Recently razed side of Guyang Lu

Recently razed side of Guyang Lu DSCN3689, originally uploaded by RED WEDDING.BLOGSPOT.

We returned the 29th of July to discover that the entire row of low buildings across the street from our apartment building had been razed. While it isn't surprising, it was startling. We had shopped last year at a pharmacy and an office supply shop where you see this rubble. We liked taking our business to the local merchants rather than the ubiquitous Carrefour. I remember the kind face of the elderly man who sold us extraordinary hand-made gift wrapping paper sheets. The pharmacy was open one day, closed the next and then never reopened. All along this street were bars which, unlike the other businesses, had no open windows, just advertising that including western style ads with product names in English, "Chivas" and smaller neon writing in Japanese. We heard that this was where many Japanese men went for women (other than their wives). In the lower left corner you can see construction worker housing that took all about two days to put up. One wonders why people in other parts of the world live in buildings that are run-down, infested and otherwise inadequate for living, when at least temporarily, this could give clean shelter.