After years of construction the Hangzhou authorities have finally opened the second metro line! Unfortunately they only opened half of it and that half goes nowhere and does nothing. It’s all new, shiny and cool though! I went for a ride three days after the opening.

Station entrance at Qianjiang:

More lines, more lines!

The area where it actually goes seems to be low density and thus shouldn’t really need heavy rail mass transit…

But no worries! They’re demolishing all the old buildings and making way for nice gardens and more high-rises in order to build a customer base for the metro. This feels familiar… SimCity?

First time I’m completely alone in a public space in China:

And yeah, there’s absolutely no need to stop at stations since there wouldn’t be any passengers anyway…

-t

No cheating.-t

I heard that the Chinese have built a high-speed rail network that extends to the end of the world and decided to see where it takes me. After a short (50min) metro train and bus ride I arrived at the gates of Paris, France. It all looks so French with clean streets and beautiful…. things.

I’ve been to Paris before but this time the city was easier to navigate than before, thanks to bilingual signage in French and English:

A nice stroll on the Champs Elysees. Wasn’t as crowded as last time but the people were much more polite and friendly than before! However the economic crisis in the EU has resulted in many of the shops remaining closed.

Overall the city was extremely beautiful and I must recommend that everyone should visit Paris!

Now I’m back in Hangzhou.

-t