4 Days of Shenzhen, China Trip With Family (2011)

This post served as a compilation for all the post relating to my trip to Shenzhen with my dearest family, like what I always did for most of my previous trip. This is also because I don't blog consecutively, so here is to ease myself when I want refer back in future.

Day 1 (28th May 2011)
The Arrival, Sushi & Shopping

Day 2 (29th May 2011)
McD & Continue Shopping

Day 3 (30th May 2011)
City Day Tour Around Shenzhen

• Splendid China Part I: Shenzhen China Folk Culture Village
• Splendid China Part II: Miniature China

Day 4 (31st May 2011)
Last Day & Cheap McD Breakfast

Extra Features:
1. Sofitel Dongguan Human Oriental
2. My Shopping & Food Haul

Although it was a kinda short trip, but I really have a precious and wonderful moments with all my family members. You know its kinda hard to gather all my family together especially my sister who is currently working in Singapore and also my brother is studying in Kuching now. I'm not sure when will my family and I will travel together but I really hope we will have another trip to Singapore this year end where is not just a vacation, holiday for us but also to visit my sister who was being promoted recently.

Shenzhen, China - Day 4 Last Day & Cheap McD Breakfast

Note: So, how's is Valentine's Day celebration? I plan to blog yesterday but I worry that no one gonna read my blog because everyone is busy with lovey dovey. By the way, do you aware that I am doing give-away contest? If not, hurry up and join the fun before it ends this Friday (click here). Good luck guys!

Date of Visited: 31st May 2011

Ok! So this is the final travelogue of my Shenzhen trip with my family. Took me almost 2 months to finish it because I am damn so lazy sometimes. Prefer to blog other things instead.

Back to the story. So, it's the final day and it's time to check-out from the 2nd hotel we stayed in Shenzhen. But before checking out, I saw this notice which stick at the back of the door that kinda attracted me. You might think what special of this notice but please do read the below:

Can you see the "Alien" words? Who on earth does the alien refer to? Sounds weird but yet kinda funny too at same time.

But before check-out, once again my mommy was planning to do her last minute shopping. I mentioned before that the hotel that we're staying was so near to subway station and underneath there, there is even a shopping centre. Hence, my mom would like to venture around before seriously saying goodbye to Shenzhen.

So this is the subway that connecting us to everywhere we wanna go

That's our hotel and can you name the artist on the billboard?

However, it was too earlier for Shenzhen people to start operating their business at 9.00 am. Mommy kinda dissapointed and therefore, decided going back to the hotel. Somehow, I saw this 24 hours McD restaurant and I was told before that if wanna try their pork burger, it is only available for breakfast. Hence, I tried my luck to buy the pork burger. Bingo! Yes, the pork burger is only available in the morning and you won't believe it how much it cost. China's McD breakfast is so freaking cheap.

1 pork burger with the choice either coffee or tea (their tea is cold peach tea, taste much more better which Malaysia don't have) cost RM3 per set. Yes, it cost RM3 only and mommy bought 8 sets of them. I even "tapao" the burger back to KK for my boyfie.

Shenzhen International Airport - It's kinda small and not much things to buy.

Did I mentioned before that even you have free wireless connection but it is kinda sucks cause China totally banned facebook, twitter, youtube and blogspot. Damn! Damn! Damn! I tried to log in facebook, twitter and my own blog for half hour but keep fail to upload for almost thousand times. Not until I went and google search "China Banned Social Network", only then I realised I was so stupid for wasting my time to keep log in.

So, that's all of my Day 4 trip in Shenzhen. And if you're asking me whether will I going back for a second trip, might not at this moment. Better plan and heading to other place of China instead like Shanghai which is currently in my travel list. *cross fingers* I'm looking for a travelmate for trip to Shanghai at this moment.

Photo credit to Wikitravel

Shenzhen, China - Day 3 City Day Tour Around Shenzhen

Only on day 3 I realised that the place that I stayed for the last 2 days was not the real city center of Shenzhen. The name of the city that I stayed is called Dongguan, and it is 1 hour away from Shenzhen city. And because I had expressed my interest to visit Shenzhen on the day before we make a trip there, hence my dad had made an arrangement so all of us got the chance to visit Shenzhen city.

Two drivers arrived at the hotel that we stayed at 10 am and here we go our journey of 1 hour plus to the bustling city of Shenzhen. China's drivers are really damn scary and horrible. They drove like mad, keep "honging" their cars and our hearts are almost pumping out from our body. Thank goodness we reached safely and immediately bid goodbye to the mad and insane drivers. Maybe this is the real behaviour of the way they are driving, I guess!

