our apartment to the Kowloon, the major touristy part of Hong Kong. A cab costs about $50 one-way from the Shenzhen border to Kowloon.

As we learn more fun facts about these two cities, we’ll be sure to pass them along via this blog.