a day trip in Hong Kong and Shenzhen
Date: 2026-02-13
I go to Hong Kong to handle some affairs and climb Wutong Mountain in Shenzhen if I have enough time after returning from Hong Kong.
That’s my plan.
Departure & Arrival
After getting up, I rode a bicycle from Lingtang South Road to Tianhe Times E-Park at 6:33 a.m. The total price was ¥(1.5-1.5).
I took metro Line 21 from Tianhe Smart City to Guangzhou East Railway Station at 7:05 a.m. The ticket price was ¥5.
At 7:20 a.m., I took the train from Guangzhou East Railway Station to Futian Railway Station. The ticket price was ¥83.
I ordered a Hong Kong data roaming package on Alipay app.
The price was ¥11.8, and the merchant was Shanghai Qiannai Information Technology Co., Ltd (上海千耐信息科技有限公司).
The roaming data package included 2GB of data per day in Hong Kong.
I arrived at Shenzhen Futian Railway Station at 8:45 a.m. Then I took metro Line 4 from Convention & Exhibition Center to Futian Checkpoint at 9:12 a.m. The ticket price was ¥1.9.
Affairs in Hong Kong
Club Sim - switch from an eSim to a physical Sim
I took the East Rail Line from Lok Ma Chau to Sha Tin. The total price was HK$35.5.
I visited CSL(Sha Tin Plaza Branch) to apply in person by presenting my EEP. No charge for the first time.
They will charge a fee of HK$40 for each Sim if a customer switches eSim more than one time in a year.
The staff gave me a replacement and told me that it would only become active tomorrow.
At the time, I didn’t understand what he was saying. The replacement card became active automatically.
I asked the staff if I could redeem a discount code to pick up a new CSL Sim card.
Unsurprisingly, he said that I couldn’t.
Opening a stock trading account
Opening a bank stock trading account in Hong Kong is not easy. There are special requirements for an account holder, such as regional restrictions.
I successfully opened a stock trading account on the Airstar Bank app.
Lunch at Hong Kong West Kowloon Railway Station
Because my phone was out of battery, I took the metro from Sha Tin to Austin. The ticket price was HK$13.
I went to West Kowloon Railway Station to have lunch and charge my phone.
The lunch price was HK$56.
Whenever I go to Hong Kong, there’s always a place to have a meal and charge my phone.
I highly recommend West Kowloon Railway Station. It offers free Wi-Fi and charging for tourists.
The restaurants here have self-service ordering machines, which is great if you don’t speak Cantonese (粤语). A meal here is affordable and the food is delicious.
CSL. redeem code
After lunch, I went to CSL(Tsim Sha Tsui) to redeem my CSL promotion code on my Alipay app.
I took metro Tuen Ma Line from Austin to East Tsim Sha Tsui. The total price was HK$5.
I visited CSL(Tsim Sha Tsui) to redeem in person by presenting my CSL promotion code on Alipay app.
The staff were friendly and professional. It’s amazing that they could speak Mandarin(普通话).
Refund physical Octopus card
I took the metro East Rail Line from Tsim Sha Tsui to Lok Ma Chau at 16:18. The ticket price was HK$44.3.
After hesitating for a while, I finally decided to get a refund for my physical Octopus card at the MTR customer service center in Lok Ma Chau, near the Hong Kong customs checkpoint.
The staff transferred the refund from the physical card to a virtual Octopus card in my iPhone Wallet.
The physical Octopus card is an older style card that is no longer available at MTR stations.
The refund amount was HD$65, including an HK$50 deposit. There was no service fee.
Climbing Wutong Mountain
I took the metro from Futian Checkpoint to Wutong Mountain South. The ticket price was ¥4.75.
During the hike, I bought some snacks, including a bottle of ice water, a piece of bread, a bottle of ice cola. The total price was ¥(4+5+6).
After climbing Wutong Mountain from the South Gate to the North Gate, I took a bus to Shaibu MTR Station at 21:02. The total fare for one bus trip was ¥1.6.
Then I took the metro from Shaibu to Shenzhen North Railway Station at 22:16. The ticket price was ¥4.35.
Returning home
At 23:12 p.m., I took the train from Shenzhen North Railway Station to Guangzhou South Railway Station. The ticket price was ¥74.5. I arrived at Guangzhou South Railway Station at 23:42 p.m. Then I took metro Line 2 to Nanzhou. The ticket price was ¥4.
After leaving Nanzhou, I rode a bicycle to the bus stop at 0:26 a.m. The total price was ¥(2.5-1).
The total fare for two bus routes was ¥(4+3).
After arriving at Tianhe Software Park Management Committee stop, I rode a bicycle from Gaopu Road to Gaotang Residents Committee of Xintang Subdistrict at 1:33 a.m. The total price was ¥1.5.
In summary: total ¥218.4 + HK$153.8