We left Macau ferry terminal and boarded our ferry towards Shenzhen, Shekou ferry terminal. The ferry ride was approximately 1 hour long. Upon arrival, a handful of taxi touts approached us. But we headed to the designated taxi stand itself as we wanted a metered cab. Thankfully there was no queue and we got on a metered taxi towards 'Lao Jie', the heart of where the shopping is and incidentally, where our hotel was located at. The cab ride was approximately 30 minutes long and it cost us about SGD $14.
|| ACCOMODATION ||
(Above) : Superior Queen room at Sunon hotel.
The hotel we stayed in is called 'Sunon Hotel' and its a stone throw away from all the shopping at Lao Jie. Prices are also extremely reasonable. I paid around SGD 60 per night for my room. The room was clean and self-sufficient. It had all the basic needs I needed: air-conditioning, bed, tv, clean toilet. However, the room was very small with limited walking space in the toilet and the bed was rather hard. But for SGD 60 a night, I ain't complaining. Plus being located in the shopping district of Lao Jie, it was a very big draw for the shopaholic in me.
Sunon Hotel
55 Yongxin Street, Jiefang road
518001, Luohu - Dongmen, Shenzhen
|| Shopping ||
(Above) : Around the Lao Jie shopping district
|| Lao Jie 老街 ||
Headed to Lao Jie to shop first and that place is massive! Lots and lots of shops selling female apparel, accessories, kid's clothes and man's apparel. Its like a mega big Far East Plaza or a bigger version of Bangkok's Platinum Mall.
The small boutique store owners will quote you a price in Chinese and you will have to bargain down from there. Some of the quotes I received were really ridiculous. Eg: SGD 100 for a dress. Others were more manageable like SGD 12 for a blouse. My bargaining skills ain't that great so generally I ended up paying $5 on average for a pair of shorts and $10 - $15 for a blouse. Didn't really buy any dresses as most were extremely short and some rather sheer. Most of the shops do not have a changing room so that's the big risk you would have to take when buying these cheap apparel. I made the mistake of buying a romper, only to realise that they was no zip inside it! So note to self, please check the clothes before buying!
There are some wholesale shopping malls called 'white horse' but I didn't manage to get anything I fancy. There are also authentic branded shops such as 'Li Ning' and those international brands such as 'Nike', 'Uniqlo'. Prices weren't cheaper though. In fact some were more expensive.
There is a 10 Yuan shop which translates to SGD $2. Everything is 10 Yuan but some of the special items are 15 Yuan instead. Manage to get some female accessories from those shops.
There are tons of shops selling handphone accessories too. Got some handphone chargers and connectors for half the price of what is being sold here. The handphone cases are also dirt cheap. There were cases going for as low as SGD 50 cents.
Lao Jie, Luohu, Shenzhen
|| Luo Hu Commerical City 罗湖商业城 ||
This shopping centre at Luo Hu is located just next to the border of Hong Kong. I didn't really fancy this place as it was filled with lots of touts and felt very dangerous. Every 5 metres a tout would come up to you offering some discount if you went to their shop. Somehow I found Lao Jie much safer! Luo Hu Commerical City is basically filled with level after level of branded goods, but the inspired versions. I must say the workmanship of some were of extremely high quality.
Luohu Commerical City
Shenzhen 528000
|| Rainbow departmental store 天虹商场 ||
There is a chain of Rainbow departmental stores around Shenzhen. They sell mainly female apparel and cosmetics. The workmanship of the apparels are definitely much better than the smaller no name boutique shops but at the same time, prices are much higher too. The cosmetics department sold mainly international brands.
17 Xinyuan Road, Luohu District, Shenzhen
|| 1234 Space at Dongmen ||
A shopping mall in Lao Jie which houses H&M and other local and foreign brands in the comforts of a clean and properly air-conditioned building. Another plus point is that changing rooms are provided for you to try your clothes on. Most of the designs were targeted at the trendy teenager and young adult. Prices are more expensive here but at least you get to see if the clothes fits you before purchasing.
3018 Jianshe Lu, Luohu District, Shenzhen
I spent most of my time wandering through the many boutique shops located at Lao Jie. It was simply just massive and one couldn't finish shopping the entire district within a day. Many online sites claim that one would get scolded if you asked for a price and walk away without purchasing. However, this was certainly not what I experienced. Many were willing to offer a price and had a wait-and-see approach. I didn't get shouted or screamed at for not buying a particular item. My only frightening experience was while buying some street food. I was putting my change into my wallet when this guy came up to me, asking me to give him my change. I was startled for a moment as it seem as though he was going to shove his hand into my purse and run away with my money. Thankfully he was a nice person and didn't harass me further when I told him no. Other than that, I actually felt quite safe in Lao Jie somehow. There were police constantly patrolling the area on their buggies. I even walked out of my hotel at 2am to buy McDonalds. So if you're into shopping for Far East Plaza or Platinum Mall type of clothes, I would highly recommend you check out the Lao Jie shopping district in Shenzhen.