6 September 2012
Somehow no pollution
Late afternoon the pollution started to clear. Amazingly by dark it was gone, I could see stars. Either it was stars or I have stuck pixels in my eyeballs now.
The strange thing was, streets I had walked down a few times already looked completely different. I was lost because I could see, how stupidly poetic.
To celebrate I walked the full length of the street thats dug up for the metro, just to confirm that everything along it is being rebuilt. Apart from the very far end where theres one finished mega mall on one side and a carrefour on the other, the entire length is a disaster!
I cant imagine a city in Australia doing this. Imagine George Street in Sydney or Rundle street / mall in Adelaide just completely demolished on both sides!
I also made a quick walk along part of the lake at night, with the clear sky I could see the mountains on the other side even though it was dark. I hope this lasts until tomorrow so I can go take advantage of being able to see.
Photos will be boring!
I celebrated the clear skies with a photo of nothing in particular.
Look closely. If you are a construction guy in China you need to be good at rope climb.
I chose my dinner purely to see what it would be! It said Aussie sirloin steak on the menu. What came was actually ok. It was on a hot plate already cooked so it only got overcooked, but it was nice enough.
I was kind of glad it was relatively expensive, about $6, if it had of been $1 I would never have believed it was beef from Australia.
My drink was great, but came some time after I had finished my steak (see previous page about China dining expectations). The drink is a cucumber smoothie. I could really get used to that, its very refreshing!
One of the mountains around the lake area has a massive lit up restaurant on the peak. Electricity prices dont seem to be of much concern.
And on that, since everyone rides an electric scooter, they must really use a lot of electricity. I have not experienced any kind of power outage since getting here. I did see a lot of wind turbines from the train window and I think solar plants too.
Most roofs are covered in solar cells and solar hot water heaters.
A street full of people selling shoes. You dont see a lot of this in Hangzhou. I can remember the main street in Shenzhen (near Hong Kong) where tip trucks would just back up and empty out a pile of shoes or shirts or plastic buckets etc.