Today I spent some time observing street traffic in Changsha. So instead of anything Halloween-related below are some photos taken from a pedestrian bridge spanning an intersection just north of the Changsha Railway Station.
Chezhan North Road (车站北路)
Bayi Road (八一路)
Facing Chezhan North Road
Vehicles entering Yuanda 1st Road (远大一路), most from Chezhan Middle Road (车站中路)
Vehicles and a pedestrian headed toward Yuanda 1st Road
In addition to roads, I also observed some of the traffic on sidewalks.
A followup to yesterday's Halloween-themed post is taking longer than expected and won't be finished today. So I will do a different (and simpler) followup.
Recently I shared photos of Changsha's Juzizhou Bridge viewed from the east side of the Xiang River north of the bridge as the sun lowered in the sky. For a variation, here is a photo taken from the west side of the Xiang River south of the bridge as the sun was close to going behind Yuelu Mountain, which is out of view.
Of note are the two men fishing on the left side of the photo, the numerous buses on the bridge, and the taller buildings on the right side, three of which stand out more flashily in a photo I took at night four years ago from the same side of the river north of the bridge. Similar to the previous photo, the trees in the far distance are all on Tangerine Island in the middle of the river. The scene is less orangish than the previous photo probably due to facing away from the sun and a clearer sky, though the air quality was still bad — hovering around the border between the Unhealthy and Very Unhealthy categories for just a 24-hour exposure. The full size of the uploaded photo is slightly larger than usual and should be viewable by clicking (or whatever it is you do) on the photo above.
This year I was in Changsha yet again for the holiday. Later I will post more about the business/marketing side of Halloween. But first, below are some Halloween night photos from an area covering Hualongchi to Taiping Street which has several pedestrian streets and many shopping centers, restaurants, and bars. The photos range from children in costumes to people selling Halloween-related items to a dance club's spruced-up entrance. The last photo reflects that most people who were out weren't dressed up for Halloween. It didn't necessarily stop them from having a good time though.
On my way from Zhongshan in Guangdong province to Changsha in Hunan province, I recently spent over a week in Hengyang, also in Hunan province. This marked my fifth visit to a city which has been featured in many earlier posts here. A subject for a few of those posts has been what has or hasn't changed there during my visits which now cover a period of more than five years.
In May 2014 I noticed some sunken character/animal-themed pedal boats at a pond in (or next to) the Hengyang Youth Palace (衡阳市青少年宫). In April 2015 all of the boats were in the same condition but now surrounded by many dead fish.
When I returned in April of this year, the boats still remained in their resting places though there were no signs of dead fish.
So when I returned this month, it was remarkable that the the boats were no longer partially submerged in water — quite a change. But that was only because there was no water.
Some construction work was ongoing in another portion of the pond. Based on what I have seen elsewhere in China and the fact that some other lakes and ponds nearby in Hengyang were similarly drained at the same time, I presume this is a temporary state and the pond will be refilled at some point.
What I am far less sure about is whether or not the boats will be removed before then.
It gives me yet another reason to hope I can return to Hengyang again someday.
As recent posts suggest, I am now in Changsha, the capital of Hunan province. I arrived here while the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China was underway. Coincidentally, I was also in Changsha five years ago during the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. At that time I experienced great difficulty using my VPN to get through the Great Firewall and access online sites blocked in China. This time I have had a far more online positive experience. I have not had any additional unusual problems since those I experienced almost three weeks ago in Zhongshan, Guangdong.
When I mentioned some of the internet challenges I faced five years ago, I shared a photo of Changsha's Juzizhou Bridge. A year later, I shared another photo of the bridge, this one from the western side of the river at night. Although a subway line below the river now matches its path, the bridge remains an important link across the Xiang River while also connecting Tangerine Island (Juzi Zhou) to both sides. Below is a fresh series of eight photos taken north of the bridge from the eastern side of the river. The colors may seem a bit off, but they are in part a result of something that hasn't changed much in Changsha since I first visited the city over 8 years ago — heavy air pollution. All of the photos include Tangerine Island, which blocks the view of the shoreline on the river's other side where the most easily visible buildings stand. In addition to people on and below the bridge, vehicles crossing the river, and ships passing by, the sun descends from one photo to the next, eventually to be partially hidden by Yuelu Mountain.
Instead of the common pairing of one guardian lion (male) with a ball and the other (female) with a lion cub under one of their front paws, both of these lions have a ball. As a non-expert on guardian lions, I would particularly welcome thoughts others may have about this.
In any case, they are not typical-looking guardian lions — unsurprising for a place that has a triceratops with keys as its horns inside.
The hallways lead to luxury shops, restaurants, and, of course, the main casino. Walking around will also take one past a number of creative works.
For example, there is the Tulips sculpture by the American artist Jeff Koons.
There are also floral sculptures designed by Preston Bailey. All of them were made in Las Vegas, dismantled, shipped to Macau, and then reassembled. With eight available in total, the two sculptures on display at the Wynn Palace change every few months. During my recent visit, the hot air balloon floral sculpture was out.
Each of the balloons slowly rises and falls, and the largest is nearly 17 feet (about 5 meters) in height.
The other floral sculpture now on display at first only appears to be your everyday 12-foot-tall Fabergé egg.
[Spoiler alert: there is more than meets the eye here. To avoid the big egg reveal do not read any further and take a ride on the nearest gondola.]
But periodically a phoenix appears accompanied by a condensed version* of the end of Igor Stravinsky's The Firebird.
Perhaps the regenerating phoenix can give people hope if they lost a lot of money in the casino. Or in Preston Bailey's words: “We knew that we needed to keep people amused and surprised.” Whatever the case, after the short performance the phoenix returns to its egg until it decides to emerge once again.
Somebody recently posted a video of the phoenix doing its thing, so if you need a bit of phoenix inspiration: