A bit grim....

I'm in Luzhou, which is a 'Tier 4' city (the lowest band)...and went for a wander tonight & found myself in an obviously poor part of the city. I was a bit wary last night, being driven back to my hotel - lots of buildings I assumed were derelict (really grim and run down / boarded up) with no lights on...but with clothes hanging to dry outside, so there were obviously people living in there. And lots of women stood on (very) dark street corners that looked like murderers alleyways...

Having said all this, it's only how it appears - I'm not saying these people aren't at 'the lower end of China's income line', but I'm not saying it was dangerous for me to walk around either - I've never felt endangered here in China, even on my own at night (a taxi driver will happily shaft you with your change, but he won't mug you with a cricket bat)...I felt bad taking photos because my phone is probably worth 2 months wages to them...the average wage here will be about 400 quid - with many earning a LOT less than that (because the people in the best part of town will earn a LOT more) and I guess I do look a bit out of place. At least I wasn't wearing my suit...

There's the usual smell of street food, and lots of colour & noise (in parts) but those part streets and piles of crap are just around the corner.

The place is famous for alcohol - China's famous Bijou drink (it's like rocket fuel) was 'invented' here, and the local distilliary paid for the bridge to be built - generous...

The river that runs under it was FAST - scary just to watch, to be honest - you'd have to be a strong swimmer to survive in there, and daft to try, which one bloke did, and obviously does regularly by the looks of things. He had a sort of 'float' thing tied to him, but when a giant cargo ship-thing came through, not only was the water really filty, but the waves / swirls looked deadly.

I decided he was a loony.