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Today is the grand opening of the latest shopping spot in Kuching. The Boulevard shopping complex opened its doors to the eager consumers of Cat City. When I went over to have a look this morning, only the hypermarket was opened. And to be honest, the so called ‘hypermarket’ looks just like any mid-size supermarket to me. Carrefour or Tesco it ain’t.

JAM!

The people of Kuching have a tendency to flock to newly opened entertainment or shopping venues. This is known locally as the ‘New Toilet Syndrome’. Droves of curious people will visit the new attraction until everybody and their third cousin had been there. After that, the place will become half-deserted, like most of Kuching’s shopping venues before it.

Very JAM!

Usually I couldn’t care less about people flocking to a new attraction like an army of ants racing to a broken pot of honey. But this time, it touched a nerve, my nerve to be precise. My house is just a stone’s throw away from this behemoth of a shopping complex. And everybody in town that owns a car had decided to make their way over to experience the “New Toilet”.

The back… ALSO JAM!

This has in inadvertently created a gridlock along the surrounding roads. I had great fun watching cars go bumper-to-bumper right outside my house. And the honking of impatient drivers and the barking of neighborhood dogs who had never witness such a sight was music to my ears.

Like I said, the “New Toilet Syndrome” will only subside when everybody in town had been to this place. So people of Kuching! If you haven’t expericence the “New Toilet”, come on down to the Boulevard! Let’s get this over with so I can have some peace and quiet.

One thing that I noticed about the coastal cities of China is that they are covered in a veil of perpetual smog. At first I thought it was just the morning fog, and should clear up if the day was sunny enough. But was I wrong or what. The ‘fog’ lasted all day, every day, and some days worse than others. Asking around the locals, I found out that the fog was actually caused by severe air pollution.

Lion Grove Garden (Shizilin) in Suzhou

This is not surprising considering the rapid industrialization that is going on in China now. It is sad to see that the conservation of the environment has taken a back seat in the name of progress.

You can still see the smog hovering in the skyline.

Although the pollution in China is pretty bad, you can still find pockets of greenery amongst the hustle and bustle of the city streets. The Lion Grove Garden was such a sanctuary nestle within the city of Suzhou. It was a welcomed relieve from the honking motorists and the exhaust-fumes belching cars and lorries.

Limestone rocks in strange formations. But where are the Lions?

This historical garden boast a labyrinthine rockery that is made up of limestone arranged ingeniously to look like lions in different postures and verves: playing, roaring, fighting, sleeping, or even dancing. This is actually how the garden derived its namesake. However, due to the changes and ravages of the time and climate, the rockery now only bears little resemblance to its original arrangement.

Fishing for fallen leaves.

Autumn is here.

Labyrinth of rocks

It wouldn’t be a Chinese garden without bamboos.

Let’s hope that this historical garden will not be replaced by a skyscraper anytime soon. With the dizzying pace of development in China, there is no guarantee. But if that do happen, we can be sure all that remains of modern China will be a forest of concrete building covered in a perpetual fog of smog.

It has been a few years since I last visited the city of Hong Kong. This bustling metropolis is still as prosperous and unforgiving on the wallet as I remembered it. Nevertheless, if you have got the dough, this place has unlimited ways of dazzling your senses and coaxing you to part ways with your hard-earned cash.

The one thing that impressed me the most on my previous visit to Hong Kong was its spectacular night scenery. This hasn’t change a bit. The Avenue of Stars at the Tsimshatsui waterfront still gives the best vantage point for this mesmerizing view of Hong Kong’s skyline. I’m glad I brought my bulky SLR with me. It takes way better pictures than the compact point-and-shoot camera I had with me the last time I was here. I couldn’t get a decent picture from it no matter how hard I tried.

But getting a good night scenery photograph is not as easy as I thought, even with a SLR at my disposal. Shaky hands and low shutter speed takes bad photographs. A good tripod would have help tremendously. I guess I would have to try that on my next visit then. See how this place has a strange way of making you wanna spend and spend and spend some more? It affects even me!

I’m doomed.