The Infinite City

[PlanetStarbucks]

Hey TPF...been a while since I've posted, but I have a good excuse. I spent four weeks in China. After several thousand miles, many dishes eaten, countless photographs, a few fights with my traveling partners I return. I've got plenty to show, but wanted to start with something that left a lasting impression on me.

All of these were taken out of the window of a bullet train. No photograph can capture the scale of this place. Images like these extended for mile after mile and mile. The size and the sheer ugliness of it was staggering. And no matter what they tell you, what's in the air is not fog. For me these images capture so much about what the country is becoming. And also, it bears a warning. This is what your own city might look like very soon. Take care of where you live.

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Don't get me wrong. You all have to go. I don't care what it takes or what you gotta do...go. And for how much ugliness there was, there was just as much that was beautiful and amazing. No place I've ever been to has left such an impact on me.

Ok...enough soapboxing.

 

[bc_steve]

Nice pictures! I especially like the first one because it reminds me of when I was there a year and a half ago. I just couldn't believe the scale of how much construction was going on there, and never, ever, had I seen so many cranes in all my life. I like the fourth one as well, I like the way the different shapes of the buildings go together ... and oh, that smog. Pretty gross. I was around Chengdu and Xi'an for a week before heading out to the western provinces of Xinjiang, Gansu, Qinghai and Tibet but during that first week I never saw the sun. It was just foggy/smoggy everywhere I went, and I'd see all the smokestacks just adding to the soup. It really nice to get out west: the skies were blue, and the air was clean (for the most part).

I thought China was a very photogenic place. I look forward to seeing more pictures from your trip.