Chongking,China Sept.26, 2018
Streets, Bang Bang shoulder poles and figs
The city along the Yangtze river is a starting point of many cruises to the Three Gauges Dam. It is known as mountainous city. The center of the city is occupied with modern tall buildings. But It still keeps the atmosphere of old Chinese city, which Shanghai has lost now. During my stay, I was able to enjoy myself walking around in those nice atmospheres.
As it is called mountainous city, there are a lot of slopes. There were a lot of workers called “Bang Bang” who carry parcels, cartons, etc., on the both sides of a pole on their shoulders. Many of those services have been replaced by vehicles. However, You can see a lot of people bringing items by the poles on their shoulders in the city. It may be their DNA to carry like that.
On the streets, I was able to see people’s ordinary life. Some were playing a board game with other watching the game, A group of women exercising a dance on the square early in the morning, a couple doing business with a sawing machine on the street like the picture above. Street food vendors selling fresh fruits, people buying meat at the butcher house, people eating breakfast at tables in front of small pop & mom restaurants etc..
I saw many street vendors of fruits in the streets near the Hotel I stayed. Figs were in season when I was visiting there. I bought a few figs from a street vendor on my way back to the hotel from dinner on my first night. She has a hanging scale and is selling the fruits by weight. I showed her my five fingers. She picked up five from her basket, weighed them and put into a plastic bag. I did not remember how much I paid to her, but remembered they were cheap. I must have paid at tourist price. Still It was way cheaper than I pay in Japan. She gave me a good smile to me when she gave me the bag. That is you cannot expect in a large city like Shanghai. That made me feel happy. Plus, the taste of the fruits were very delicious. It is now priceless memory to me.
