Day turns to night and the surprise used HiFi gear shopping centre
I think yesterday I wrote something like 'I bet it doesnt rain at all tomorrow'. Well I lost that bet. It rained and rained and rained, and I managed to get wetter than ever. I didnt even really go anywhere, but where I ended up was about 300 metres from a subway entrance. To get back to the entrance, after an hour or so of waiting under a bridge, required running through ankle deep water. Who knows what was in that water? My socks were crunchy afterwards.
Perhaps more impressive / depressive was just how dark it was. I dont think I have ever in my life seen it so dark in the middle of the day. This was just before the real rain started, I took some photos as you will see below of how bright the lights of shops appear compared to the outside light. I think the word I am looking for is contrast.
After returning to the hotel for a shower, change of clothes and an attempt to dry my shoes a bit with a hair dryer, it was time to head out and get something for lunch. Still raining! I managed to get soaked even getting across the road to get back to my hotel, shoes got soaked through again. So now I am washing all my wet clothes, drying my shoes, and contemplating purchasing a life raft (but I still wont use an umbrella!). I am sure I will only go to the underground mall place again tonight for yet more 'more of the same', thats unless its under water! The subway station into it last night had been sandbagged.
I didnt mention above, but I had an early morning trip first up to a train station to collect my ticket for tomorrow. This went about as well as it always does. I had to line up in 4 different lines for no reason, fight people trying to push in or pay someone else to buy a ticket for them. The issue is, the only people who actually have to use the line, have no bank account, have no ID, are being paid to collect tickets for someone else, have lost their tickets (so they claim) or are unable to use a computer. So you really get to hang out with some strange characters. The whole process took about an hour, security in the ticket hall is tight, the police told me not to take photos. As a foreigner, I have to show my passport and my confirmation number to collect a ticket, I cannot use a machine to do this, I must line up. Korea is better! I printed my Korean ticket in Australia.
Now I will attempt to explain how dark it was. Notice how bright the lights in those shops are compared to the buildings around it. This is the middle of the day.
Notice how the underside of the leaves are lit up by the shop lights.
Car lights lighting up the road at 11am.
Here is a clothing market about to open at 11am.
The clothing market went through many streets. Not quite raining yet.
If you need a xmas tree in Guangzhou in Late April, this place has you covered. Lots of places seem to just have permanent xmas decorations, malls, restaurants etc.
It was raining now, this overpass had a roof. Despite my experience yesterday, I was still in denial. I was already wet at this point, but at least my feet were still dry. Then the thunder and lightning started again.
The amount of water coming off the edge of that bridge was ridiculous, not captured well in the photo but I took a video.
My safe haven was under a bridge, where old ladies sung, and a couple of guys were fishing. They actually caught fish and were very excited when they did. They were about the size of a goldfish, only not gold.
Flood.
The stance! Its back for 2019. The camera hanging from the roof is awkwardly placed behind my head. This is just after I entered the subway soaking wet and the girl manning the security point burst out laughing at me.
After a change of clothes it was time to head out again. Still raining. Still raining as I type this too. It is a little brighter here though as you can see.
I was amused by this guy. Here we have a guy carrying various things in buckets slung over his shoulder with a bamboo pole, heading towards starbucks and mcdonalds.
The last few shots from today are from a nearby former mall that is now lots of junk shops. Many of them contain second hand, possibly stolen gear. There were literally hundereds of shops selling old hifi gear. First up, heres a stall selling only speaker cables and component interconnector cables.
Lots of places selling components to repair your speakers. There were also shops dedicated to electric typewriters? Who still has one of those? And also broken down laptops for parts. If you need a specific ribbon cable from under the keyboard of a 10 year old laptop, you can get it here.
More speaker repair shops, some were doing actual repairs in store, soldering. Also you can smoke in here, It was full of chokingly bad smoke a lot of the time. Wow, chokingly is a word! I thought I made that up for sure!
Everyone got rid of their hifis and just use their phones and a bluetooth speaker. In this giant complex lots of guys have decided this is a trend that will not last, so they have stocked up on huge old hifi amps and speakers.
There was some pro audio type of gear, but it was mainly aimed at the karaoke / p.a. market. No guitar gear at all. Thats all for now!
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!