It was low season in Yangshuo, so I decided to travel somewhere myself, then it came my first backpacking trip. Back then, I didn't know much about traveling even though I had hosted many ambitious travelers at my B&B in Yangshuo. It took me a while to adjust myself from being home to traveling. Shenzhen was my first stop and a last-minute decision without much planning. All I knew about Shenzhen was the skyscrapers and big roads, hard to believe the fact that it was a fishing village decades ago. Now it's probably one of the biggest cities in China. Pretty easy to access from Yangshuo, I took a bus for 8 hours. Now it takes only 3 hours by high speed train to Guilin North Railway Station.
Went to a pet market place called Tulip Street, it was made Netherlands style where people sold fish, dogs, cats, house plants, flowers and all kind of decorations for house. It was almost like an oasis for people who live in Shenzhen.
Had a fun tour in the IKEA furniture store in Shenzhen, and I had to admit, living in a big city like Shenzhen, life can be as easy and convenient when it comes to things like furniture shopping, medical care, education, etc...
For my first backpacking trip, I didn't plan anything, I kind of set my direction of moving along China east coastline starting from Shenzhen and I knew I'd figure it out where to go when I was on the road so I didn't stay long in Shenzhen because I wanted to see more nature and more off-the-beaten-path places along east coast. Then I kept moving up north using mostly buses, stopped at a few towns that many Chinese never heard of.