Summertime Sunset

A gorgeous summertime sunset on Hexing Road.

Sunrise Over Nangang

Another gorgeous, pollution-enhanced sunrise. (I know I should love them, but I do!) I live in Daoli District, but the sun rises over Nangang just to the east of my apartment complex.

A closer look (from another morning) at the plumes of coal smoke rising over the city...

First(ish) Snow of Fall

Technically this was our second snowfall this fall, but it's the first that stuck! Early November and we're already into the winter weather, but I guess we can be grateful things got going in November instead of October!

Sadly enough, the bad visibility in the photo is due more to the incredibly bad air pollution lingering from the night before (when it was off the chart up in the 1,000s) than to the snow. The screenshot is from 9pm the night before. As you can see, by that point half the stations had maxed out at 999. (Later on in the evening when I checked all but two had maxed out.) By way of comparison, if I'm not mistaken a "bad" air day in Los Angeles or London is when the readings get up over the 70s. Not the 700s mind, the 70s. I won't lie, I can't help wondering when the lung cancer diagnosis is coming!

China: Safety First?

Road safety is such a big priority in China, as you can see here, where in the middle of repair work on a bridge for one of the city's busiest roads the city has very carefully separated vehicles and pedestrians to ensure the safety of all...haha, okay, so maybe not! But I have to walk through here most days on my way to work and I haven't been hit by a bus yet, so that's something...

Wenxing Food Street

A nightly food street on Wenxing Street, just off of Hexing Road in south-central Harbin. The food streets are apparently a fairly standard thing near university campuses as the cheaper food options are popular with the students, with a decent variety of street food available, often for ¥10 (US$1.61) or much less! Unfortunately the street - although generally jam-packed with people - isn't closed to through traffic, so if you go you'll routinely have nutters honking at you. Why they choose to drive down a road they know will be so crowded is beyond me...