Thinking Allowed: Shenzhen Economic zone

Hong Kong is one of those cities where nature is never too far away from the chaos of city life. It is made up of beautiful large island and coastal mountains lush with green and bustling city nestled between. Doing one of the longer Hong Kong hikes has always been something appealing to me. I convinced the girls that what we needed were a few days of hiking and eating in Hong Kong. Somehow, though, our five days hiking in Hong Kong turned into a five day foray into Shenzhen. Whether or not you have heard of Shenzhen, everyone has a relationship with the city due to its high levels of manufacturing - especially in electronics. While Hong Kong was at its peak Shenzhen was still a small fishing village until it was designated, and constructed to be, an economic zone in the 70's. Shenzhen was China's first experiment in capitalism. I would deem the experiment successful given that the rest of the country followed suite and Shenzhen continues to grow and produce.

Our days in Shenzhen were all a bit of a jetlagged haze. Still, we got a feel for how life is different in China. We used a whole new set up apps, navigated a different set of norms, and navigated a maze of high rises. The museums we went to were large and impressive. We especially enjoyed the art museum which was a hangout for grandparents with toddlers. Little Levana fit right in to the group of two year olds running around as their caregivers smiled benignly. The dafen oil painting village sure did have a lot of reproductions. We were impressed at the range of quality of reproductions. We went to a revamped old town. It was very tastefully revamped and we enjoyed the mix of old buildings with cute modern shops. We also enjoyed making a friend in the old town - it was an unexpected gift to get to eat lunch with a local family. Our hike up Wutong mountain was cancelled due to a typhoon that decided to visit at the same time as us, but, it is always nice when there is a thing left undone that might draw you back to a place.

What really impressed us all the most about Shenzhen was food delivery. So so so much food delivery. Shenzhen is the home of drone food delivery. Drone food delivery seems both novel and unnecessary until you have seen the food delivery situation in Shenzhen. There are food delivery motorbikes everywhere. Everywhere everywhere. For whatever reason the government is on board with the importance of citizens not having to cook as the food delivery vehicles have permission to use the sidewalks as well. Either too many food deliverers were dying in accident on the roads or it is just very important to everyone to get their food as fast as possible. Maybe it is the second option as food delivery motorbikes also seem to be exempt from any stop signs or lights. These deliverers are the ultimate j-walkers. They seem to be above any rules and regulations. I imagine at their briefings they all sit in a huddle and their boss strikes his fist in the air while declaring "whatever it takes." If you stand at the exit of the mall you can see the food deliverers jump off their bikes race down a set of steps and ten seconds later they are running back with their arms full of food, their legs pumping, their chest heaving and in one fluid motion their put the food on the back of their bikes rev up and streak across the sidewalk in a blur of 'whatever it takes.' If food delivery was an Olympic event the Shenzhen time would get gold. Walking on the sidewalks is sometimes a life or death situation. Thankfully the sidewalks tended to be wide and we were reassured in knowing that we were playing our part in ensuring all Shenzhen residents can have hot delivered food for breakfast lunch and dinner.