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A Tech Entrepreneur's Guide To Visiting Shenzhen

Posted by timothy on from the name-the-best-place-to-eat dept.

Freetronics is Australia's answer to a lot of electronic tinkerers' needs, selling items like Arduino compatible boards, cables, and specialized tools. Founder Jonathan Oxer is a (serious) electronics hobbyist himself; he talked with Slashdot last year about making ArduSats, which were then launched to the International Space Station. Now, Oxer has written an excellent guide for hobbyists who might get the chance to travel to Shenzhen, where so many of the world's electronic bits and bobs are made. As travel writing goes, it's fascinating for the sheer novelty of the place. If you actually have the chance to go, some of the advice here might save you money and time. For those of you who have been to Shenzhen, what else should visitors know?

6 of 49 comments (clear)

  1. Don't eat the street food by Dumass · · Score: 5, Informative

    Beware of Gutter Oil. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v... Only take red or blue (electric) taxis. The guys at Shenzhen Bay who want your business will charge 2-5x the regulated rate.

    1. Re:Don't eat the street food by Dumass · · Score: 5, Interesting

      The advice to get a limo ride is also terrible. If you share the car with someone and they get searched, you get searched. If the car in front of you gets searched it can take a very long time to cross.

      It's much easier to take a cab from HKG to the border and walk across if it's evening time. It's about $300HK/ $50 USD and you can take 1-4 people. The Shenzhen Bay crossing closes ~11:30PM, though, so if you're late you'll have to find another way.

      During the day, a ferry is a better bet because customs can be extremely clogged up at the walk through checkpoint. I've waited 2-3 hours to walk back across into Hong Kong. There are far fewer people at the ferry terminal checkpoints.

    2. Re:Don't eat the street food by Dumass · · Score: 5, Informative

      Also, bring your hotel name and address written in Chinese. The cab drivers will not know English. When you get to the hotel ask for a name card. It will have the name, logo, address, and phone number of the hotel on it. You can then give that to a cabbie.

      The hotels will change cash, but only perfect foreign bills. I got told "this bill is broken" when it had a small crease in the corner. Either use an ATM in China or use one in HK and have Travelex do the conversion. There are also ATMs at the Hong Kong airport that dispense RMB. I trust those more than the ones in China. Beware that Travelex will convert your foreign currency to HKD and then to RMB if you bring them cash, doubling their fees. Use the ATM.

  2. Mmm Sai by Casper0082 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Any place where they sell stuff, if you look like a tourist, one or more person will follow you for hours trying to get you to buy something. "Mmm Sai" is roughly "No thank you". Get used to saying that over and over. When I went to Shenzhen we had someone follow us from the bottom of the mall to the top floor. He heard us say we were hungry and quickly showed us where the american diner was. Being nice, we said we prefered local food. He then took us to another resturant. We spent 45 minutes eating and talking and when we walked out of the resturant, that guy was sitting outside waiting for us. I ended up buying stuff from his store just because of that dedication.

  3. Re: No need for sunglasses by SydShamino · · Score: 5, Interesting

    We stayed at the GoodView Hotel in Tangxia. With a good corporate rate it was just $117 a night including buffet breakfast, and is a resort including indoor pools and spa, outdoor activities, weak drinks, and secured property you can walk around on safely. It's far enough away from industry that the air was usually decent at ground level, though there was still no sky. The first sun I saw in a week was in the hotel shuttle this morning just after we crossed the bridge into Hong Kong.

    --
    It doesn't hurt to be nice.
  4. Just go on AliExpress by jeffmeden · · Score: 5, Informative

    If you are a casual technogeek, save yourself about $4000 and just go on AliExpress and buy whatever knicknacks you are interested in straight from Shenzhen. What, did you think they haven't figured out ecommerce? If you do have the chance to visit (i.e. for work), or are really after niche goods/services (in particular, to start your own import business) then certainly its a great place to go. But if you are just looking to get out of the US, don't go to Shenzhen just to browse around Huaqiangbei. There are plenty of other, far far more exhilarating/enlightening/relaxing places to visit in the world.