Hello-I'll be flying to Shenzhen in two days and I'll need to bus into HK. And then later I'll need to bus to Shenzhen. I'm going to HK for visa purposes (my F expires and I'm switching to a tourist one). I'm looking for a simple, quick walkthrough guide on what to do when I get to Shenzhen. My Chinese is frankly pretty terrible at the moment. Will it be hard to find a bus in Shenzhen to take me to HK? Any strategy for getting as close to the Hong Kong PRC visa office as possible? I have lots of RMB on me, will it be hard to get it converted to HK$ or will I have to use my American ATM cards at the ATMs?

Cheers and thanks for any/all

edit: what about hostels or cheap hotels in the area?

I stayed as Yes Inn - bloody loved it....it's on Hostel World. It's in Wanchai which was perfect for me as i need to go to the Chinese Embassy but it's near lots of restaurants etc etc and i hear quite the man friendly night life.

The bus is so easy....i can't remember which company i used, but it's the bright orange buses. As soon as you come out of arrivals there's about 3 companies, all had English signs etc....i'd been recommended this orange and pink bus company as they went to Wanchai so used them. I paid for a return, they give you a sticker, they then take you to the next coach leaving, pop you on it, when you get to the border, they turf you off, you go through the border control then you just walk where the buses are and because of your sticker one of the staff points you in the right direction or just look for the bus with your destination on. They wont let you get on the wrong one.

Then off you go to downtown!

It's really easy!! I'll try to remember the name of the company i used, they had a website.

And for the money, there's so many little exchange places all over, not in banks etc. It's so easy to change over RMB. Go to the little places on the street. They look dodgy but give you a good rate.

And of course, so long as any card you have has VISA, M/C etc....you;ll be fine. Hong Kong was owned by the British you know. We've sorted that bit of China out no end.

Ok not quite as orange as i remember them...but i used these guys...

http://www.trans-island.com.hk/eng/china-line.html

And i've stayed in this hostel:

http://www.yesinn.com/hk/ehostel.htm

My room really was like in the pix! Of course it was small, but it is Hong Kong.

You're a great help miss_t, this whole travel issue came up so quickly for me - I appreciate it.

Is it possible to show up and find a hotel/hostel, or must I book in advance?

News_by_KKO wrote:You can also book cheap hotels on Elong and such. Usually most places in SZ & HK have space as long as its not the dead of tourist season. My house is in Shenzhen and I commute between HK and Shanghai. My suggestion is you take the MTR to Futian Koan (China side)/Lok Man Chao (HK side) and walk across the border right into the Shenzhen metro station. You can also change money from HK to RMB or the other way right at the border. Dont go to the Lohu border crossing.

NBKKO is correct... Do NOT go for the Lohu border... It's packed and very inefficient due to poor design back in the days...
The Futian border is very convenient..

EDIT: Unless of course you stay at the Shangri-La hotel...

I think you'll be ok to turn up and just wing it with accomodation, unless there is something going on like holiday or sports event.

There were tonnes of hostels in Wanchai that i walked past so i can't see it being a problem!

The way I like to get a visa is take a taxi from the Shenzhen airport to Shekou. Shekou is a modern part of Shenzhen with many westerners, restaurants, and hotels much cheaper than Hong Kong. Stay in Shekou for one night and then take the first ferry in the morning to Hong Kong. Go straight to visa office and put in your application for rush service. Go stay at the Ramada hotel for 450 hk$ that is just a bit out of central. Get you visa the next day then ferry back to Shekou and taxi to Shenzhen airport.

This is the nicest way to do the visa run. The easiest border to cross is between hk and shenzhen via the ferry.

Limit time in Hong Kong as it is expensive.

The part of Shekou you want to stay in is called Seaworld. Have somebody write in Chinese Shekou Seaworld on a piece of paper and show it to the taxi driver at Shenzhen airport.

News_by_KKO wrote:^
I agree this is an option but Sea World and Shekou is not all that great. It really far from central SZ and its not modern by SZ standards. Its just the dumping ground for foreigners in SZ. I have several friends there. I love Shenzhen and Shekou does have some stuff but most of the foreign restaurants have been sold to locals so they suck or/and are really expensive.

The ferry is a good idea thou. I did that several times and its really super convenient. It think its like an hour to get from Shekou to HK central and customs is much faster.

I personally think (my opinion) OP is better of in HK spending money on things then Shekou. Especially if OP does not speak Chinese and is used to Shanghai foreign food. Like I said I love SZ but if you are looking for foreign food or English this ain't the place.

The only thing Shekou is good for is chicken street... and that's some sorry arses chickens they got there...

