Our trip to the mainland

After the hustle and bustle of Hong Kong traffic, skyscrapers and craziness, Mum, Dad and I ventured over to 'the mainland' over the weekend. Despite the recent handing back of HK to China, the 'one country, two systems' motto that was adopted, certainly reigns supreme. Despite our friends (Tim and Wendy's) numerous attempts to ensure that we were ready for Shenzhen - "very basic, lack of hygiene, urination smell on the streets', in many respects this new metropolis isn't too dissimilar from HK and certainly a lot more developed then many places across Asia.

Our weekend started as we met our friends in Lok Wu - the home of tailors, silks, fabrics and more. This little town is just over the HK border and many Hong Kongers venture here for the day to pick up the cheap bargains of clothes, illegal DVDs and much more. After the first few hours wandering around the blocks and arcades of fabric shops trying to decide on the exact colour that would suitMmum's new top, dress and singlet that she was having made (why not get a whole new wardrobe when it costs as little as this), we ventured to the DVD shop. As we entered a store selling golf clubs and Tiffany earrings, we were told where to stand to view their DVD collection to ensure we were out of the line of the security camera. Seconds later we were actually learning a lot about golf clubs as the local police did their hourly raid. Finally after some hard-lined bargaining from Mum, we left the shop quite chuffed at our dealings only to be told by Tim and Wendy that you can get them for half the price around the corner from them!!

Moving on to Shenzhen, Dad was whisked away by Tim for a 'Shenzhen haircut'. This 50 yuan special (half the price of that in HK) included not only the haircut, but also an hour head massage, an ear lobe massage and even a massage to release the tension from your eyebrows!! This took place whilst Mum and I were taken for pedicures. Unfortunately the eagerness of the girls to 'remove all the dead skin' off the soles of our feet meant we left the shop with not only bright red toenails and feet without any dry skin, but also a few blisters where they'd attacked our feet a little too much!!

Keen to sample to local cuisine, al fresco dining on the streets of Shenzhen (there was no room inside the living room of this little franchise for us to sit!), we actually watched our noodles being made from scratch before being cooked and turned into an amazing Pho soup (noodle soup). Despite the frequent addition of a special liquid closely resembling the colour of petrol (!!) to our noodles, the meal was delicious and thoroughly enjoyed by all.

To top off the weekend, we all were taken to the massage parlour. A 3-hr massage (one hour foot massage and 2 hour Chinese back massage) cost merely a fraction of that in Australia and provided a whole lot more entertainment!! Between bouts of Mum's agony as cried out for relief when her masseur found those tension spots and attacked them a little too eagerly, the masseur proceeded to tell Wendy that she had massaged Tim the previous weekend and found him the most attractive man she'd massaged all week!!

The constant jokes by Tim and Wendy to impress Mum and Dad that living in Shenzhen is better than HK (easy access to Olympic tickets, cheap and fabulous accommodation and food, getting to know the locals rather than the expats), Mum and Dad summed up the weekend by jokingly reminding them about café lattes, English newspapers and masseurs whom speak English and therefore you can tell them they're going 'a little too hard'!!