I went to China!

Today I went to Shenzhen, China to kick off my holiday shopping. I had bought a visa earlier in the week because I can't get across the border without one. Five of us got up early, so that we could arrive as the stores opened. Two of the teachers brought wheeled suitcases which I discovered is quite common because people buy so much stuff here to bring back to Hong Kong. My learning support teammate had a book on the mall in Shenzhen and had highlighted particular stores to visit.

After a variety of MTR rides and an hour in passport lines, we made it across the border and ventured into the giant mall. We squished into an elevator with other customers toting a variety of luggage on wheels from carry-on size to giant.

Our first stop was for DVD's. We found the shop #21 which we were looking for but were surprised to find golf-clubs and random stereo equipement rather than dvd's. The salesmen assured us it was fine and invited us in. We were each asked to sit on these kiddy sized plastic chairs while they pulled down the metal security door to the shop. Then one of the guys climbed up on the shelves, moved one of the ceiling panels and disappeared through the ceiling. We were passed books of dvd covers and asked to pick. When we picked a dvd the other salesman recorded a number and spoke into his walkie talkie. About 10 minutes later, the security door would lift about a foot and a bag would be shoved under which contained our selections. When getting ready to leave we had to stay because the police were checking the floor. It was a bit spooky but pretty funny too. Those dvd's were my only illegal purchases for the day.

I am not going to go into anymore detail because I want to keep most of my purchases a secret because I don't want to give away gifts.