adventures in *

After 14 long hours, we finally arrived in Shenzhen, so I thought. My blackberry went haywire the previous day. It only displayed a white screen so I wasn’t able to see what I was typing or view google maps. I had no idea where I was exactly. I asked if anyone on the bus spoke cantonese, no such luck.

The bus driver directed me up the street, where I asked a couple police officers how to get to Lo Wu bus station. Didn’t seem like they knew either, but one of them pointed me to bus 311. I got on the bus and the lady collecting fare laughed, said something in mandarin and I gathered that I was on the wrong bus. We arrived at a check point and a military police accompanied by a normal police officer boarded and shouted something in mandarin. Half the bus got off then they motioned for me to come with them. Outside, they asked for my passport then I tried to explain that I was trying to get to Lo Wu. They kindly directed me to the shuttle bus that would take me there. I’m not sure how they spotted me on the bus, maybe the big backpack I was carrying.

At Lo Wu, I approached a gentlemen next to the baggage scanning machine and asked him where to take the bus to Hong Kong, he offered to take me to the terminal and said it costs 200$. I pulled out my guidebook and pointed to the section saying it should cost only 50$, he said ok and would take me to a bus stop. Starting to get suspicious, I ducked behind a corner as he led me somewhere. He came back and found me and we continued walking to customs, once there, he asked for $50 for showing me the way. He tried to rook me, I told him I was expecting to get a bus to HK and not be guided to the customs area which was well marked. He said he’d take 15$, I pulled out my wallet and said sorry, nothing for you – what a jerk. Made it through customs and back to HK in about 16 hours of travel time. Went to my Grandfather’s place to have dinner with another uncle and aunt.