An Elevated Ride Through Greenery

It isn't high-speed rail . . .

At Zhongshan Park in Shanghai

. . . but it has a scenic view. Unlike a roller coaster in Hengyang, Hunan, I passed on taking a ride—which costs 20 RMB (US $3.27) for two people, more than a ferry or an M&M's World bus-train.

The M&M's World Train in Shanghai

Except for a larger crowd, most at the M&M's World in Shanghai seemed the same as when I first visited in August around its opening. Something I didn't see before, though, was an M&M's World themed sightseeing bus-train on the adjacent Nanjing Road Pedestrian Street.



A ride on the vehicle, which travels the length of the pedestrian street, or others with different advertising costs 5 RMB (about US 83 cents), more than double the cost of the cloud-themed ferry not too far away.

Shanghai's Dream Boat

Set a course for adventure. Shanghai's Dream Boat promises something for everyone.

Or, if you prefer more mundane descriptions, the above is a boat for one of Shanghai's 18 ferry lines connecting Pudong and Puxi across the Huangpu River. It only costs 2 RMB (about US 33 cents) for a single trip. Other nearby boats offer more extensive tours on the Huangpu but they cost much more and usually don't include puffy clouds.

Underground Metro Acceleration

More acceleration in Taipei . . .

A Door and a Coffin on Wheels

A man carrying a door on a motorbike earlier in Hengyang, China, earlier this year . . .

. . . reminded of a similar transportation involving a coffin in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, last year.

Yet another unexpected connection . . .

Motorbikes on a Bridge's Sidewalks in Changde

A photo of a bridge crossing a river in a set of Changde street scenes may have left some readers with questions.

So . . .

Yes, the areas on either side of the road appear to be sidewalks designed for pedestrians. The common-in-China tactile guideway in their centers—for blind pedestrians and not motorbikes—is one clear sign.

Yes, I saw a number of other motorbikes on the bridge's sidewalks during my two crossings.

Yes, motorbike riders used the bridge's road as well.

During rush hour, motorbike traffic was especially heavy and there was a regular stream of people pushing their motorbikes up stairway ramps to use the sidewalk.

Notably, using the stairs and sidewalk provided a shorter route to the bridge from some locations, since the bridge's roadway could only be accessed at a point much farther away.

Finally, no, unlike the signs at a bridge Chengdu, I did not see any signs indicating whether or not any of this was allowed. Whatever the case, it isn't quite like driving a car across a pedestrian bridge.

Fourteen Changde Street Scenes

To provide a look at some everyday scenes in a yet another city not known to many outside of China, below are some street scenes, including a pedestrian street, from Changde, Hunan. Like a set of scenes from Yangjiang I earlier shared, it suits my purposes that locals would likely consider many of them to be mundane.

My time in Changde was briefer than planned, but I managed to cover much ground in less than three, mostly overcast, days. Regardless, I saw only a small portion of two urban districts, and the photos are just a small taste of a prefecture-level city with more than 5 million people.

Weinermobiles and Dragonmobiles

One day long ago when I was walking near the Washington Monument in Baltimore's historic Mount Vernon district, something passed by which made me feel like I was in a surreal dream. But I was indeed in the real world, and for the first time I saw one of the famous Oscar Mayer Weinermobiles.

A modern Weinermobile in Minnesota. (Photo by Jonathunder — license details)

While I was in Shanghai recently for short period of time, a vehicle with a different theme similarly grabbed my attention.

But no vanity license plate

The "dragonmobile" displayed advertising for a nearby China Gold retail location in Xujiahui, and a group of people in the back played live music. The tune didn't seem as a catchy as the hot dog variation of Oscar Mayer's bologna song though.

PLA Soldiers, Chengguan, and a Raft Ride During a Flooded Dragon Boat Festival in Hengyang

Last night the rain was especially heavy in Hengyang, Hunan province. When I set out this afternoon, most seemed relatively normal in the central urban area where I have spent most of my time, like last week when the Xiang River flooded a pedestrian area.

However, while walking down a street not far from Yueping Park, I looked down an alley I had not passed before named Yudetang (余德堂) and saw something rather unexpected.

During a confused split second I wondered whether I was looking at a canal, but I quickly realized that an area in a hilly section of Hengyang had flooded. The water came up to the waist of one man of average height who jumped into the water further down the alley. While I was there, another man said to me that surely the U.S. would not have problems like this. I told him that sometimes the U.S. experiences flooding that wouldn't look very different.

I soon saw the arrival of a boat with residents guided by two People's Liberation Army soldiers wearing their urban camouflage uniforms.

I then headed back to the main road and soon found nearby an intriguing route up a hill.

After reaching the top and going down a different set of stairs, I soon found myself facing another flooded area.

A group of people gathered near the edge of the flood appeared bewildered to see me, and we were soon having a friendly conversation. They said the area has flooded previously but never before had the water risen so high.

Soon, a raft passed nearby, and after a bubble of activity several people hailed it. To my surprise it was not for themselves. Instead, they excitedly told me I could board it. I had no need for a boat ride and was looking forward to exploring another set of stairs, but a woman encouraged me to get on the boat and told me I could take more photos. I then noticed that although there were no soldiers aboard, one of the rowers was a chengguan, a law enforcement officer for urban administrative regulations and the "least-loved public official" in China. I really didn't want to be getting in the way, but the chengguan insisted, in a friendly manner, that I come aboard.

So I departed my new friends. Several of them looked rather amused.

