Two colleagues new to the project and I took a taxi to Shenzhen’s electronics market on Huaqiang North Road. The beautiful gazebo is close by and so is a large watch store that sells any watch one can imagine. The ‘Rolexes’, ‘Omegas’ and ‘Cartiers’ are fake (prices are negotiable, between US$50 and US$200), but there is a very large selection of cheap and colorful quartz watches with Mickey Mouse, Batman, Astroboy and Snow White. Then we hopped onto the one of the Shenzhen Metro’s brand spanking new lines, the She Kou line. No Scottish Terriers/pets : ), no begging, no vendors, no littering and NO balloons!*. The trains are very clean with animated displays that show the whole line and connecting stations. At this moment we had arrived at Grand Theater station and are directed to use the open doors on the other side to exit.
*Because they pop and scare people? More likely because the trains are typically crowded and the balloon or string gets stuck in the doorway on the way out!
