Thursday, December 27, 2007

Bumper to bumper traffic, all the time is the norm in the big cities. So is the smog. China smelled a lot like the refinery areas of New Jersey where everything smells of petroleum. Perhaps surprisingly, they do a lot of little things to be energy and resource efficient. Everybody routinely shifts into neutral when stopped in traffic, for example.

Passing throught Shenzen on the way back to Hong Kong. I found that looking up at all the highrise buildings allowed my to not think about what was going on around me in traffic, which has an air of NASCAR about it. The construction in China is everywhere and most of it is over 60 storeys.

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2 comments:

Rob Greenfield said...

60 storeys and probably lots of 1 bedroom, small apts that are crammed.

northerndreamer said...

There is no sense of personal space in China or Hong Kong and it takes a while to get used to. A 'herd' mentality might explain it best, like leaving a concert or hockey game. My hotel room probably would have housed five or six luxuriously for most of the locals. In very many apartments, I doubt they ever see sunlight.