20 April 2019
Final Guangzhou dampening
Exploring the underground malls of the glitzy Tianhe area of Guangzhou
Tomorrow I will go back to Hong Kong. I will not need to go outside to get to my Hotel in Hong Kong. My hotel in Gunagzhou is in a mall that connects to a subway that connects to the high speed rail, that goes to Hong Kong, that connects to the Subway, that goes to a mall, that goes to my Hong Kong Hotel. Welcome to a life where fresh air is a mystery.
Before departing tomorrow, I still have one more night in Guangzhou. When I left my hotel, it was still raining... of course it was! I went to a different mall, walked around, looked at the latest Chinese mobile phones and decided that none of the restaurants in that mall would take a party of 1, as they all had parties of 10 lined up by the hundreds on little plastic seats waiting for their number to come up in the restaurant lottery. Not to worry, I know where to go.
Before taking the subway back to the main place under the tall buildings, I thought I would just stick my head outside, and see if it was raining, it was not! I can walk to my dinner! Hooray.
I was nearly killed twice.
My first near death experience is one that has been repeated many times. Electric bicycles.
The electric bike is the most dangerous invention of the 21st century. Delivery riders ride along as fast as a car goes, in pedestrian only areas, reading their phones to see where the milk tea they are delivering needs to go. These bikes are heavy as they are largely made of batteries, they also often carry a lot of cargo. I hate them. They are becoming a problem in Melbourne where I live, the problem in China is 100x worse. Ban them! Tonight one knocked me flying, the bag hanging off the back hit me, luckily it was quite a soft bag but I hit the ground.
My next near death experience was as I was walking back to the subway. I went through a small park. I heard a buzzing sound very briefly and then a large drone flashed past my head, not more than 3 foot away. This was also traveling at tremendous, imminent decapitation speed. Ban them too! I suspect they are banned from flying in parks in the centre of the city. Bring in the death penalty for drones..... and electric bikes!
If you feel like getting conjunctivitis, China has you covered. Lots of places have VR headsets you can just try on after a filthy child has had his eyes pressed into it.
If you feel like getting an ear infection, China has got your back. You can try on in ear headphones in every store. I kind of wish you could do this in Australia! They would probably clean them for each listener there. They do let you try them in Japan just like China, but I am too frightened to do that.
Coming to iPhones next year, its the popup selfie cam (the triangle on top has a camera in it, showing me live on the screen). The advantage is... no notch! And no bezel. China phones have had this for a while now, this one is an oppo but vivo also has an even better popup. Samsung is coming out with a popup soon, iphone will be last and claim they invented it. The vivo in screen fingerprint sensor was the new cool thing this time last year when I was in China. Rumor has it apple is going to invent that soon!
The top floor of the mall had a huge games arcade. Very loud, very busy. I now feel so old that I worry I will get arrested for grooming every time I go near one, especially with a camera. Anyway, for this game you sit in a classic supercar, and thats the car you play on the screen. Quite cool I thought.
Yes, it is quite a big mall. But no restaurants will take me.
The journey back to the place with hundreds of restaurants that will take me went through a kind of pedestrian street. Most things were shut here, but I like this shot because you can see the big buildings and even the tower looming large in the far distance.
I walked all the way through the mall of the world until I actually found the end. This is the end. Beyond this point is the infinite void.
Have I had Japanese style ramen yet on this trip? I dont think so. Of course I am not in Japan, but I will be for the month of November. This came from famous Japanese chain Ippudo. The Australian branches always have a huge line. No line here in China, and very cheap too, under $10 Australian.
Back above ground, and at this point it was not raining. I enjoyed the above ground park with lakes that are on top of an underground mall. Nice lighting.
They really did a very good job of this whole area. Its a great place just to wander around at night. Except there was a sudden downpour and I had to flee back underground and retreat back to my hotel!