#Mango Bridge commuter issues

[townpostin]

Traffic Woes on Mango Bridge Prompt Chamber's Appeal

Business group urges officials to tackle daily congestion, proposes solutions Singhbhum Chamber of Commerce and Industry appeals to local officials to address severe traffic jams on Mango Bridge. JAMSHEDPUR – The Singhbhum Chamber of Commerce and Industry has formally requested that East Singhbhum Deputy Commissioner Ananya Mittal and SSP Kishore Kaushal address the persistent traffic congestion…

[thevalueofdowntime]

Day 6 - Shenzhen

I’m dusting off my notes from last November’s China trip and I have to say I did a much poorer job this time writing contemporaneous notes than I did back in 2015. Here’s what I have for the next six days (11/20 - 11/25):

11/20 Going to SHenzhen [sic] and then Xiamen today, no computer note taking for 5 days! Slept from 11-1 [AM], then 2-7 [AM], so close enough.

11/21

11/22

11/23

11/24

11/25

Yeah, real nice, Past-Kevin. I’m going to go through the photos from those days and I should be able to piece something together.

November 20.

The pictures paint a good story! 

This was the day that we left Guangzhou to visit my cousin Shirley in Shenzhen. For anybody keeping score at home, Shenzhen is, per Wikipedia:

“[...]  a major city in Guangdong Province, China; it forms part of the Pearl River Delta megalopolis, bordering Hong Kong to the south, Huizhou to the northeast, and Dongguan to the northwest. It holds sub-provincial administrative status, with powers slightly less than those of a province.

[...]

Shenzhen's registered population as of 2017 was estimated at 12,905,000.[1] However, local police and authorities estimate the actual population to be about 20 million, due to large populations of short-term residents[a], unregistered floating migrants, part-time residents, commuters, visitors, as well as other temporary residents.[9][10] Shenzhen was one of the fastest-growing cities in the world in the 1990s and the 2000s[11] and has been ranked second on the list of ‘top 10 cities to visit in 2019 by Lonely Planet.[12]

Shenzhen's cityscape results from its vibrant economy - made possible by rapid foreign investment following the institution of the policy of "reform and opening-up" in 1979.[13] The city is a leading global technology hub, dubbed by media as the next Silicon Valley.[14][15][16]”

So yeah, it’s a pretty big city right on the border of Hong Kong, and it has a pretty substantial foreigner population from what I can tell.

Based on the photos, we started off the day heading to an unmarked bus stop near my cousin Terry’s home. This was one of those cases where I really just let my parents handle everything because I’m a man-child who doesn’t speak Mandarin or enough Canto to get around. I wasn’t even sure what kind of bus we were supposed to get on (city bus, Greyhound-style, etc.). 

Anyway, Guangzhou has at least one bike-share program, which is nice, because this implies that scooters haven’t made their way over there yet:

We got lunch at a small place where I got a large portion of rice, some greens, and what looks like pork. I think it was fine? I might have gotten hot sauce with it that I regretted as soon as I realized the dish was too salty (thankfully my parents don’t read this, so they’ll never see me admit that I was wrong). 

There was also a nearby tech mall that I went inside while we waited for the bus.

I like cats:

As it turns out, the bus we’re getting in as actually none of what I thought it would be - it was just a large van and there were maybe 2 other people who got picked up. We got a mini-tour of Guangzhou before we left - unfortunately, it looks like the only picture I have is the following, looking out over a bridge.

Since I’ve spent so much time in China in the city, I’m still enamored with long shots of everything else outside of the city (I took a million pictures in 2015 of the country side as we rode the train from Guanghou to Xinging to Wuhan to Guangzhou). Otherwise, I think I spent most of the ride reading the one issue of the Economist that I brought.

Anyway, we got to Shenzhen and I think we rode the train to the station called “Sea World” (more on that later). Our hotel was [reads notes] a boat????

Also the place is literally called “Sea World” - that was all I meant by “more on that later”:

My belief that Shenzhen, or at least Sea World, has many foreigners is that when I reviewed the hotel menu (below), you see a whole bunch of super non-Chinese dishes, including Australian (?) steaks, German food (e.g., schweinshaxe, which I love, but would never dare get in China), and other misfit items:

My cousin Shirley came and we got dinner at what I think was maybe a Vietnamese or generic Asian restaurant (okay so maybe the photos don’t actually paint the best picture). Given I didn’t have any more photos of the passing world as we drove from Guangzhou to Shenzhen, this really shows my priorities:

I had more pictures of food, but the only aesthetically pleasing one was the mango / bread / ice cream dessert here - everything else was some kind of curry or stir-fry that was very meh:

Fasten your seatbelts, because the next 5 days of commentary are strictly from modern recollection plus photos!

