Showing the Love in Wuzhou

"I Love Wuzhou"

A Chair Tied to Two Chickens in Wuzhou

I didn't ask them, but presumably these two chickens in Wuzhou just didn't want anybody to take their chair.

At Juren Road (居仁路)

Perhaps the free range chair on the street has it better.

A Comment About a Rusty Jumbo Wuzhou Bus

In response to a post about Jumbo Wuzhou Buses in Wuzhou, Guangxi, a reader commented:

I am surprised at the condition of the bus in the first picture. The cracked paint and rust stains make the bus look unreliable, and I would have expected the bus company to at least apply some paint over the cracks and clean off the rust stains.

My short reply is that I am not surprised and have seen (and ridden) buses in worse condition. While improving appearances might positively change perceptions of the buses' reliability, I question whether that alone would ultimately change many decisions regarding a ride that often costs just 1 RMB (about U.S. 15 cents) — possibly less with an IC card.

Regardless, people desiring less rusty buses could try expressing their feelings at the Jumbo Bus Company office in Wuzhou, which I happened to stumble upon today.

I'm not saying this is at all likely to work, but at least you could buy or add funds to an IC card there.

Since we're on the Wuzhou bus topic once more, I will share that the other night I saw somebody with a notable umbrella.

What better way to wait in the rain for a Jumbo Wuzhou Bus, rusty or not?

Identified: A Paris Peacock Swallowtail on a Mountain in Wuzhou

I don't often see butterflies. I far more rarely take decent photos of them. But the other day one butterfly on Baiyun Mountain in Wuzhou was kind enough to pose (ever so briefly) for a few.

I have come up fruitless many times trying to more specifically identify unusual (to me) insects in Asia. Sometimes I have asked for help here, including with some beetles I saw around West Lake in Fuzhou, Fujian, that still remain a mystery to me. But this time a friend who saw the photos saved the day and said she thought it was a Paris peacock, a species of swallowtail butterfly. The pictures and description in the Wikipedia entry look like an excellent match, so I consider this case closed.

And now, the photos of a Paris peacock swallowtail I saw during yet an another unexpected hike up a mountain (more about that attempt to reach the top of a tower another day):

An Apparent Mismatch for a Name: Mini Jumbo Wuzhou Buses in Guangxi, China

Hong Kong formally names its minibuses, like the one which appeared in the previous post, "public light buses". Wuzhou, a city in the Chinese autonomous region Guangxi, also has minibuses. But instead of "public light bus" they have another name on them.

The "Wuzhou" and "Bus" parts of the name "Jumbo Wuzhou Bus" make obvious sense. "Jumbo" is less clear, though, since these are minibuses. If that is the jumbo size then what's the mini size?

A larger bus can help begin to clear up the mystery.

They have the same name on them, which is the name of a bus company. This is clearly stated in smaller Chinese print elsewhere on the buses.

Like buses in Hong Kong, some buses have advertising.

However, you won't see advertising quite like what's on the minibus in the previous post. Hongkongers have greater political rights and more freedom of speech than people in mainland China. The "Tell Right From Wrong, True From False" slogan was part of a campaign for the Labor Party's attempt to win a 2018 Kowloon West by-election. But China still limits Hongkongers' rights to a degree that leads some people to claim Hong Kong doesn't have real democracy. These limitations were evident in Kowloon West election when the Labor Party's original candidate, Lau Siu-lai, was barred from running due to her previous stances regarding Hong Kong's self-determination.

Back to more mundane matters . . . in Wuzhou there are buses in between the mini Jumbo Wuzhou Bus and the regular-sized Jumbo Wuzhou Bus in terms of size. So here are two mini-plus Jumbo Wuzhou Buses:

The word "珍宝" in the Chinese name for Jumbo Wuzhou Bus would often be translated as "treasure". But it is also a loanword in Cantonese meaning "jumbo" because of its similar sound to the English word. Like in Hong Kong, Cantonese is a commonly spoken language in Wuzhou.

I can't shed more light on what inspired the choice of "jumbo". But if you want to dig more, it might be worth looking into the Guangzhou buses with a similar name and logo.

Advice from a Minibus in Hong Kong

A Cameo Appearance on Graham Street

A moment today in Central, Hong Kong

Trump's Tweets in the Hong Kong News

Tonight on the news as I waited for a ferry tonight in Hong Kong:

Just a basic point that is part of a larger picture: Trump's tweets receive close attention, even here.

