Shenzhen lies on the southern coast of China. Naturally, one would think it would have at least one beach in the city…but beaches don’t go with the image of a modern technical city, and so they’ve been traded in for excessive development (with the exception of Shenzhen Bay Park, which is a beautiful, green walking and biking path along the rocky coast).
With a tropical environment, Shenzhen residents need a beach. Fortunately there are several beaches within 50 kilometers of the metropolis. Unfortunately, millions of people (literally) flock to them on the weekends. Consequently, it can take several hours to get there due to crawling and stand-still traffic THE. ENTIRE. WAY. If there were a place to bicycle, I would do it as it would be faster.
So, when my friend invited me to join her and a handful of our other friends at a beach on the weekend, I was hesitant. I didn’t want to be stuck in traffic most of the weekend. But then I learned we would take a high speed train there since it was 150 kilometers away. In just 40 minutes, we could be there and not have to worry about traffic!
Martin and I bought train tickets and booked a hotel room. We arrived at the train station two hours early because we had to pick up our tickets from a manned window since foreigners cannot use the automatic teller machines to do this (much to my chagrin). Saturday is hopping at the train station and we stood in line for nearly an hour to get our tickets.
Once we arrived in Huidong, I learned that we were still about 50 kilometers from the beach. A plethora of drivers are always lurking about train stations and since two of us were Chinese, they were able to negotiate a reasonable price. Our group of 7 barely fit in the 7 passenger van with the driver, but we made it work.
Two hours later we arrived at our hotel ragged and hungry. Even though this beach is not well known, there are enough people in China to make even unknown places crowded. Additionally, this area had two beaches: east and west. The west side was booming with development with more high-rises being built than you can count. The east side had none of these. But, there was only one road to both beaches, forking only at the last few kilometers. That, along with construction and stupid drivers made for a long afternoon in a hot car.
The beach was vast with beautiful white soft sand. Had someone been responsible for the cleaning of it, it would have been even nicer. There wasn’t a lot of trash, but there was enough to make it a little uncomfortable.
The water was cool and shallow. During high tide, it was clear enough for some snorkeling, even though there wasn’t much to see. One of our friends loves surfing, and many people come to this beach exactly for that reason. Unfortunately, the waves were too small to do much surfing at all.
I enjoyed relaxing on the beach, chatting with my friends and swimming to stay cool. I enjoyed eating a fresh coconut on the beach. I enjoyed watching Martin chat with other beach goers and scavenge the beach for abandoned/forgotten things. In the end, our group left with several found treasures: a tent, a yoga mat, three pairs of shoes, and a new pair of swimming goggles.
Because this beach wasn’t developed, our only option for food was at our hotel. The lobby served as the dining room. There was no menu. Instead, you had to tell them what you wanted to eat. There were fish tanks out back that you could view to help make your choice. I was again thankful we had Chinese speakers to help us.
Getting back to the train station proved even more challenging than the previous day’s adventure. Our driver arrived one hour late due to traffic. This meant that the three hours we had allowed to get to the train station were now reduced to two. This driver knew the area very well but wasn’t very good at making decisions. There was one official road to and from the beach. But there were two other unofficial roads. He tried one of the unofficial roads first. It was OK until it deteriorated to a dirt path pocked with pot holes, rocks, and filled with traffic. We were at a standstill.
Having no patience, he turned around and tried the official road. Also, a standstill. He pulled over and spent several minutes using the bathroom before we turned around to try the last unofficial road. By this time, we had been in the car for an hour and we were still at our hotel. Literally. He had to drive by it to get to the last unofficial road. His indecision had wasted an hour. Now, we were essentially two hours late. We had one hour to get to our train. We wouldn’t make it.
He had hesitated taking this last route for good reason. It was also a dirt road filled with bumps that made it uncomfortable and slow. But we were moving. At one point, the road was so steep and made of such loose dirt that we had to get out and walk up the hill while he drove. The view from the top was spectacular.
This dirt road continued along the edge of a steep cliff. Our driver told us not to worry because he was “an excellent driver.” One of our friends told us a terrifying story of the time his uncle had also proclaimed himself “an excellent driver” on a similar road and then proceeded to drive off of it and wreck the car. Thankfully, this time we were safe.
The road eventually became paved and we drove traffic-free through gorgeous fields.
We missed our train by 45 minutes. Fortunately, there were many trains going back to Shenzhen, so we just got on the next one. The only downside was that we had all purchased first class tickets; we had been looking forward to the nicer seats. Having missed our train, we now had to stand. Thankfully it was only a 40 minute train ride and there was beer.
Traveling in China is always a mixed bag. The sights are beautiful, the people are nice, the adventure is always surprising. On the other hand, the traffic is always terrible, the place never lives up to your expectations, and choices are always limited.
But isn’t that life? I’ve come to be more willing to go with the flow, less rigid in my preferences and expectations. I find happiness in accepting the experience for what it is, not yearning for what it isn’t. Yes, this trip was a bit of pain, but it was also a blast hanging out with my friends, getting away from the city, and soaking up life’s treasures.
What a trip! Glad you got home safely!