I wanted to go to the old village of Hengmian (横沔古镇) in Shanghai Pudong, but couldn’t really find it. Still a nice walk along old buildings, gardening plots, highways, and power lines.
These buildings will be gone in a decade, driven out by modernization. I think these places are infinitely more interesting than modern high-rises and shopping malls, but I understand why it must happen in a city like Shanghai.
They’re a contrast to the tech companies in the area & the world’s fastest train that crosses here. The Maglev is praised to be silent, but that’s if you’re a passenger. Here it’s loud, not just when it passed right over my head, but I also kept hearing it from a great distance.
These rural residents get the noise, but only have bus lines themselves — although the busses come & leave often. (And unlike trains or metro, busses are easy to relocate when this place is demolished and gone.)
Lot of gardening in the area, or can we already call it farming?
“Shifu, ok if I take a photo of your bike?”
“You don’t want a roasted potato?”
“Just a photo.”
“Ah, ok ok.”
This is the space between highways splitting or merging. Surprisingly peaceful, nobody here. All the action takes place upstairs.
注意下有电线 (Electricity cable in the ground)
A place can never have enough trees.
Two residents came out. I worried they’d chase me away, this odd foreigner, but they friendly said “This road doesn’t go anywhere (这里不通)”, and I feel they have just described the whole area to me.
It’s a place a bit broken, but yes, so too is everything and everyone.
