T.I.C. This is China

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View of Guangzhou new town from the new Opera house

Made a trip to China a week ago. Impressions: green, modern, chaotic as ever.

Green: It’s amazing how they managed to line cities with greeneries. I caught a glimpse of a group of workers doing such a work, and it’s not hard to imagine they had an army of workers to get to where they are now. This is certainly very different from my previous impression of China. They must have suddenly woken up to the idea of the important role greeneries play in creating a good impression with visitors. With their new found wealth and endless supply of cheap labour, i wouldn’t be surprised if they did it overnight. Unfortunately no photo to show and tell on this.

Modern: Look at the photos of Guangzhou new town (below). Impressive modern and fine looking new buildings built right beside the Zhujiang river. With such a fine location, you would have arrived at the thought that it couldn’t have been an empty plot of land before this right? You’re damn right. Hundreds of buildings demolished and thousands of people evicted by force – see link (in Chinese). The new town certainly looks good, but..

Chaos: lane markings on the roads serve no purpose. Rampant smoking inside air-conditioned buildings including the highest-end restaurants and shopping malls. Badly torn, crumpled and dirty currency notes with the perpetual worry of receiving fake notes (the crumpled ones are probably safer). Hazy everywhere (polluted?).

By the way, ALL the hotels including the budget ones provided wired internet in the room, impressive. But google docs is blocked, so i didn’t manage to update the daily SOR page. Thanks for your continued visit to my site and bearing with my absence!

Now, on to some show and tell..

DSC_0092 One of the many workers just hammering away on the floor for seemingly no reason

DSC_0116 Fancy some crocodile meat?

DSC_0164My insatiable fascination with old buildings (these look extremely sturdy)

DSC_0295500ml can of Paulaner beer for RMB16 (S$3.20)

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