We checked in to our second hotel and although this hotel is not that luxury and grand like the previous one we stayed before (click here), we are satisfied especially with the strategic location. It is just few steps away from the subway station, hence it is convenient for us to go wherever we want.

Guess what this?

I thought this "extra and special" service is only available in Thailand. Few years back when I went Hatyai, Thailand with family, I saw this inside the drawer of the hotel I stayed. Few years later, I met them again but this time around, it was displayed in the bathroom. But wait! It is not free, you must pay for what you use.

After done with everything, we decided to make a short visit to their shopping center by taking subway. Somehow we faced a lil difficulties when comes to reading their signboard. For your information, all of my family members are banana (This term means Chinese people but don't know how to read Chinese words). Only my mom is the one who know how to read Chinese and I really can't imagine how I could travel if my mom is not joining us. The second reason I said so was because China people are ain't that friendly at all and some are not willing to help. I guess most of you who visited China or ever encounter any China people, maybe you might facing the similar situation as mine too.

Anyhow, China's subway are much way better than Malaysia one and saw the token on the bottom right? Malaysia are sometimes a copycat (if you get what I means)! :P


By the time we were about to shopping, it was lunch time! So, we dine-in in somekind a Taiwanese shop which located under the subway and it is quite tiny which can accommodated up to 10 people at a time only. Their main dishes are so-so but their dessert are superb!

Mango and honeydew ice-cream with assorted kind of fruits

Most of my friends who went Shenzhen before telling me that Shenzhen is one shopping paradise, which I could partly agreed with them if the main purpose of visiting Shenzhen is solely for shopping. But since I had shopping non-stop for the past 2 days, I tends not to shop more on the third day because I start to feel a lil bit sick seeing of those surrounding garments.

After 2 hours plus of shopping, we went to one of Shenzhen's top attractions, Splendid China. I did blog about this previously in two separate post. So if you haven't read them, do check them out! Splendid China is a theme park divided into 2 distinctive park but with only a single ticket.

China Folk Culture Village

Miniature China

The time we spent in Shenzhen was so short and there are many places that we were unable to visit. But I do believe, maybe someday, I will be back again.

Ok! I lied. I did some shopping on the third day but it was last minute shopping. Trust me, really a last minute shopping before going back on the next day.

The handbags and purse on the left side are for my besties and cousin and the socks on the left are for boyfie. Only the shoe and the belt are belong to me.



I always dream to own this shoe but in Malaysia, it is quite pricey.
I managed to bought this for RM40++ in Shenzhen.

Splendid China Part II: Miniature China

Date of Visited: 30th May 2011

Continue from the previous post of Part 1, the other part of Splendid China is Miniature Park. This theme park is one of the world's largest scenery parks where it showcase the replicas of China's historical and ancient buildings, marvellous scenes and exciting culture.

Not only surrounded by the replicas, but the exhibits are also surrounded by pleasant and beautiful gardens with many flowers and trees.

At here, you can see replicas of all the China famous landmark and buildings in one day where it was perfectly being constructed in a ratio of 1:15. The exhibits are even positioned to replicate their geographical locations. Consequently, you will feel like you are visiting the entire China without have to travel so far away.

The long and masterpiece of the replica of Dazu Buddhist Stone Sculpture.

One of the must seen replicas is The Terra Cotta Warriors and Horses, where it was being replicated exactly the same like the original one which located at Xian City, Shaanxi Province.

The famous landmarks and building in China. Can you name them all?

There are even some replicas being built on the water, which really impress me.

For your information, this is the second miniature theme park I visited whereas my maiden visit was the one in Taiwan - Window on China Theme Park. Both have their own unique and distinctive features and showcases different kind of replicas but somehow, I think the best miniature theme park will be the one in Taiwan. One of the reason I said so it because Splendid China did a low maintenance for their replicas as I did saw some of them are damaged.

Anyhow, it is worth to make a visit to this theme park with your family and friends as it is comes with two different kind of parks, including China Folk Culture Village with one single ticket. The recommended time to visit this second part of the theme park might roughly be 2-3 hours. It is more spacious than the first one.

There even a park where those trees were planted by the most famous people in the world. Wander around and seeing all the name, sorry to say I can't recognise any of them.

