ASIA TRIP 2024 – CHINA – JULY 28
It was another hot day in China, this particular summer seemed to be hotter than our previous visit. That being said, I really wanted to go out and take some photos. Each day I had to figure out what our family plans were, then decide if I could somehow get some photography time in. Since it was so hot I knew that if I went out to walk around for a few hours I was bound to come home soaked in sweat. Therefore I had to plan to shower schedule accordingly so I was clean for time with family and friends and didn’t have to take too many showers in one day. Also, I didn’t want to go through clothes so quickly either. This sometimes lead to me not going out to take photos on some days.
It was kind of annoying because in the morning it wasn’t super hot yet but the humidity was really high so I was bound to sweat. During the mid day the humidity would drop some, although it was still pretty high, but then the temperature went up and the sun would kind of break through the air pollution and it would feel just as hot. If I waited for the sun to go down, the humidity would go back up fairly quickly… The reality of it was that it didn’t make much difference, I was bound to sweat through my clothes no matter what time of day I decided to go out. The only way to avoid this was taking a taxi and doing indoor activities. Neither of which were conducive to the types of photographs I wanted to make.
The first thing that caught my eye this day was this three-wheeled motorcycle/flatbed truck. It was fully loaded with heavy bricks, concrete and other materials. I couldn’t believe this thing was capable of moving all that weight. You can see just how much the bricks alone weigh as it caused the vehicle to lean to one side. I had a peak at the engine and it appears to be a single cylinder design with fairly small displacement. I noticed what I assume to be the model number on the side, ML300ZH. I wonder if the 300 means it’s a 300cc engine? Looks smaller than that to me.
After admiring the capabilities of the cargo cycle I began to wander and point my camera at anything that caught my attention.
These shots above were captured minutes apart. It’s not uncommon to see such a difference between people’s methods of transportation.
I don’t know if these dogs were feral or not but they weren’t very social and they certainly seemed to have very busy schedules as they only stopped to piss. After that, they had places to go, and they were always in a hurry to get there. That is, until I came across the dog below. After I took the photo he woke up and wandered out to the parking lot to lay in the sun for a while. I was quite surprised considering it was hot in the shade and considering how thick his coat was.
At this point I decide to take a walk through part of Nanshan Park and see what the new (since my previous visit in 2018) elevated walkway was like. There are two buildings on the north side of Nanshan Park, this first building is where the sleeping dog is and the other building is a small pagoda. When I was there 20 years ago, I saw them from a distance. Then in 2015 I got to see them up close. At the time they were in pretty good cosmetic condition. During this visit, it seems that that haven’t been maintained for quite some time.
I made my way over to the new elevated walkway which I quite enjoyed. It provided some interesting views that you’d otherwise not get. There were some signs that I came across that I found the translations to be somewhat amusing. As I walked around the park on a hot Monday around noon, I wondered how many people might come by here on a nice weekend in the early spring or late autumn when the weather is much more pleasant.
As many times as I’ve visited Changle now, I have yet to fully explore Nanshan Park. Maybe next time.
The view of Changle as seen from Nanshan Park.
I don’t remember this restaurant the last time I was here so I decided to take a photo. Then a dog pops out so of course I have to photograph him. After I made these photographs, the man that can be seen in the first photo approached me and told me that this was his restaurant. He told me that it was currently being renovated and asked if I wanted to take a look. I said yes and and he began to show me around we talked to each other about how he lived in New York for many years. He told me that the renovations would be completed in about a week and invited me to come back. I told him I would and wanted to, but unfortunately I was busy for the rest of my time in Changle and didn’t have the chance. Hopefully the next time I visit I will be able to stop by. Who knows if he’ll be there or if he’ll remember me.
