China – Shenzhen – IV

This is the story of a Chinese Amazing Race. Lots of text to follow, but a good story.

I have lived in several countries and cities for short but extended periods of time – Madrid and Brazil for 1 month each, Italy for 3 months. Even if these are temporary destinations, I prefer to feel like more than a passive tourist. I like to wander off on my own and explore the city, struggle with the language barrier, and get that sometimes scary but wonderfully liberating feeling of being lost and completely out of my element. I hadn’t quite gotten that feeling yet from Shenzhen since there were several very capable mandarin speakers who would translate, and Wesley would always order for us when we went out to eat and guide us in the correct direction. We also usually traveled as a group or in smaller groups wherever we went. I agree that in most situations this is ideal for efficiency, safety, and overall makes the trip run more smoothly. However I didn’t really feel like I was in China. I had been to Wal-mart, McDonalds, and was traveling about a very new and well-planned out city. I was itching to break free from my comfort zone. Thus I pestered Wesley to let me do something on my own, go on my Chinese Adventure, but have him nearby just in case I really dug myself into a hole. He almost let me cross from the grey zone in between Hong Kong and China into China by myself, but thought better of that within 10 seconds. That would have been easy however since there is a designated path to enter Shenzhen, and I had done it before.

On the next to last night Wesley gave me an envelope with my name on it and said it was time for my adventure. At first I objected a little, it was almost midnight and I wanted to sleep, but Wesley said the clues would be gone by morning. The first clue brought me to a nearby rollerskating park where I found my next clue taped to the ground. It was too dark to read the clue so I walked over to the nearest streetlight and Wesley appeared out of nowhere to yell I was going in the wrong direction. The next clue required me to go to the 5th telephone booth. It was so hot and humid I felt disgusting as I walked through the night. At the same time it was awesome to be walking somewhat alone through a suburban area under trees next to an empty road. Wesley appeared again to walk with me since we were walking by a park where someone had gotten stabbed before. I found the next clue by ‘looking up to the stars’ in the 5th telephone booth, and proceeded to the an avenue of palm trees. Here I got a little lost and confused, I didn’t really understand where I was supposed to look. At first I walked by the row of palms because there were 3 shady looking guys walking by, then I returned and looked around but couldn’t find it so I started walking backwards thinking maybe it was elsewhere. Wesley called me and asked where I was going, so I returned and found the next clue taped to a palm tree. It required me to walk down some steps, through a white tented environmentally themed pavilion, down some more steps to a Brazilian BBQ restaurant. I found me next clue under a table at the restaurant, and proceeded to the Pizza hut as required by the clue. I didn’t know however, that there were no more clues so I started picking up trash paper and bottles off the ground in front of Pizza hut looking for more clues while Wesley was off talking to some dude. Wesley returned and we walked toward the final destination – a mysterious large ship lit up in different colors plopped down on land next to a main road. We tried to figure out how to enter the ship, but it was supposedly closed. Undeterred, we entered an elevator where Wesley used his people skills to start talking to a random man in the elevator. It turned out this man was a member of the band that plays inside the bar of the ship, and he took us through a back entrance inside. It was a cool bar but they were closing since it was 2am by this point, so we headed into the attached upscale hotel to cool down with some water and chat before heading back to the hostel.