Bicycles in China are not environmentally friendly (5) – Conclusion

Yes, we’ve reached the end at last !

While picking up from where I left off yesterday, am I going to paint a picture of doom and gloom or do I see hope on the horizon for China and the environment ? Well….

Bicycles in China are not environmentally friendly (4) – Globalisation

In this fourth post of the series I am returning to the original subject matter; the pollution being generated by Chinese industry, why it is being allowed to occur and, just as importantly, what the future will hold and why nobody really cares.

What ? Nobody really cares? Well, yes.

Let me explain a little about myself. This is me on that day trip, just having had lunch at a waterfront restaurant within the area. What do you see ?

Relaxing after lunch - near Qinzhou - Dec 2009

You see a tourist; a western tourist. Ok, so effectively China is my second home now because it is Amanda’s home country and the rest of her family is there, but outside of the family unit I am still a “tourist” when I visit.

Despite the destruction and devastation that is being meted out to the local environment, do you see somebody who is up in arms protesting about it ? Of course not. Why not ? Because there is not a single thing that I can do about it.

Bicycles in China are not environmentally friendly (3) – An educational diversion

So far in episodes (1) and (2) I have shown you what is happening in the vicinity of Guangxi Qinzhou Free Trade Port Area from a purely factual aspect.

Today I want to step aside from all this though, because on a personal level I found our day trip to the region quite educational.

My experience of China is somewhat limited and I have been intrigued at the way the different styles of buildings (and the different “classes” of the occupants) intertwine and I had often wondered how it all came about, especially given the fact that a lot of the smaller, more incongruous buildings didn’t seem to be that much older than the larger properties surrounding them. By seeing this new development in its early stages the whole process becomes a lot clearer.

New building 1	New building 2
New building 3	New building 4

Bicycles in China are not environmentally friendly (2) – Destruction and pollution

In the last post I discussed the way in which the Chinese love of the bicycle, both pedalled and powered, influences the Chinese authorities when it comes to town planning. They design everything with flat roads.

In this post I will show you what that means to the natural landscape of southern Guangxi.

Bicycles in China are not environmentally friendly (1) – Flat roads

I didn’t know where to start with the reports on my latest trip to China until I saw Kelly’s excellent post the other week on Post-Avatar Depression Support. In that post she links to a Seeking Alpha post entitled Are We Exacerbating China’s Pollution?, which then points the reader at these pictures of industrial pollution in China.

To be fair, the Seeking Alpha post does start with the words “America used to mistreat her land and water like this.”, and one could easily substitute almost any European nation for America in that statement.

This series of posts isn’t aimed at knocking China, (the wife wouldn’t let me). I love China. The intention is simply to relay what I have seen with my own eyes and have learned by my own recent experience, to try to put it into context from the perspective of the world in which we live, and to look to how things might develop and/or improve in the future, if they can.

So where do the bicycles fit into this ?

Extreme Shepherding – What Welsh shepherds get up to in their spare time

A friend send me this link in an email today. Oh, did I laugh !
Ok, so there is a little bit of it that appears to have been “touched up” with some computerised enhancements, but that doesn’t take away from the magic of it.

To enjoy 2 minutes 45 seconds of (sponsored) “Welsh Hillside Art”….

It must have taken them ages !

Have you ever been eaten by fish ?

Hmmm, surprisingly it seems I might actually be able to post while I’m in China… I certainly couldn’t last year !
Have so many stories to tell and pictures to show from this trip that it will take me ages to catch up when I get home.
Anyway, we went to the Gentle Uptown Hot Spring Spa on the outskirts of Nanning yesterday where, apart from doing things like having my first ever proper sauna, we sat / lay in a pool with lots of little fish that nibble at your skin. What an incredible sensation ! Well worth the extra 20 RMB per person.
They always head straight for your feet when you first get in, but then they do work their way all over you. Apart from the tickling that your feet get, their little teeth are sometimes quite sharp and you feel like you want to swat them like flies.
Will definitely have to go back on every trip. I want more of this 🙂

A fishy feast

They liked Amanda too

It’s not every day you have a Guillemot in your bath

Yesterday afternoon we went for a stroll along the beach (Dysart to West Wemyss).

As per usual we picked up lots of pieces of glass (I’m collecting them in the hope that one day I might start making pictures out of them) and we also got a few stones for Amanda’s Dad (he likes to be able to “feel” Scotland, even though he’s never been here).

The tide was starting to come in by the time we got to the outcrop near West Wemyss so we had to clamber over some of the rocks to get to the beach by West Wemyss, but we thought it would be worth it because the beach was clear and open, and there would be lots of pieces of glass there.

Amanda headed off up the beach while I edged along the top of the waterline, dodging the incoming water, when I suddenly realised that there was a bird flapping away in the surf.

I called Amanda over and managed to pick it up from the water.

It couldn’t stand up properly, and its neck was twisted so its head was on the ground all the time.

Neither of us had our phone with us so we couldn’t call anybody for assistance.  The only thing we could do was to rearrange everything we had collected and put it in one of the carrier bags we had with us and take it home.  This meant a really difficult rush up over the hill along the coastal path, and my back was giving me hell climbing the steep steps, but “Sammy the Seabird” was more important than worrying about that.

When we finally got home Sammy was put in the bath with a little water while I found the number for the Scottish SPCA and called them to send somebody out.

In the time it took them to arrive poor little Sammy seemed to get a little bit stronger, occasionally trying to stand up.  At one point, after he had done a nice squirty poo, he even managed to stand up almost properly, although lifting his head was still difficult.

When the guy from the SSPCA arrived he told us that Sammy was a Guillemot, but also gave us the bad news that his neck was broken because he had flown into something (apparently they do it a lot) so there was no hope for him.

Sammy was put into one of their brown carrying boxes and taken away by the nice SSPCA man who would put Sammy out of his misery.

Sleep tight Sammy.

Winter sky

Off-blue, off-grey, off-white… the colourist has laid out an unmistakeable winter sky.

Clouds: Blending yet separated, defined yet merging, static yet fluid, focussed yet blurred, the palette used in ways of wonder and mystery.

Behind me the sky is more monotone, more threatening.

This evening it will rain.

(c) TNH 2009

What is this bug ?

I was standing around outside the office yesterday having a smoke break and I happened to spot a little creature wandering across one of the leaves of some dogwood.  At first I thought it was a spider, but when I looked closer I realised it wasn’t.

I peered closely at the little blighter for a minute or two and thought to myself… “Wow … you’re weird !”