Downtown Intersection

Downtown Intersection
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

In this shot you see one of the main intersections in the heart of the

older part of town, with a back view of one of the big government

buildings. (Despite its rather odd pseudo-Aztec/zigurat look, it’s

rather a nice building with lovely gardens in the front.) The shots

immediately after it are all very close to this intersection. The

first two show different angles of the same intersection, which is

right next to a major bridge over our river, and also right next to

the biggest shopping district in town — complete with Wal-Mart, the

big movie theater, and several different department stores and

shopping centers. In two of the shots you’ll see, if you look

carefully, the logo of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Naturally the

games are a VERY big deal here in China, and even in Nanning — almost

as far south of Beijing (which means northern capital, of course) as

you can get and still be in China — you see the logo adorning ads for

any number of companies. (FYI, the shot with more building and less

street shows the building that houses Wal-Mart. The shot with more

street, where you see the guy pulling his cart behind him, gives you a

small inkling of the craziness of these streets: I just wish I’d been

able to get a shot of the donkey cart that passed through the

intersection a few minutes earlier…)