Little world
(Fifteen years of SIP exhibition: Suzhou, China)
I’ve seen this exhibition twice now, but the first time I was idiot enough to completely forget my camera. Since Li Gong Di featured yesterday, you might like to see what it looks like, rather than rely on my poor description. This is a vast, but perfectly executed architectural model of the SIP area in its entirety; even buildings not yet started have been produced in miniature to demonstrate how the finished plans will look.
Just for those people to whom it matters, North is not where it should be, rather it is to the left of the image (where West should be!). I did attempt to rotate the image but it just made me feel as I was on some strong medication or about to keel over. I added the red arrows to point to two points of interest. The right hand one is pointed to the strip of causeway called Li Gong Di, home to many of the cities best restaurants and bars, allegedly. We have hardly explored it at all – a meal there can be surprisingly pricey in comparison to cooking at home or even eating out in other areas. We rarely pay more than £10 equivalent for a meal out, usually far less.
The left arrow (to the North – just testing) is where we live just now. I tried to make it as accurate as possible, so that’s pretty much where we are. For a sense of scale, it takes about half an hour to forty minutes to walk to Li Gong Di from home. Apparently it’s very possible to cycle around the lake in one hour so it isn’t so huge. The very tall towers just to the South of home haven’t actually been built yet, but just beyond them at the lakeside is where the magical flame laser fire show is held each weekend. (http://china.analoguegirl.co.uk/laser-light-show/)
Just to remind everyone again, everything you see on this model pretty much exists already. It’s only the models that are in white that do not exist. And all this was built in the last 15 years.
And people wonder why Beijing had a new international airport built within 4 years when in the last twenty, people in the UK have yet to decide if they want a second runway in Heathrow…