heraclitus

I was planning to spend part of an upcoming journey in the Tuen Mun area (likely the Gold Coast). In the interest of avoiding a trip back to Kowloon just to catch the East Rail back to Lok Ma Chau, does anyone know if the various bus services that run across Shenzhen Bay are usable by someone who doesn't have a pre-arranged visa for China?

Thanks!

rkkwan

Bus company doesn't care about travel documents or visa. But is visa-on-arrival available at Shenzhen Bay? I am not sure. I thought it's Lo Wu only.

But just for the record, the B3 family of buses go from Tuen Mun to Shenzhen Bay. From Gold Coast, you can catch the B3/B3X from Tuen Mun Town Centre, and it runs at least every 15 minutes, almost direct.

If you need to connect to rail for Lo Wu, you don't need to go to the city. Bus 261 goes from Sam Shing (just a few bus stops from Gold Coast) to Sheung Shui. Change to rail there. Depending on time of day, it runs every 15-25 minutes. After the various stops in Tuen Mun, it goes on the highway straight to Sheung Shui East Rail station.

For Lok Ma Chau (the train station, not Huanggang), besides the above method on 261 via Sheung Shui, you can also first get to Yuen Long (via West Rail or Light Rail), and then connect to the B1 bus.

For Huanggang, there are direct private coaches from various points in the city. Should have at least one or two from Tuen Mun.

heraclitus

Thanks for that detailed guide! Bus 261 in particular sounds like the answer to our dilemma... I guess we have to go to Lo Wu for visa-on-arrival, and that method certainly beats doubling back to the city.

rkkwan

Oh, want to add that even better than the 261 bus is the Green minibus 44A that goes from Tuen Mun West Rail/V City direct to Sheung Shui. Extremely popular so very frequent. Will be significantly faster. As long as you don't have much luggage.

heraclitus

Even better! Thanks so much

Unfortunately the bus website doesn't say how long the journey takes... do you happen to have any rough idea?

rkkwan

Because the 261 has a lot of stops in Tuen Mun, expect about 45 min. Unless there's accident, there is no significant traffic on that highway. I am not a traveler on this route, so can't say exact time. KMB's internal info says around 58 minutes but that's to/from Tin Ping Estate in Sheung Shui, beyond the East Rail Station.

And I am also not sure whether it's better and faster to take minibus 44 or 44A. I can ask my friend but she's out of town for a few more days.

heraclitus

Thanks for the insight... 45 minutes sounds great... faster than taking the train from Kowloon.

If your friend has any further insight I'd be happy to hear it... I won't actually be going for several more months. I just like to figure these things out well in advance, before I book my accommodations

Thanks!

moondog

There definitely IS a VOA office at Shenzhen Bay, but since I've never needed a visa on arrival (and, US citizens are rarely eligible anyway), I haven't bothered to inquire about details. Shekou Ferry Terminal has a similar office; I've never seen it open, and going there to find out that it was closed would seriously suck.

From Tuen Mun, I'd just take a taxi to Shenzhen Bay for around $100.

RichardInSF

US and British citizens are never eligible for visa on arrival as far as I know. Be nice if the new agreement between the US and China does actually grant folks from the US a 10 year, multiple entry visa, as advertised.

moondog

1. US citizens have been eligible for VOA at various times in the past, and I wouldn't be surprised to see periodic recurrences. However, the fee has always been the same as full blown visa (not the case with other nationalities and VOA), which makes getting a border visa a pretty dumb idea in most cases.

2. The 10-year visas are the real deal. Some people are skeptical about the staying power of this policy, but I'm confident that they're here to stay (the US awarding 10 year visas to PRC nationals was a very big deal... unprecedented, even... and the state department shows no signs of retracting the offer).

rkkwan

I was assuming that the OP is Canadian, and VOA is available. And while I agree that a taxi isn't expensive, the B2/B2X buses are cheap and not a bad alternative if time isn't critical.

sfosuw

Actually the most direct route from Tuen Mun to Lok Ma Chau is Green MiniBus 44B

You don't even need to go to Shenzhen Bay or Sheung Shui to reach Lok Ma Chau.
From Gold Coast, catch MTR bus K51 (Fu Tai direction), get off at "MTR Tuen Mun Station" which is the bus terminus right under V-city mall and look for Green MiniBus 44B.

K51: https://www.mtr.com.hk/archive/en/services/K51.pdf
44B: http://www.16seats.net/eng/gmb/gn_44b.html

percysmith

Given the post 1 July 2013 tightening of L visa requirements (if obtained correctly), I see Shenzhen/Zhuhai VOAs as massive backdoors.

I used to get L visas for family members (and on one occassion for myself when my HRP was nicked) by paying a sizeable chunk of money to China Travel Services (the state-owned travel agency in HK) for a 0.5 day turnaround.

When my mum wanted to take the grandchildren golfing in the Mainland I had to set up Mum's courier to run to my SIL's place, pick up the childrens' passports and photo (the photo is the only work my SIL had to do), hand them in with the forms I precompleted for them and run the passports with the L visas back to SIL. We don't take chances with the VOA.

No longer valid after 1 July 2013...instead, my SIL is meant to hoff from the suburbs into Sydney City for the visa centre and apply from there, and pick up her childrens' passports from there. Fat chance she'll do it in advance, even if my mother specifically asks her to do it.

But in my mind this procedure is still more compliant than the new "standard" policy and the backdoors the Mainland authorities have maintained (Shenzhen/Zhuhai VOAs) or the elephant in the room that they have opened up (72h VOA which we have all gamed to bits...)

Increasingly I really don't get Mainland policy-making...
And in today's news, India has changed from being the biggest PITA visa to get to being moderately easy with e-visas for Australian, US and 41 other countries' passport holders. Too bad HKSAR not included, not that the missus is very keen to visit India anyway.

heraclitus

Great news. Thanks for sharing this, I do find the HK bus routes tough to figure out as an outsider. The 44B should be a time-saver when heading to SZ from the Tuen Mun area!

moondog

Imo Shenzhen bay is a lot easier than huanggang.