During the middle of the trip, I saw a group of men trying to move a car.

And after a 5 minute journey, I disembarked at an area with its own set of onlookers.

My thanking the chengguan caused a bit of laughter. As the chenguan rowed away, I pondered the fact that the end of my raft ride had been filmed by a news crew from Hunan TV.

I then climbed some stairs to a long balcony and backtracked a bit. Progress of some sort had been made with the car in deeper waters although debate erupted over what to do next.

There were activities elsewhere, although I didn't stick around long enough to figure out what they had planned.

For others, there was nothing to do but watch.

Eventually, I decided to depart, and I took one last look back.

As I approached a main street, I saw a street sign indicating I was now at the opposite end of the same alley where I first noticed the flooding.

A local news report (in Chinese) confirms what the residents told me--this is not the area's first flooding.

Although the boats are somewhat fitting in an ironic manner, this certainly was not how I expected to spend the Dragon Boat Festival today in China. I am sure others felt the same. It was a somewhat surreal experience for me at times, but mostly I felt bad for the residents who have to deal with the flooding. Hopefully next year's holiday is more festive for them and all boats are far from their street.

Taking the Dog for a Ride in Hengyang

In contrast to a man I saw taking a dog for a run while he rode a motorbike, a woman I saw today with a non-motorized vehicle expended more energy than her dog as they moved about Hengyang.

The scene made me think of a story I had heard decades ago about someone using poodles in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. A quick online search led me to an AP article from 1990:

John Suter will drive his black standard poodles up the Iditarod Trail for the last time in 1991.

The three-time Iditarod finisher has been trying for 14 years to raise an all-poodle team to run in the 1,200-mile sled dog race from Anchorage to Nome. He's spent an estimated $150,000 on the project and weeded through 80 poodles, a span of six generations, he said.

"It just didn't sell," he said recently by telephone from his home in Chugiak. "You can score on the news with poodles but you can't get a cup of coffee or a bag of peanuts with them."

I don't know if the woman I saw today has gotten any bags of peanuts with her dog. At least it appears she has a furry companion though.

Taking the Dog for a Run in Hengyang

Seen on a bridge over the Xiang River in Hengyang:

Some points perhaps worth making:

1. This is not at all a common sight for me.
2. The dog was running at a decent speed for its size and, as seen in the photo, leading the way. Sorry, no video.
3. The dog was not pulling the motorbike.

"I Can Play" in Haikou

Xinhua Road in Haikou, Hainan province, last week:

A Chinese Porcelain Car in Zhanjiang

In many parts of China, I have seen cars with added designs, sometimes elaborate, on their exterior. For example, in a post several years ago I shared a photo of a "Counter-Strike car". I have also seen a number of cars fully covered in a Hello Kitty design.

Typically the designs reflect current popular culture. However, today in Zhanjiang, Guangdong province, I saw a car with a more traditional design.

I don't recall seeing a car which reminded me of Chinese porcelain before. I wonder if the owner has considered putting on matching wheel covers.

A Missing Plane in Asia

Sometimes you wake up, open an Internet browser window, stare for a few moments, and then think "Oh no ..."

Such was the case today when I learned Malaysia Airlines flight 370 carrying 239 people from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing had gone missing. It's not a positive sign when hours after losing contact with a large plane an airline says, "At the moment we have no idea where this aircraft is right now." As currently listed by Malaysia Airlines, a majority of the passengers are from China:

Nationality	Total
China/Taiwan	154 including infant
Malaysia	38
India	5
Indonesia	7
Australia	6
France	4
USA	3 including infant
New Zealand	2
Ukraine	2
Canada	2
Russian	1
Italy	1
Netherlands	1
Austrian	1

I have flown on Malaysia Airlines several times--roundtrip from Shanghai to Chennai with a layover in Kuala Lumpur and another time from Kuala Lumpur to Phnom Penh. Reuters reports Malaysia Airlines "has one of Asia's best safety records", and, similar to James Fallows, I have a positive impression of the airline. I'd rate all of my experiences flying with them as better than average.

An international effort to find the plane is underway, and the U.S. Navy is sending the destroyer warship USS Pinckney and a P-3C aircraft. After over 12 hours since contact was lost and daylight now gone, no signs of the plane have yet been found. Assuming the plane has crashed, there are a variety of possibilities for the cause (HT James Fallows).

One week ago in Kunming, China, there was a horrendous massacre at a railway station. It seems this week in China will end on a sad note as well. My thoughts are with everyone affected in China and elsewhere by either event.

Thirty Yangjiang Scenes

I arrived in Yangjiang (阳江), Guangdong province, about 200 kilometers (120 miles) westward from Zhuhai and Macau along Guandong's coast, with little knowledge about it (map). Some of the upcoming posts will focus on what I found and learned in a fascinating city.

This post includes a set of scenes from the most developed area of Jiangcheng District (江城区). If you take an intercity bus to "Yangjiang" this is likely where you'll end up. The photos were all taken within an approximately 10 square kilometer (4 square mile) area, and I walked to all of the locations. Along with showing some slivers of everyday life, they highlight the area's variety of environments and modes of transportation. It's not difficult to go from a wide road for new apartment complexes to a narrow alley winding by old traditional-style homes.

Many scenes would likely be labeled as mundane by Yangjiangers, and that's fine. The aim is not to provide material for a promotional video like Dongguan's but instead to provide a more down-to-earth look at Yangjiang and some context for later posts.