Words Fail Me

The southwest end of Line 3 is at the massive alien spaceship known as the Shanghai South Railway Station.
The underground labyrinths of poured concrete connecting the train station, Line 3, and Line 1 had a real THX-1138 vibe.Previous terminus adventures can be found here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

This terminus adventure took me to  the end of the new Line 12 which just opened a week or two ago.
Yet again, I pop up out of the ground to find another aspirational district.  This one is in the middle of construction on a huge “business city”.Half a cinder block hanging from a wire draped over a wall.  But what’s hanging on the other side?  What’s hanging on the other side?
Previous terminus adventures can be found here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

In late 18th century British slang the word “rum” meant “odd” or “peculiar”.  I know this because I make it my business to know such things.

2015 was a rum year.

By far the strangest year of my life to date.  I lived abroad, traveled throughout China & Japan both by myself & with friends, worked at a company whose plans could be called “fluid” if one were at his most charitable, and my mother passed away after years of slowly fading.

It was a rum year.  But when they someday cut this redwood down and count my rings, I think they’ll find this ring one of the most interesting.

Happy New Year.

After Thames Town, I took a cab back to a nearby Line 9 station.  Several stops north — and closer to civilization — I walked to a nearby Line 10 station and visited both of its westernmost points.
Then I hoped on Line 2 to make that one stop west to it’s end point at the Hongqiao Railway Station.
Aboveground,  I found myself at Shanghai’s massive convention center.
Across the streets, things looked bleak (and I failed to find a single cab which would take me back to Xintiandi.)  I ended up taking Line 2 east back to People’s Square to get home.
But the sun setting through the pollution — with a distant cell tower looking like a water vaporator — gave me this cinematic shot.

Previous terminus adventures can be found here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drLwMwNOo9g

New Christmas Eve tradition:  have a 10 hour loop of the inimitable Nick Offerman sitting in front of a fireplace and sipping Lagavulin (or “mother’s milk” as he would say) playing in the background.

 May the Force be with you.  Always.

  Eli, Xiaohan, and I flew to Hong Kong for the weekend to see a certain movie which doesn’t open on mainland China until January.
This time, stayed at the W on the Kowloon side (here overlooking the harbor and the island.)

Had an unusual — and particularly sad — terminus adventure.  Had to see Debbie “Brutal Longjohns” Chesebro off to the airport.  It was the end of our Shanghai-nanigans ™ and Epic Tour of China ™.  Instead of flying back to L.A. as originally planned, she headed to Cambodia to rescue some Netflix production.

Previous terminus adventures can be found here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.