pakdoktergolfblog: Shenzen, Here we Come...

16th December 2009

The Royal Selangor Golf Club was scheduled to play in the Annual Interport Game against The Hong Kong Golf Club at the latter's turf on Saturday, December 19th 2009. Originally a group of almost 20 RSGC members signed up to the planned pre-match Shenzen Golf Tour. However so many last minute cancellations reduced the group to just 9 golfers which unfortunately affected the average cost for each of the touring golfer.

The group left Kuala Lumpur on Airasia at 650 am which forced most of us to wake up at 4 am to check-in at the LCCT by 5 am that morning. Being a holiday period, the Airasia plane was full with holidaying Malaysians and returning mainland Chinese tourists.

Shenzen turned out to be colder than what the group had expected. Apparently a cold front had just swept through bringing with it temperatures of around 12 to single digit celcius. So many of us had to either resort to multi-layered outfits or invest in warmer winter clothes.

Shenzen is a typical monstrous Chinese industrial city. The mushrooming high-rise buildings and the big malls of the financial district reflected the current wealth and prosperity of the new China. There was not much evidence of the doom and gloom of an economy in recession we hear everyday on CNBC Business Channel that these days plagued the western economies.....

The group checked into the Days Inn Hotel, a tourist class hotel located near the Shenzen train station and not far from the immigration CIQ complex to go to Hong Kong. We walked to a nearby mall for lunch after which most of us chose to pamper our tired legs and body to the many outlets offering foot reflexology, foot massage, pedicure, manicure and even facial make-over if one was game for it! A 2-hour indulgence cost only about 75RMB ( about RM35 - quite a deal actually). A full facial treatment to rid facial blemishes, warts and moles using ?peroxide wash followed by laser/diathermy therapy can cost up to 2000RMB.

What struck pakdokter the most was how aggressive the shop attendants were in trying to sell their goods or services. When persuasions did not achieve the desired sales after much haggling and bargaining, they can become quite hostile and intimidating.......

walking to the mall near the Shenzen train station...

modern metropolis that Shenzen is...

manicure, pedicure and foot massage....

pakAzizi to pakdokter's left did a facial makeover......wow!....

waiting for the feet to be pampered while enjoying sweet sweet little mandarins...

Mr Chong Kuet Yoon and Pong Kai See...

see the satisfied look on Goh Kee San's face after a foot treatment...

For dinner the group chose to go to a Muslim Restaurant specialising in lamb dishes. Apart from the tasty grilled lamb on skewers, the outlet also served lamb slices from various cuts to be cooked a a boiling broth - very much like the steamboat. It was quite a delicious spread......And the bottle of Glenmorangie Nectar d'Or helped keep everybody happy....

the Little Sheep Restaurant,