Auspicious Construction in Hong Kong

A view from Lee Tung Avenue

An Unexpected Visit to the Sunshine Kowloon Bay Cargo Centre in Hong Kong

I hadn't expected to arrive in Prince Edwards, Hong Kong, at 11:30 a.m. yesterday.

Oh, the location was expected. But the time was not since I had departed Jiangmen only 3.5 hours before, and a similar recent trip from a closer location, Zhongshan, had taken longer. Arriving earlier than expected was grand though.

I had expected to stop by the Mongkok Computer Centre yesterday afternoon. I had also expected during this visit I wouldn't be able to fully resolve the problem which had brought me there. But I hadn't expected that after some assistance, I would head to Kowloon Bay.

And I hadn't expected that yesterday I would find myself at the Sunshine Kowloon Bay Cargo Centre.

Some readers must be wondering if the Sunshine Kowloon Bay Cargo Centre is a fine building. It is.

After entering the building, I hadn't expected that finding a way to the upper levels would be slightly tricky. Here is a later photo I took which which I believe captures somebody receiving friendly assistance to reach those levels:

After finding the elevator and exiting it on the 2nd floor (what would be labeled the 3rd floor in the U.S.), I hadn't expected to see no signs of my intended destination. So I picked a direction and found myself in a distribution centre for Circle K, a convenience store chain.

Soon a person who hadn't expected me to be in the Circle K distribution centre explained (hollered) that I shouldn't be there. Then an older man who presumably wasn't surprised to see yet another person in the wrong place immediately guessed my intended destination and directed me there.

Thank you, sir.

Shortly after that, I found my destination.

When I left Hong Kong during the Lunar New Year holiday I hadn't expected to return so soon. I also hadn't expected that I would have significant problems with an external hard drive I had bought there. I had expected that having discarded the box would make resolving the problem more challenging. It did, but I hadn't expected that things would go as smoothly as they did nonetheless.

In short, the external hard drive I had bought has been replaced. As soon as I feel reasonably confident all is OK with it, I will be heading out of Hong Kong once more. While I wish the drive I had bought before had lived a long life, at least the experience of replacing it afforded opportunities to open my eyes to new things.

More about some of those things and also the new travel options in and out of Hong Kong someday.

I expect.

A Gymnasium in Jiangmen

The other day during a long walk through the Baishuidai Scenic Area in Jiangmen I passed the Guangdong Nanfang Institute of Technology (广东南方职业学院). I see indications the school's English name used to be the Guangdong Nanfang (or Southern) Vocational School, which would be consistent with its Chinese name, but I will stick with what appears on their website. Whatever its English name, the architecture of one of its building particularly stood out.

On a page of photos of various buildings and locations at the campus, I discovered it was an indoor gymnasium. I don't expect to have much more to share about the school as I didn't stay around for long. But I do hope to share more about the scenic area another day. 

Shakespeare and Chinese Fashion: Wearing Your Heart On Your Sleeve in Jiangmen, Not in Venice

O, sir, content you;
I follow him to serve my turn upon him:
We cannot all be masters, nor all masters
Cannot be truly follow'd. You shall mark
Many a duteous and knee-crooking knave,
That, doting on his own obsequious bondage,
Wears out his time, much like his master's ass,
For nought but provender, and when he's old, cashier'd:
Whip me such honest knaves. Others there are
Who, trimm'd in forms and visages of duty,
Keep yet their hearts attending on themselves,
And, throwing but shows of service on their lords,
Do well thrive by them and when they have lined
their coats
Do themselves homage: these fellows have some soul;
And such a one do I profess myself. For, sir,
It is as sure as you are Roderigo,
Were I the Moor, I would not be Iago:
In following him, I follow but myself;
Heaven is my judge, not I for love and duty,
But seeming so, for my peculiar end:
or when my outward action doth demonstrate
The native act and figure of my heart
In compliment extern, 'tis not long after
But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve
For daws to peck at: I am not what I am.

– Iago in William Shakespeare's Othello, Act 1, Scene 1*

For sale at Diwang Plaza in Jiangmen, China

* See here or here for translations into modern English of this scene where Iago explains he hides his negative feelings toward his master in order to better take advantage of him.