After reaching a boarding platform at the Shaoguan Railway Station last Wednesday morning, I headed in the wrong direction. To ensure the high-speed train didn't leave minus a confused passenger, staff asked me to board the nearest train car. The long train appeared to be two trains connected together, and there was no way to pass from the one I had boarded to the one with my reserved seat. Fortunately, finding a new seat wasn't a problem. During the 1 hour 44 minutes needed to reach my destination 480 km (298 miles) away, I was the only person sitting in the train car I had entered.
After arriving at the Changsha South Railway Station, instead of
taking a taxi with a bust of Mao Zedong as I had done two years ago, I took the subway which had opened more recently.
In my hotel room I discovered one of the lightbulbs needed replaced. I notified hotel staff and not long afterwards left my room. In the elevator lobby I saw a hotel employee walk towards my room with a light bulb. Minutes later my room had more light. The elevator lobby, where I had watched the employee remove the light bulb from the ceiling, now had less.
I hit the streets of Changsha with a number of goals in my mind, most related to seeing what had and had not changed since my previous time there. Since my stomach desired lunch, my first destination was a new favorite for Liuyang-style steamed dishes on Jixiang Lane (吉祥巷). My old favorite and an old new favorite on the same lane are both long gone.
As expected, a variety of options, many spicy, were available in the steamer.
As not expected, the fish I chose was far from spectacular. I may branch out to other lanes next time.
I then made my way to the
Kaifu Wanda Plaza. Behind it a pair of men encouraged me to try their specialty of pig and chicken feet.
Being full, I passed on their offer. And I soon passed some non-foot meat for sale nearby.
While walking down Yongxing Street (永兴街), a man sitting outside a mahjong room requested I take his photo. I obliged, and he convinced a woman to join him.
Later, near an area with a number of mobile phone stores and markets, I met two boys sharing a chair . . .
. . . a boy with a Chinese
sanjiegun . . .
and a sanjiegun-less mutt.
Upon reaching the mobile phone markets, I checked out their current selection.
I then walked to a large shopping district around Huangxing Road and saw a Minions mascot . . .
. . . a child with a dog . . .
. . . and a couple of other mascots, these for Dianping.
The mascots were part of a promotion at a mall which, similar to many other promotions I have seen in China, concluded with dancers.
The dancers conclude this set of photos as well.
I was in Changsha for less than 24 hours but still managed to cover much ground. The above photos capture just a small portion of what I saw. In the future, I will share more, including updates to some earlier Changsha-related posts. And perhaps someday I will return to the elevator lobby to see whether it has regained its earlier brightness.