Opening hours: 09:00 to 18:00
Admission fee: 120 RMB including China Folk Culture Village
How to go there: Shenzhen Subway Line 1 and stop at "Huaqiaocheng" (Overseas Chinese Town) station. Upon reaching there, find Exit D and Splendid China is situated on the right-hand side.

[Credit to: Wikipedia, Travel China Guide, Startinchina.com, Passportchop.com]

Splendid China Part I: Shenzhen China Folk Culture Village

Date of Visited: 30th May 2011

After shopping like mad for the past 2 days (Day 1 & Day 2 post), I decided to make a visit to one of Shenzhen's attractions on the third day. You know the sinful when brought your camera along to a trip but never fully utilise it.There are few of attractions to name of when comes to Shenzhen including Window of the World, Splendid China, Happy Valley and so on. Upon all the list of the attractions, I more interested with Window of the World and Splendid China as these two are the top list. But due to time constraint, I can only pick one and after done with all the research and findings, Splendid China is my final choice.

Both Window of the World and Splendid China are located so close to each other and if you really have a whole day around Shenzhen, you can visit it both in a day. The reason I choose Splendid China is because I can visit two distinctive parks with a single ticket of entrance. Splendid China is split into two parts; China Folk Culture Village and Miniature China. This is what they call "Travel with Smart". Hence for this first part of post, I will blog about China Folk Culture Village first.

There are many ways to reach Splendid China but we prefer to take subway. Take Shenzhen Subway Line 1 and stop at "Huaqiaocheng" (Overseas Chinese Town) station. Upon reaching there, find Exit D and Splendid China is situated on the right-hand side. The admission fee is 120 RMB for adult and 60 RMB for children.

The performance time and map.

Do take note that the admission fee doesn't include to watch few of the performances which requires you to pay extra.

The vividly coloured Chinese umbrella hanging around the culture village.

Maybe due to cause we reached there quite late, we were unlucky to see those people dressed in ethnic costumes and the portrayal of ethnic village life. Therefore, the only we can do is wander around and took a few photo around the theme park.

The stage for the performance

Loves these huge Chinese changing masks "Bian Lian" hanging on the way

There are few stalls that could buy some local snacks and small gifts.

We took more than an hour to venture around the first part of this Splendid China, whereas you might eventually need at least two hours if interested to watch the performance. For the second part of the Splendid China will be blog soon. So stay tune!


[Credit to: China Highlights, Travel China Guide, Startinchina.com]

Sofitel Dongguan Human Oriental

Small Note: It's been a week I didn't manage to update my blog. It's not because busy for the preparation of CNY, but I was busy hanging out with my boyfie, bestie and family. I did received 2 pairs of free movie ticket for 2 consecutive nights too.

Just like Hilton, Ibis, Novotel, Shangri-La hotels; Sofitel is another kind of hotel chain but more towards to luxury type. There are more than 150 unique of Sofitel hotels over 40 countries and I really felt the bliss when I got the chance to stay one of them during my stay in Shenzen for two nights with my family. It's been quite a while I didn't stay in such kind of luxury hotel since ever I backpacking for more than 10 countries and stayed in backpacker hostel or guest house.

Sofitel Dongguan Humen Oriental is located 45 minutes away from Shenzhen International Airport and it is absolutely an excellent location as there are tons of wholeseller retailer shops behind.

The glamorous entrance of the hotel

Lobby and lounge located on the 10th floor

Catch a glimpse on the big and luxurious room

Overview of the room

The room is equipped with iron, iron board, umbrella and more.

Outstanding freestanding bathtub and separate showers. You can even enjoy watching TV while showering.

Panoramic city view from the room on 39th floors

It's really a sin to see a huge and long mirror inside the room. Not only one, but there are two mirrors somemore.

Overview of the room: What else can I wish for more when staying in this kind of room. Everything is provided and it really makes me feel like I was at home. It is truly a comfort and enjoyable stay. We didn't even bother about our meals as there are many restaurants and shop nearby. However there is always a lil bit of cons when comes to the services. Maybe because of the "nature" attitude and behaviour of China people, their services tend to be in low quality and have a clueless staff. During our last day of stay and about to check out, their staff came in with sudden and it's really gave me a shocked. This is totally a ridiculous service. We did inform the service counter lady regarding this issue and hopefully they will reconsider this in future.

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Before I end this post, I would like each and everyone of you
"Good Luck and Good Fortune in this
Prosperous Chinese New Year"

My latest hairstyle on the right after cutting my 8 inches long and curly hair for this CNY.
(Photo taken and edited using HTC Desire HD)
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