18 April 2019
The quiet river stroll
The amazing modern architecture of Guangzhou
I think it was last night that I walked down to the pearl river, turned around and came back. Tonight I decided to walk down to the pearl river, turn left, and keep going into the tall building area. Once there, predictably, I gawked at very tall buildings. This was made all the more gawkable by first some fog, then a sudden downpour.
On my way there, I realised that the actual riverside area is very quiet. You cross over onto a small island, and there is a great path with almost no one on it. If I lived in Guangzhou, this is where I would go jogging, which would probably last about a week until my lungs filled with choking pollution and I died. Actually I dont know how much of the haze is pollution vs cloud vs my fading eyesight vs my poor photography. Its a 4 way battle for poor visibility. What I do know is that everyone here is constantly in the midst of a coughing fit, but then again, everyone here smokes, more than I have noticed in other parts of China previously. This part of China is actually supposed to have relatively low pollution, but to counter that, this time of the year is the worst for pollution.
After looking at buildings creating their own weather system, I descended underground into the mall area, a different area of the malls under these buildings and the park up the middle than I saw on my visit the other day. This end was the best underground mall yet, there were 20+ places that I could have eaten my dinner at, places that are more designed for workers out to lunch rather than the annual grand banquet of the extended family of a local powerful clan.
And now while I am typing this, the Chinese government English language news service has reported 'In notoriously gluttonous USA, 8 out of 10 adults aged from 21 to 40 plan to spend a minimum of $150 on chocolate for this weekends easter holiday (strangely specific stat?). In a country where social media is more important than family or moral responsibility, this years top trend is to spend wasteful amounts on hand painted imported chocolate eggs, often costing more than $500. Such eggs are favored by Hollywood celebrities, many of whom have recently been exposed in the college admissions scandal'.
The news on this channel is not generally as ridiculous as this, someone had a great time writing the story.
Its the pearl river. A bit further down the river from where I took a shot last night, also the sky was a bit clearer this evening.
Once on the island in the river, my path took me through a rather large park. It was almost dark by now, and it looks abandoned here, but there were a few cafes and people practicing Kung Fu, as well as a guy walking on his hands while his girlfriend filmed him.
I mentioned the nice path for jogging above. Here it is. No missing parts of the footpath, no piles of rubble, no electric scooters, no cars parked on the footpath, no beggars, no fruit stands, no stupid signs saying 'no running', no auspicious lettuce, no dancing grandmas.... the list goes on.
I went under a bridge on the path. So I took a photo.
Ahhh, the glorious rainbow tower, a beacon of hope for the LGBTIQBNGO's of China. Dont hate me for making fun of your acronym, it increases by one each year and you know it.
The buildings were more impressive than the tower, so prepare for multiple shots. The thing on the right here is that weird stadium I took a photo of from the other side a couple of days ago.
Cool. I really like the way the buildings mess around with the clouds.
Perhaps you prefer vertical orientation. I dont on this occasion, but I am proud to offer both.
Then it rained suddenly, which made the rainbow lights in the ground more appealing for a bonus building photo.
And since it was a 2 meal day, dinner was healthy. Luckily the new mall I found had many healthy options, but none as healthy as this Quinoa salad. It came with a cup of gruel on the side, really! Also the dictionary does not recognise Quinoa is a word. I have no idea what I am doing tomorrow yet!