ASIAN TRAVELING

     Who says the in-flight safety demo is boring? [Raises hand].  I've flown quite extensively internationally  for vacations, and locally, especially in 2008 till the early part of this year, because of my job. I usually take the Cebu Pacific flights; they're cheaper if you buy tickets during their seat sales.  Well, the first time you ride a plane, you watch the demo with a hawk's eye, but as you fly more often, it gets boring, then, so so so boring, to the point that you don’t pay attention to it at all.

     But then again, Cebu Pacific makes the safety demo interesting.  Their flight attendants are keeping with the beat to Lady Gaga's Just Dance and Katy Perry's California Gurls while demonstrating the safety features of the plane and emergency guidelines.  Yup.  They're demonstrating and dancing.  What a fun idea.  However, don't enjoy it too much lest you end up forgetting about what's really important: the safety demo.

   With almost 1.5 million hits, enjoy the video courtesy of wingco1129:

     We boarded a train going to the Lowu border.  Keep in mind that the East Rail station services both the Lowu and the Lok Ma Chau borders, so before you hop on that train, make sure it is the correct one.  There are 12 stations in all from Hung Hom to either Lowu or Lok Ma Chau, so it's quite a ride, around 30 minutes or so.  And unlike the MTR, the train runs above ground so there's plenty to see.

     Really, if I could just press my nose against the window, I would.  Though it might be unsanitary, it'll be worth it as the view from the train is really nice: mountains, grass, flowers, buildings, and the vast expanse of  sky.  Besides, I really love trains and train tracks.  It fascinates me.  Yup, maybe because I'm just a crazy girl.

     When the train stopped at the Lowu Station, I felt my anticipation rising.  Really.  I was just a few steps away from Mainland China.  Yipee.  My companions and I walked going to the immigration area which was not hard to find.  Just follow the signs and you'll definitely see it.  On a busy day, our tour guide told us  about the horde of people we'd see, so we should just keep on walking; don't stop along the way lest you get swarmed by fast-moving people.  For non-HK and mainland tourists, keep to your left.  The center sign says for "Hong Kong residents" and the right side for "Mainland Chinese visitors." Then, we finally reached the turnstiles!  It was a good thing that we came on a weekday.  It was not as busy as expected.

     By this time, we've seen the China Immigration sign and we met our tour guide at the immigration counter and she handed our group visa, which was merely a printed document with our names on it and some other details.  We were asked to line up according to the list on our group visa.  And guess what? There were no stamps on our passports that we entered Shenzhen.  We only had a stamp beforehand that we left Hong Kong.  The Shenzhen arrival stamp was placed on the group visa.

     And, we've officially reached Shenzhen!  Once you step into Shenzhen, Lowu becomes Luohu!  Ni hao, Shenzhen!