Randomly Walking Around Shen Zhen

This time I was prepared for my China trip. I got a pre-paid China Mobile SIM card, so I was able to access the internet. The funny thing is, assuming that all of you guys know that many mainstream social media platforms are blocked, the China Mobile SIM card allowed access to Google, Instagram  and other mainstream media platforms. I was surprised that I had access to most of these platforms when everyone online were talking about the great firewall. Maybe Shen Zhen's network is more lax? 

 For this trip I had a pretty loose plan on where I was going to visit, so I wasn't pressured by time. Yet again I had under estimated the size and distance discrepancy between the map and the actual road, so I ended up walking for miles. 

One of the destinations that I had planned to visit was this green area on the map, which I thought was going to be a grassy area near the sea, but it ended up being a fairly large wetland area. I was surprised to see that the seaside was blocked off by large ominous metal fences, and military men diligently watching their smart phones. 

The weather was rather foggy, and it has been this way for quite a while now. We haven't had a nice clear day in ages. Kinda depressing to be honest.   

My random walk around the city had me cowering before this behemoth of a building. Calling a building of this size a behemoth, when I lived my whole life in various cities, may come off as strange, but after walking through areas with low buildings, and then suddenly coming across a large building really messed up my senses. 

I was somewhat relieved to be passing by this mall, because I was feeling pretty hungry by the time I had reached this part of the trip. I walked around the mall looking for a place to eat while surveying for anything unique that I may only find in China, but I might have been expecting too much from the unique part. It was pretty much like any mall that you would find all around the world. 

I eventually settled for some food from a supermarket, and I was fairly surprised at the quality of the food considering it's price. The meal that I had was cheaper than any typical meal that I would have in any other major cities that I have been to, and the quality of the meal was really fair. If I were working around this district I would have found myself visiting this supermarket quite often. 

After my meal I continued on my journey, and this time I was planning on going to another park, and then a lake. As you can see below, the roads here in Shen Zhen are pretty wide. What you generally see on your maps may deceive you, because distances that seem short end up being much longer. 

Before making it over to the lake I stopped by a park which was on the way. I though it wouldn't hurt to drop by, but it really didn't interest me much.

I eventually made it to the lake, which was one of the recommended locations to visit, so I was really looking forward to the destination. At first I wasn't too disappointed as the view was pretty nice, but I soon realized that most of the areas around the lake was under construction. Much of what was around the lake was inaccessible, and even simple roads leading through the lake were completely blocked off, I eventually ended up walking all around the block only to realize the other side of the bridge was completely sealed off as well.  

At this point I called it a day, and then I decided to pack up and go home. Overall it was an interesting trip with a good amount of walking, but I was somewhat disappointed because I didn't feel wowed by anything.