|
From Magic City Morning Star R.P. BenDedek
From the time I first arrived in Baotou (June 26th) until I finished work there on January 10th, I had not had much opportunity to do any sightseeing, and so therefore, have not had much to offer readers in the way of photographs of the area. The city itself does not really have much to offer, other than a number of parks and gardens; the most interesting of which in my opinion is the Grasslands Park. I have on many occasions visited or seen a variety of parks, but usually not with my camera in hand, and I don't own one of those mobile phones with the ability to take photographs. Those types of mobile phones are far too complicated for this feeble mind to work out. I'm still coming to terms with using mobile phones, and in an up coming story you will come to understand just how difficult modern technology is for me.
With 4 days free between ending my employment at Henry's school, and my flight back to Australia, I took the opportunity to take my camera out to a rather deserted looking park alongside of which is some type of water storage facility. I had visited the park twice before, once in Summer and again a few weeks ago to see if the water was frozen. On neither occasion were there people to be found there, so I am guessing that it is not a popular place. Once we got the fresh snow I went up there again with trusty camera to capture these shots.
I have been told that it takes an hour to drive out to the Yellow river. This tributary is just 'up the road' so to speak, on the edge of town. It is hard to describe. One half of this river bed has been filled in, and the rest of it has been turned into a series of water catchments. Each segment is quite long and each has at one end, water that is just an inch deep. At the other end of each segment it is probably several meters deep. Who knows? But there is a barrier of sorts between each segment, on the other side of which is a 3-5 meter drop, at which point there begins a new catchment area. Each segment has a concrete 'bottom / base/ floor', so that the water doesn't seep down into the water table. It appears to be a place where flash floods are trapped, perhaps to avoid letting water run out into the desert to evaporate.
These two photos (above) are of workmen who were digging a trench beside what can only be described as a 'dam' which separates the various segments. It wasn't until I went on a few more meters that I realised why they were digging the trench. Apparently, underneath the surface there is some kind of 'heater' to melt the ice, which then flows down into the next segment. It was quite interesting to watch the steamy water running through the ice.
The park constructed alongside the water catchment is also quite interesting, with a number of sulptures or themed features. It's worst feature was that it has no WC's (Washrooms). Yes that was me furtively lurking about under the bridge - won't tell you what I was doing!
At the time I took these photos, the water was frozen, and tracks across it were visible. What was interesting was the depth of snow on the surface. It seemed to be far more than we had a few blocks away in the Kunqu District CBD. Now I have included here a photograph of two penguins, but those are just for show. Like those who take photos of them, they are just dummies. The Ice sculpture behind them is created by a series of pipes through which hot water is pumped.
The pool tables out in the snowy park are not however for show! They are real! For some reason however, (perhaps -20 degree temperatures?) they were covered and no one was using them. (That was not a redundant statement!) The tables are located in the same park as the penguins, which is to say, at the end of the block on which I lived (Linyin Road), at the intersection with Gangtie Dajie.
The photo of the people walking on the ice was taken at a pond on Tuanjie Dajie, within walking distance of where I was living. I traveled past it every day on the bus and was determined to go there and get some photographs. Of course if you come from a place where it snows, these photos mean absolutely nothing, but for those of us from places with decent climates, they are interesting. So there you have it. Just a few photographs I took before heading back to Sunny Queensland Australia, where everything is beautiful one day and perfect the next! (It says so in the State Advertising Campaign!) I hope you enjoyed this little snippet from my life. Within days I will publish a few more articles of what has transpired since these photographs were taken. If you would like to see some more photographs of Baotou, go to the links contained at the bottom of the article entitled: Sitting Pretty in Baotou Inner Mongolia. (That article was specifically written because I knew that my first employers in Baotou were disreputable.) There will be more articles outlining my trip to Australia. Best Wishes: R.P. BenDedek Email: rpbendedek@hotmail.com
Stories from China at Magic City "The King's Calendar" is a chronological study of the historical books of the Bible (Kings and Chronicles), Josephus, Seder Olam Rabbah, and the (Essene) Damascus Document of The Dead Sea Scrolls. © Copyright 2002-2008 by Magic City Morning Star |
