Terminus V

My latest terminus adventure (note how carefully I avoid the more correct but more ominous “terminal adventure”) took me to the Utter West, but was extra challenging because Metro Line 11 has two spurs. First, I tried the north spur.  It had more hustle and bustle than any of the other terminal stations I’ve visited.  And much like the northern ends of Line 1 and Line 9, it was a land of orange taxis.Line 11 took me past hundreds of empty and under construction apartment buildings on my way west.
From the tattered state of this poster on a construction site urging workers to put on hard hats, I have to imagine that both these construction workers are dead.Backtracking, I then tried the western spur.  It took me past this station, which I found particularly amusing.光明 literally means “light bright.”  I guess I would have expected something more like this…Finally arrived in the Utter West.  Line 11 is the only Metro Line that actually peeks out over the Shanghai city limits.It’s far enough west that my iPhone thought I was in Suzhou. Here you can see Line 11 arc out back to the east and a lonely orchard nearby.It’s far enough out that the taxis switched back from orange to blue.The businesses seemed to be doing better than this business park sign is.But — as in other parts of China — it’s always a mix between thriving urban life and what just simply looks post-apocalyptic.Previous terminus adventures can be found here, here, here, and here.