The Pearl River Delta
I’ve always been amazed when I look at any map of Dongguan and see how much water is surrounding this area. Particularly, since I rarely have seen any water. Sure I come up the Pearl Delta from Hong Kong on the ferry to Shenzhen; but then I hop in a car and get whisked to Dongguan and never see water again. Yet, you know it is nearby. It contributes to the heavy humidity that constantly hangs here.
Well, the other night I saw a lot more of the water, although it wasn’t easy to see. We had been across the delta on a plant visit. I had been to this factory months ago, but we sure took a different route on the earlier visit. On that trip we didn’t see too much water. On this one, it was as if we were riding on elevated highways and bridges over water the whole two hour trip.
And then on the return we took a different route back. A twist in the road, and suddenly Ah Tong, our driver, was pulling the van onto a ferry. COOL. Within minutes we were off. Unfortunately, it was much too dark to see much. But two ferries exited both sides of the river delta at the same time to crisscross paths. There was a lot of traffic being hauled across the river.
It was a cool but fairly comfortable evening. We sat outside most of the trip enjoying the breeze. As usual, a group of locals all came staring at my height and size. They always show up gawking beside me as they make gestures with their hands above their heads trying to reach the height of the top of my head, in comparing to their own diminutive size.
It only took ten minutes to traverse across to Fumen, and then we were off again and back to Dahlingshan. The river delta definitely has a lot of water channels and swamp areas. But the infrastructure of highways, ferries, and bridges keeps traffic moving through it all.
posted by A Bryson (formerly) in China @ 6:35 PM
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