Miss All This New

I was in Shenzhen a month ago.  I don’t remember this pod of skyscrapers.  I stayed at a collection of newly built hotels and office building along the Baoan bay but was it that one over there?  No.  It was, upon checking, another “new” area further down the coast.  Shenzhen seems to be growing faster than usual.   How did I miss all this new development? 

On this trip we held a meeting up in the PingAn tower.  It’s huge.  Security is tight.  The people were friendly.  Before long we had to cut across town and hold a separate meeting in the Tencent towers.  It’s huge as well.  There is a landing area on the fortieth floor so that feels like a space port.  Indeed, the building itself looks like it is ready to blast off, at any minute. 

At the Snake Head port, we have dropped off our two guests, who are heading on to catch their flight in Hong Kong.  My friend and I search for a place to have a drink and end up with two cans of beer on the public benches until a large group of mainlanders envelop our area, listening to the instructions from the pushy man with a yellow flag, who is reminding them all of what they need to do once they arrive in Hong Kong.

In the car, it’s an hour’s shot out to the airport and it’s time to turn a conference call on.  That’s a lot easier to navigate at 4:00PM then it is at 3:00AM from New York.  I’m listening, but I’m not really needed and I’m only so engaged.  The driver is willing to help me charge this phone and I begin to thumbing around with my other device, checking once again to see if there is any new news.  Have they stumbled on anything important, overnight?  They have not.  

Monday, 11/04/19