Life's a Stitch

Perplexing

So, why are there gas masks in hotel room closets? Someone in the group guessed their use was  for pollution. It’s smoggy, but not gas mask worthy. I thought maybe for protection in case of attack. You never know with the state of the world and China’s proximity to threatening regimes. The real answer? They are there to protect you in case of fire. 

Scary

Fire fighting methods on a river boat. It’s a good thing they furnish gas masks, better yet that the shore appeared to be within reasonable swimming distance.

Charming

Air China’s safety video features a friendly panda and upon landing, the flight attendants stand at the front of the cabin to thank passengers with a respectful bow. Nice touch.

Endearing

The giant pandas at the Chungqing Zoo’s panda research and conservation program. Just our group of 32 and the pandas made for a memorable experience.

Industrious

The Forbidden City was built, start to finish, in only 14 years. That’s 980 buildings covering 180 acres, built by over a million workers in the early 1400’s.

The Three Gorges damn, the world’s largest power plant in terms of output, required the systematic relocation of 1.25 million people. An entire city was built to house many of them.

Guess  that’s what happens in the absence of an elected government.

China’s entire super highway system has been built since 2000, 132,000 kilometres (nearly 80,000 miles) worth.

And what about that Great Wall? A military fortification, 21,000 kilometers (13,000 miles) long.

More to come…