22 April 2018
Windwalker
Walking a great loop of the tree lined city of Zhengzhou
Brace yourself for a huge barrage of grey wind swept photos of every day life in Zhengzhou. I went on a HUUUUGE walk, over 30km, just going wherever the scenery took me.
It was super windy, all the advertising signs were blowing down the streets, flags advertising phones were torn off the sides of buildings, scooters were blowing over with their alarms going off non stop, branches were falling off trees missing me by inches, poodles were tumbling down alleyways, grandmas were telling concerned younger generations that this was just a mild breeze compared to the days of Mao.
I went east, then north, then west, then south. Orienteering experts will understand that doing so was necessary to end up back where I started. Along the way I saw close to a hundred shopping malls, I think I went in 5. All of them had lots of activities going on, concerts, fashion parades, art classes, cooking classes, kung fu demonstrations, furry conventions, everywhere was a hive of activity.
The shopping malls however were nothing compared to the parks, they were chock full of people, mainly older people, all having the time of their lives. Everyone participates in some sort of activity, so harmonious.
So there you go, theres lots to see and do in Zhengzhou, just like every large Chinese city. Now to laboriously describe every photo.
This is a crop to get some zoom so might be a bit pixelated, but what the hell is that huge roof over the top of a suburb? I couldnt get close enough to see, it looks like it could cover a football stadium.
Share bikes are also popular here, popular enough for piles to form, stay tuned for more piles.
The main brand of everything here is Dennis, they own malls, department stores, supermarkets, bus lines. They need a new name.
If you have been to China / Japan / Korea / Taiwan before then you are probably familiar with the daily pep talk from the manager. Here in ZZ that extends to the food delivery scooter drivers, who stand to attention to hear stories about the cultural revolution and how they apply to getting someones boiled duck neck soup delivered to them while it is still hot. Yes, I am just going to say ZZ from now on.
SO. MANY. PUBLIC. TOILETS.
Apparently ZZ used to be known as the tree lined city. Then they decided to widen the streets and most trees were lost. There are still some streets left like this one that are completely enclosed by trees. With the wind and blossoms and trees and spring, I today found out I suffer from hayfever. I was having sneezing fits outside but as soon as I went indoors it stopped.
Outdoor shopping mall musical theatre.
I beat all these Chinese people at ping pong.
Somehow, they are managing a 4 bin recycling system in this park, impossible!
This was just one of many parks today, the quietest of those that I visited, still nice though.
This is a new apartment complex, there are probably 10 or so 'streets' of identical buildings. The bottom of every one of these streets is 3 levels of shopping mall, quite modern and nice inside.
Basically no one at all rides their own bike anymore. I suspect all bike shops are out of business. One day the same thing will happen with cars, the autonomous car cloud will take over, and all car dealers will go broke immediately.
3 electric long nose school buses. So much of everything is electric, you have to be really careful crossing roads and footpaths because you cant hear them coming.
Now I am at a new area, a giant circle of new. Its so large I took a photo of the map, because I wont be able to capture it all in a photo.
Before attacking the circle, I stopped for coffee at Holly's coffee. The barista decided to use my coffee to train all the staff in how to make coffee. They made it together 3 times before they were satisfied which was really weird. All the staff watched with great interest. Admittedly it was a truly fantastic coffee.
Part of the circle of new. This photo did not come out well, please scroll past.
That is the convention centre, I think, or an art gallery.
The selfie spot has a frame, I failed to get my big head, the frame and the building in the shot together. My head is blocking most of the view.
Here is the back of the convention centre. How is that 4 bin system working out?
The outer ring of the giant circle is one huge endless shopping mall. If it were raining in ZZ I could get all my steps just running around it non stop.
For my mother mainly, heres the inside of the mall. Sparkling clean.
Now I headed north along a tree lined street, where a new pipe was being installed. A great place to park your share bike.
Look at all the cables! And the open box where all the cables are terminated. Amazing.
A Chinese building site. They do not mess around. You could easily build 10 apartment towers here, and they probably are.
Then I arrived at an outlet mall. I needed a drink and it had a huge Vanguard supermarket on the top floor, so in I went.
Inside the outlet mall was pretty much identical to what we call DFO or Harbourside in Australia.
The outlet mall security staff was not thrilled with all the share bikes left laying about.
Another giant Dennis department store, far from anything else. This one is 14 levels high, the top 2 levels are all restaurants.
Now I found another park with some kind of fair happening. I had to investigate.
It seems to be a farming and food technology cult recruitment drive. Like Amway, a pyramid scheme. The top sellers are winning awards. From what I can work out they sell miracle potions made from organic food that cure cancer and eliminate unwanted ghosts.
The gardens were nice though, they inspired me to sign up as a seller, anyone want to buy purple carrot pills?
This is the Henan province museum, where you can see pottery and dinosaur bones. I had no time for this.
Instead of going to the museum I helped this guy recycle some cardboard. This guy is killing the recycling market in Australia / the western world.
Meanwhile nearby at yet another mall, the local youth gangsta squad was busy warning everyone about the evils of getting involved with women.
Inside, there was a fashion parade for babies. They had the full walk / twirl / pose routine worked out. I was the only middle aged man standing there with a camera, in camo shorts, looking angry.
Upstairs you can join a craft class. I glued various revolutionary characters to a picture frame.
To celebrate my long walk, I visited a Karaoke bar and belted out a few Chinese classics.
Then I found a huge guitar store, it was actually really well stocked, but super expensive.
My journey then took me past the local drain, quite picturesque, didnt smell.
And then I arrived at a huge busy park. This was an amazing place.
First I enjoyed the muslim dancing demonstration.
Then I appreciated the Chinese opera with full orchestra. Todays opera was an epic describing the journey down from heaven of the temptress who lured the greedy traders to their death by convincing them that if they were to set themselves on fire they would turn into solid gold.
All parks have a lake and paddle boats you could hire. This one had a cool go kart track too which I didnt photograph.
The gardens were quite spectacular, look at all those people in the background enjoying themselves.
I guess I should do at least one temple photo for the day. This one was quite nice set aside in a quiet part of the park.
And then as I returned to my hotel, with my feet not even sore despite my long walk on concrete, I was attacked by this creature, who was advertising the opening of a new jewelry store. I won the fight with a finishing move of a roundhouse to its furry head.