Great stuff everyone, what a huge help and relief.

yamari wrote:The way I like to get a visa is take a taxi from the Shenzhen airport to Shekou. Shekou is a modern part of Shenzhen with many westerners, restaurants, and hotels much cheaper than Hong Kong. Stay in Shekou for one night and then take the first ferry in the morning to Hong Kong. Go straight to visa office and put in your application for rush service. Go stay at the Ramada hotel for 450 hk$ that is just a bit out of central. Get you visa the next day then ferry back to Shekou and taxi to Shenzhen airport.

This is the nicest way to do the visa run. The easiest border to cross is between hk and shenzhen via the ferry.

Limit time in Hong Kong as it is expensive.

The part of Shekou you want to stay in is called Seaworld. Have somebody write in Chinese Shekou Seaworld on a piece of paper and show it to the taxi driver at Shenzhen airport.

I like this idea, would it be hard for me to find the ferry? Can I show up the morning of and just go? Cheers.

seaworld is 15 minute walk or 3 minutes by taxi to the ferry.

Great. My final two questions

(1) What is the earliest ferry time?

(2) I know the address to the place (as seen here http://www.fmcoprc.gov.hk/eng/zgqz/bgfwxx/), but is it easy to find or should I hop in a taxi and give the driver the address?

Cheers

its a 5 minute walk from wan chai mtr station

ignore the above post about using an agency if you are getting a work visa. the fastest is going to the immigration office and doing the rush service one day. if you want a toursit visa just go to the ferry in shekou and it takes 30 minutes for a 90 day dual entry visa.

take ferry to central at 745 am - get in a cab to visa office. you need to arrive there as soon as possible and get there for the morning session. I have done the 745 ferry and went straight to visa office and was out of there by 945 am. It's cheaper to book hotels for hk in advance on elong.com

yamari wrote: if you want a toursit visa just go to the ferry in shekou and it takes 30 minutes for a 90 day dual entry visa.

This is exactly what I'm doing. My current F expires soon, and I won't be on student visa until January. Could you expand on how the ferry in Shekou helps me get a 90 day dual entry tourist visa?

you need to get into hk and take the ferry back from hk central to shekou ferry dock. There is a visa agent that will do 90 day visas for you there just after getting off the ferry in shekou.

You cant get to the visa agent from the chinese side as you must be coming from hk to get to that fast visa agent.

So if I was you now that you said you were looking for a tourist visa I would get off the plane in Shenzhen and either go to Lohou and cross on foot or take the ferry from shekou. No need to stay in Hk just take ferry back to Shekou ferry dock.

If shekou visa agent doesnt work then you can just go back to hk and do the long visa process. Everyone I know that is from a western country has had success getting a visa at the shekou ferry dock.

yamari wrote:you need to get into hk and take the ferry back from hk central to shekou ferry dock. There is a visa agent that will do 90 day visas for you there just after getting off the ferry in shekou.

You cant get to the visa agent from the chinese side as you must be coming from hk to get to that fast visa agent.

So if I was you now that you said you were looking for a tourist visa I would get off the plane in Shenzhen and either go to Lohou and cross on foot or take the ferry from shekou. No need to stay in Hk just take ferry back to Shekou ferry dock.

If shekou visa agent doesnt work then you can just go back to hk and do the long visa process. Everyone I know that is from a western country has had success getting a visa at the shekou ferry dock.

Good plan, but not very specific. "That visa agent." How do I find him? Is it a company? What is its name?

Cheers

edit: prices? and how can I take a return ferry from HK to Shekou if I haven't finalized my VISA yet?

News_by_KKO wrote:

Draracle wrote:
edit: prices? and how can I take a return ferry from HK to Shekou if I haven't finalized my VISA yet?

If you go to the head CTS office in central at 10am and ask really nicely they can get your visa the same day. That way you take the first ferry to HK, run down to the CTS office, spend the day shoping in HK and head back to China the same night. Done it.

Thanks, but your link says:

(IV) Non-Hong Kong Identity Card holders cannot apply for multi-entries visa.

And I see nothing about prices

You can take a ferry from Hong kong to Shekou ferry without a visa as you dont pass customs until you get off the ferry. The visa office is easy to find as it's right there when you come off the ferry. It is about 840 rmb for a 90 day dual entry visa. Take two pictures with you.

Or you can fly straight to Hk and go to Shekou on the ferry before passing customs. ie stay in the hk airport and instead of going through customs jump on next ferry to Shekou. I did this last year from Korea and 90 minutes after arriving in Hk I was was walking through customs in Shekou China with a 90 day tourist visa.

Big thanks for the help, at the very least I'll do your Seaworld plan. Stay there tomorrow night and take the ferry first thing in the morning. I don't see how going straight to the embassy and passing out at some hostel would be more expensive than an agent though!

Ah, wish me luck! =

If the visa is indeed 840RMB as yamari says then i reckon that's cheaper than staying in HKG!

I think the standard 30 entry L visa for a US passport is over 1000RMB on it's own right???

the cost of the visa is fixed by your country of origin. 30 days, 60 days, 90 days, 1 entry, 2 entry, multiple are all the same price.