Trip to China (part 5), Qingdao, constructions, smelly streets and more

Qingdao, the coastal city where I was born , where I spent my childhood and my college years. Although my last visit was only 3 years ago, although I don't consider myself disconnected with my homeland, I was still shocked at the changes that I saw, changes on the streets, changes sensed from talking with family and friends.
1. Cars, cars, everywhere.There were so many more vehicles on the road that traffic jam is becoming part of life. When not on the road, most cars are simply parked on the sidewalks because most streets are quite narrow. I often marvel at the driving and  parking skill of the drivers there.
2. Constructions everywhere. Jiaozhou Bay Bridge, which connects the city of Qingdao to two neighboring islands, was just opened in June 2011, making it  the world's longest bridge over water according to Guinness World Records. A subway system has been under construction. High-rise apartment buildings and commercial buildings are mushrooming everywhere. Actually, the city has expanded to more than twice its size in the last 10 years.
3. Despite (or because of?) the rapid growth, some streets are really dirty and smelly.
Almost everyday we had to walk 20 minutes from our apartment to my parents'. The picture below showed how James (and Daniel) was responding to the bad smells on some of the streets during the walk. The stinky smell came from the community garbage cans by the roadside. The cans were pretty small (about 32 gallon each) with no lid, but based on my rough estimation each was used by hundreds of household. Even though they were collected daily, many of them did stink, badly. And, there were often dog poops on the sidewalk. We learned to be very careful about where we step our feet along the route.

"The streets were not like that before." I thought to myself sadly. I remember one long street on our 20-minutes routine, just outside my college campus. I used to walk that street with roommates, sharing the dreams and secrets of youth. No, it was not smelly at all. And definitely no dog poops.

Oh, eventually, the kids did get used to the smell and did not hold their noses anymore.