While on the train from Hong Kong to Shenzhen - a stone throw to the north of the border, I witnessed a woman on the phone discussing her trophies.
"What a harvest! I will need a bigger cart next time," said the woman, speaking loudly which caught my attention.
I took a nosy peek at her shopping cart - items were not luxurious cosmetics (which usually is the favourite for inland tourists to Hong Kong). Instead, the cart was a load full of food items and other stuff for daily use.
Only a few years ago it was Hong Kong residents who would come to Shenzhen to spend weekends shopping and dining. The RMB was much weaker then and the mainlanders would happily accept Hong Kong Dollars for any of our purchases.
Many Hong Kongers even invested in holiday homes up there somewhere as they were dirt cheap compared to the crazy property prices in Hong Kong. On any given day, you would see many locals pay multiple visits across the border, just to bring goods from the mainland to Hong Kong, making profits selling them at a lucrative margin.
Those have fast become history. How ironic!
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