[thewanderingjack]

Kosti - a place where time stands still.

A completely different world awaited as I stepped off the bus in a dusty backwater half way between the cold officiousness of El Obeid and the often too tiring capital, Khartoum. Kosti was waiting, a verdant oasis of green with the refreshing scent of freshly cut grass only a stumble away by rickshaw from the main thoroughfare in town. Town – relatively speaking -  a coordinated grid of 6 streets organised in the usual fashion, with all the standard amenities anyone could need.

My phone had died at this point, and was on charge in the 20SDG a night lokanda I’d checked into. Just as well, my attention was concentrated on the sights and sounds around, and arriving at the river felt like I’d stepped back into 1950s rural Africa, a land with which my analogue Olympus Trip camera could well have been familiar.  The rickshaw dropped me further away than I thought, at a small port. I chatted for a while and observed. At the end of the lush mango groves lay a landing spot where roughly a dozen fishing boats, of the sturdy wooden kind were hauled up on shore, having completed their duties for the day. Stacks and bales of fresh mint were being hauled off another boat by donkeys ridden by children who would lead them to the souq.  Meanwhile, a large narrowboat, I’d hazard a guess at 30m long by 1 metres was finalising its passenger load of around 40 women of various, immaculately dressed in their colourful garments, arranged 2 abreast facing opposite each other in anticipation of their daily commute home.

Life had stood still, a bridge across the Nile present but the diversion a hassle many locals could do without. Donkeys clambered up, all 4 legs wet, salamanders scurried off the riverside mud path at the sound of larger footprints. The footpath punctuated by colourful exotic birds and a soundtrack of marsh noises and air bubbles with the distinctive sound of what could have been woodpeckers but certainly weren’t.

How wonderful it is to ebb with the flow of the White Nile at its most natural – a peaceful rejuvenate before the capital calls once more. Fresh fruit piled high onto boats whose only evolution over the past 100 years is the advent of the electrical outboard motor and the move to diesel as the new muscle. Moribund steamers lay mothballed further up at the port – times have changed, and secession and other issues have left there to be no demand for slow boats south, still – that aside – life flows on, unabated by changes in the wider world. Music is played in the marshes and the salty smell of freshly cooked fish is never far away. Dust lined the tracks to the now obsolete railway tracks, which guide me back to the market life, town and to my humble, contented bed near.  Kosti had another very Sudanese surprise, as I was walking down the line a friendly English speaker approached and invited me for a juice. Himself excited by the prospect of English conversation with a native speaker, myself by the opportunity to sit down and not have to think before I articulate myself in English, rather than Arabic. Njoum then profusely apologised for the fact that I was staying in a lokanda. Aghast, I asked why, suspecting a response along the lines of them being too basic or of low quality – he responded saying that lokandas and hotels ‘insulted’ him, and that in an ideal world there’d be no need for them as you’d be welcomed into every home for a bed with open arms. Speechless, I smiled, expressing experience and examples of the incredibly sincere Sudanese generosity I come across on a daily basis in this amazing country.   Teslem, Kosti.  

[townpostin]

Traffic Nightmare Grips Mango Bridge Area for Over 5 Hours

Ambulances trapped, students delayed as gridlock paralyzes key routes in Jamshedpur Severe congestion in Jamshedpur’s Mango Bridge area exposes critical flaws in local traffic management systems. JAMSHEDPUR – The Mango Bridge area of Jamshedpur was paralyzed by an enormous traffic jam on Thursday, which caused widespread disruption and lasted from 10:30 AM to 6 PM. The congestion had an impact on…

[townpostin]

BJP Leader Rajeev Ranjan Singh Addresses Mango Traffic Issues

Rajeev Ranjan Singh demands traffic police action to resolve congestion on Mango Bridge, impacting daily commuters. BJP leader Rajeev Ranjan Singh urges traffic police to address ongoing congestion on Mango Bridge. JAMSHEDPUR – BJP leader Rajeev Ranjan Singh urges traffic police to address ongoing congestion on Mango Bridge. On Tuesday, BJP leader Rajeev Ranjan Singh visited Mango, Azadnagar, and…