Geek Trails

Luoho is known as the shopping district of Shenzhen. So densely packed with shopping malls, and hotels. It’s a perennial favourite for Hong Kong weekenders.

MixC Shopping Mall

MixC is one of the largest shopping center in Shenzhen, it’s 6 floors spread over three city blocks. It’s another spotless shopping mall, with famous brands, Gucci, Louis Vitton, H&M, Miss Sixty, Burberry. The usual catalog of American Fast Food and pizza places.

One interesting aspect were the large city model displays on the ground floor. I guess they are advertising new builds, future new homes and city expansions. There’s a lot of creativity and ambition in these designs.

The main supermarket is Ole, which has a lot of imported goods, and priced accordingly. Though the locally sourced goods are cheap by UK standards. I had a wander around, couldn’t find sandwiches, but everything else was there. Cheese and margerine are expensive, so I guess that’s all imported.

The mall itself feels very Western, I could be in a US city if I didn’t know any better. There were quite a few people there today, not busy, but not quietly empty either. Toys-R-Us was busy.

Shennan Avenue, Luohu

I walked down Shennan Avenue, trying to make my way to Lizhi Park. On the way I came across the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, a splendid blue-tinted-glass skyscraper, Panasonic head offices which reminded me of a rubix cube mid-twist, and the Shenzhen Great Theatre which is a low slung building compared to its neigbouring skyscrapers. The Shenzhen Great theater takes up a city block, it is as big as the wide empty space around it.

On an adjacent corner to the theatre is a huge painting of Deng Xiaoping, the Chinese premier who established Shenzen as a Special Economic Zone. That took Shenzhen from a fishing village into a huge and thriving city with strong commercial ties with major international companies. It is an experiment that resulted in a huge success. Shenzhen has flourished because of that, and so Deng Xiaoping is deeply respected.

I passed Lizhi Park. The entrance was right next to the Den Xiaoping painting. Hey, I’m an introvert, and there was a crowd there on the plaza, so I walked past. When I realised I walked past the Park I turned around and headed back. I didn’t go through the main gate, but walked down the boulevard outside for a bit.

And then I headed back to the hotel via the Grand Theatre Metro stop. 4 hours on my feet, at my old age.