Changing money in Hong Kong and the train up to Lo Wu was a breeze. When you get off the train, it's only a couple hundred meters to the Hong Kong departure checkpoint.

The border between Hong Kong and mainland China is a river . At Lo Wu, the banks have been replaced with high concrete walls and the Hong Kong side has huge loops of razor wire along a fence atop the wall.

To get to China, you walk across a very wide walkway and get to Chinese immigration. This is also very easy to get through. They didn't need to see my supporting documents. The visa is glued to a page in my passport.

Once you're past there, you're in China. I took some photos of my first views of Shenzhen and the train station. Looking around and taking photos was also a good way to put off a very pushy and possibly questionable taxi driver. It's always safer to go to the taxi stand rather than go with the guys who target you coming out of the station. Not necessarily as interesting and possibly more expensive, but I didn't feel like risking an adventure today.

The cab ride to the hotel was uneventful and ridiculously cheap by U.S. standards. After conversion, it was about $4 .40 for a 15 minute cab ride. I really started to feel the travel during the cab ride with the return of the fever. I told my client that I'll be into the office in the morning rather than this afternoon.

At the hotel, they offered me an upgrade to the room. It's a special promotion. The inclusion of breakfast with the room almost justifies the price difference by itself. Normally, the upgraded room is almost twice what I was originally going to pay. As a result, I have a suite with a kitchen, 1.5 bathrooms, a dressing room, a bedroom, a living room, two TVs, and a meeting area. If I have to be sick I might as well do it in luxury!

I guess I'm also getting used to Korean food. When I went to order lunch, the thing that sounded best weren't any of the Western or Cantonese dishes, it was a Chinese interpretation of Bibimbap. Substitute spicy black bean paste for the red chili paste, a bok choy spinach kimchi for the normal Napa cabbage kimchi, add some Chinese mushrooms in a sizzling stone bowl and you pretty much have dolsot bibimbap.

By the way, for those who have wondered, and I know some of you have because we've discussed it, bibimbap basically means "mixed vegetables." The "dolsot" part means "stone bowl." Any particular vegetables or the addition of meats are particular to the individual preparation.

I have a decent view of the Shenzhen skyline from my room. It's very overcast and hazy. Although it could be a weather pattern, I suspect from the appearance and what I've read that it's actually pollution. Much more than a quarter mile away and things start to get hazy. If it turns out to be a regular thing, I may include a picture.