Shenzhen: Tech Tour with Drone Food, Robotaxi & HQB Market

4.98

(136 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

The first thing I remember is the buzz overhead—like a mechanical dragonfly. We were standing in this little plaza in Shenzhen, and our guide Li grinned as he tapped his phone. “Coffee’s coming,” he said. I thought he was joking until a drone actually hovered down with our order dangling underneath. The smell of fresh coffee mixed with city air—hard to describe, but it made me laugh out loud. Never had caffeine delivered from the sky before. Li filmed us for proof (my face probably says it all), and then we just sat there for a second, letting it sink in.

Next up: the robotaxi. I’d read about self-driving cars but sitting in one is different—the silence feels weird at first, like you’re waiting for someone to take the wheel but nobody does. Li explained how Shenzhen’s leading this whole electric vehicle thing while we zipped past glass towers and scooter traffic. He kept pointing out stuff I’d never have noticed alone: a guy walking his dog with AR glasses, kids playing on some kind of smart bench that lights up when you sit down. The city feels like it’s skipping ahead a few years compared to everywhere else I’ve been.

We wandered through these flagship tech stores—DJI drones spinning in glass cases, foldable phones you can actually touch (I almost dropped one), even a 3D printer making tiny dragons on the spot. At one point Li tried to show me how to say “wearable exoskeleton” in Mandarin; I gave up after three tries and he just laughed. There’s something contagious about how proud everyone is of their gadgets here.

The last stop was Huaqiangbei Electronics Market—just chaos in the best way. Imagine endless stalls stacked with blinking LEDs, robots that wave at you (one winked at me?), and enough cables to wire up half the planet. It smells like plastic and solder and fried dumplings from somewhere nearby. I picked up a weird little gadget that makes cat noises when you clap—I don’t know why, but it still sits on my desk now. Leaving felt abrupt somehow; there’s always more to see in Shenzhen if you let yourself get lost.