All across China, massive construction programs have rebuilt entire cities. Older areas, with their tangle of alleyways have been demolished to make way for organized blocks of high-rises.
Not so much in Changsha, which is in Hunan Province. I find the city a little difficult to get around, because much of downtown is still a warren of alleyways. On the plus side, some of these have been gentrified and are filled with interesting architectural details.
You can have your neighbour over tea without them leaving home. Just hand a teacup across to their balcony.
Modern art gallery.
Woman drinking tea.
The biggest problem in getting around is the city hasn't upgraded its transit information. I use a Chinese map app on my phone, which tells you what transit to take to get from your current location to some other selected location. Changsha is the only city in China I've found where this doesn't work--the real bus routes differ from the ones in the app.
Why don't I drive, you ask?
Because driving in China is still pretty much like this:
Not so much in Changsha, which is in Hunan Province. I find the city a little difficult to get around, because much of downtown is still a warren of alleyways. On the plus side, some of these have been gentrified and are filled with interesting architectural details.
You can have your neighbour over tea without them leaving home. Just hand a teacup across to their balcony.
Modern art gallery.
Woman drinking tea.
The biggest problem in getting around is the city hasn't upgraded its transit information. I use a Chinese map app on my phone, which tells you what transit to take to get from your current location to some other selected location. Changsha is the only city in China I've found where this doesn't work--the real bus routes differ from the ones in the app.
Why don't I drive, you ask?
Because driving in China is still pretty much like this:
No comments:
Post a Comment