LittleSandyBeach

After checking into our hotel we headed out to explore and discovered Lychee Park nearby. Even though Shenzhen is home to 18 million people, 40% of the land area is dedicated to public parks. It’s also home to the world’s highest concentration of super-tall towers (>200m) one of them being the Ping An Finance Centre, the fifth tallest building in the world at 599 metres high.

On the walk to see the evening light show we got our first glimpse of how advanced the city is. A driverless robobus drove past us!

Every weekend evening, in the heart of Shenzhen there is a light show display of 1.18 million LED lights across over 40 skyscrapers in the central business district of Futian. Before the show began, we also saw lit up kites and delivery drones queueing… you’ll see more of this later.

Close to our hotel was a large shopping mall called MixC which had a lot of designer stores and a fantastic food hall named Olé. It was on the fancier end however the prices were very reasonable. A smoked salmon sandwich costing only £2 yes please!

On our second day, we visited Shenzhen Fairy Lake and Botanical Garden. It is absolutely massive at 546 hectares featuring over 12,000 plant species. The lake in the middle was very scenic with loads of locals having picnics around it, we were the only tourists there so got lots of smiles.

Our personal highlights were the Bonsai Garden for its traditional Chinese pavilions and houses, the Cacti and Succulent Garden and the Medicinal Plant Garden which showcases over 700 species of medicinal plants.

Later that evening we visited Dongmen Pedestrian Street which is a historic bustling area known for shopping and food stalls. It was extremely busy and there were many different foods on offer. Tasha tried a Chinese sausage and some baby potato balls.

On Monday, we were walking through Lychee Park and suddenly spotted an ‘intelligence security’ robot doing his rounds.

For lunch we managed to find some long awaited Chinese duck in a large shopping mall food court. We had a bowl of crispy roasted duck, rice, Chinese cabbage and a salted egg for 35 RMB each (£3.82) and the portion was very big!

In the afternoon we went to an area called Upperhills which is a modern mix use complex. It has also become a major hub for robotics and houses the world’s first humanoid robot themed retail store. We tried some ice cream “made” by a robot.

Inside the concept store which is backed by EngineAI (a large Chinese AI company) you could see many demonstrations of the humanoid robots from dancing to even playing the piano. There were also lots of other robotic machines on display and some you could even purchase. We were even offered a ‘traditional’ Chinese massage by a robot masseuse which we weren’t quite ready for!

From walking around the city we noticed a few public piano rooms where the locals can book a slot to learn and practice which we thought was very nice.

On our last day in Shenzhen, we ventured out to the Nanshan district on the west side of Shenzhen. In this area, a company called Pony.ai operates a large fleet of autonomous taxis. So we fired up the app, and ordered our first robotaxi!

As the car pulls up, it uses your phone’s Bluetooth to unlock the back doors so you can get in. Once it sets off on the journey you can play music, adjust your seats for extra comfort and adjust the climate control all from a tablet.

We were really surprised with how advanced it was and how well it dealt with oncoming hazards, roadworks and other cars merging in front. Our journey was 25 mins travelling for 10km and it was a very surreal feeling. For only 16 RMB (£1.76) we would definitely do it again!

To get to our next location we jumped on Line 11 on the metro which happens to be one of the fastest metro lines in the world travelling around double the speed of a normal metro.

After arriving at Lianhuashan Park which overlooks the Civic Centre we tried to get some lunch delivered in an unconventional way – drone style! Unfortunately, we couldn’t access the correct app being tourists so we waited around for a local to order.

In 10 different parks across Shenzhen there are drone delivery stations where people can order food and drinks from hundreds of restaurants and cafes with delivery usually under 30 mins.

Since the city is so vast and spread out it is actually used very frequently, even to get to a nearby restaurant or shop can be an hours walk!

Another thing we noticed walking around was solar powered UV insect lamps which helps explain why we have only seen one mosquito here! Constantly throughout the day you see sanitising vehicles cleaning the pavements and roads which helps keep the city pristine clean.

To get back to our hotel, we went via Gangxia North Metro Station which is known for its spectacular central atrium nicknamed the “Eye of Shenzhen”. The station is absolutely massive and is celebrated as one of the most beautiful and futuristic metro stations in China.

Yesterday, we got a DiDi taxi (similar to Uber) to Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport to fly to Shanghai! We flew with Hainan Airlines for 2.5hr flight and we were very impressed with their service and even got a meal included!

We have really enjoyed seeing what the future will be like and experiencing how differently things work here. For example, when ordering anything from an ice cream to a restaurant meal it’s all done via an app and you don’t need to speak to anyone. It all works very well!

We are now in Shanghai for four days so it’s time to explore “The Paris of the East”!