25 March 2013
Never so lost
As the title suggests, I ended up lost, in a construction site, and then eventually unable to get to my destination at all.
Similarly to previous experiences in China, they seem to go to great lengths to prevent you getting to train stations on foot.
Of course I could have taken the metro to the southern bullet train station, but no, I wanted to walk. Eventually I had to give up because it is actually impossible to cross the tracks.
Along the way I passed an area filled with giant KTV's, found myself in the scariest market I have ever seen, explored an award winning retail / residential development, got attacked by a friendly puppy who must be racist, saw 3 car vs scooter accidents, ate a pineapple on a stick and saw a whole bunch of monks shopping for Gucci gear comparing their new iphones and expensive watches.
The traffic here was glorious. You have mainly busses, but then the road becomes footpath, with thousands of scooters parked.
This is the impact building a metro system has on a city.
To add to the confusion theres skyscrapers being built on both sides of the street that require cranes and trucks to be there constantly. It was quite a challenge to walk along there without being killed.
Tragedy struck! Din Tai Fung is not open yet!
Actually I didnt know it was there, but if it were open I would have eaten there because I have been to their locations in at least 10 other cities.
This is the Raffles City development, the same thing as can be found in Singapore and Shanghai. Appparently it won all kinds of architectural awards. The shops were nice but the main feature is the roof of most of the mall has running water over it which if you go out into a courtyard is a shallow reflection pool.
I guess thats why it won awards.
Somehow I ended up here. I dont think I was supposed to be here, but there were a few other pedestrians. It seemed way too dangerous to just allow people to walk through.
Except then it got far worse, and I ended up under the road during a concrete pour. a few school kids and secretaries were wandering through too, on their way home.
But then I got to the finished part, just North of the station which was my goal. Except there was no way to get on that bridge, and no other way to cross the bullet train tracks.
I was defeated, and had to double back!
After a tangent so I didnt have to go back through the construction site I found this rather large, dark, scary, night market. I could hear sheep! I never did see them but I assumed their number was up.
I also saw outdoor hair dressers, what I assume was a stolen bike shop, someone selling what appeared to be glass tubes of mercury, fire crackers, second hand shoes!
All the time lots of eyes were following me.