“Mei Li Guan” If you say so.
An exburb section of Shenzhen, returning from a meeting, immaculate new
buildings, run down concrete, struggling businesses, abandoned lot, someone
else’s rubble. Some fashionably dressed ladies at the bus stop next to some bumpkin
looking pedestrians with sacks. I’m on my way to Huanggang Kouan where I’ll grab a bus over to TST in Hong
Kong. I called a private limo service that wanted a thousand kuai and a half hour wait, which all
seemed a bit silly.
I’ve been in Shenzhen twenty four hours and have had one driver
from Guangdong, one from Hunan, two from Henan and one from Shandong.
This city always self selects for entrepreneurial, risk-neutral go-getters, as
well as hustlers, and shysters and drifters. The cabbies provide an
interesting slice of the nation in a way that never happens with the drivers
you get in Beijing or Shanghai, who protect their civic entitlements,
aggressively.
This time there is something new. Even if you’re in the
back of a cab, you better put on your seat belt. First ride I thought it
was an annoyance, but the second ride the driver showed me the dragnet where
everyone who hadn't buckled up, was pulled over and fined. They seem to take
this all very seriously in Shenzhen. That’s fine. Safety
first. But what prompted it? “Let’s become China’s safest city!” We are even safer than our erstwhile model city Hong Hong.
My phone is driving me crazy. I have a 4G connection, but
it won’t let me get on line. Then it does. I’ve tried
everything. Twice. My last cabbie gave me a number to call at China
Mobile. I rang them. They told me they could help me. In
twenty minutes reset your phone she said with great confidence. This
ought to help, she insisted. It did nothing. I have wasted lots of
brain power fantasizing about going into an Apple store ASAP to demand a new
phone (assuming I’m still under warranty.) But who knows with a problem
like that? It could be any of 100 reasons. I’ve only eliminated a
few.
OK. The Kouan
looms before me.
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