More Observations

Before I completely leave the subject of Zhuhai traffic there is one other change that I’ve noticed in Zhuhai that I’d like to address. When I left here in 2003 there were swarms of motorbikes on Zhuhai streets. Many of them were “motorbike taxis”, and a large percentage of those, as well as their drivers, were unlicensed. Since I’ve been back, I swear that I could count the number of motorbikes or gas-powered scooters that I’ve seen in central Zhuhai (Xianzhou, Jida, and Gongbei) on one hand.

Did the city pass an ordinance that banned them from the city’s streets? I know that Guangzhou did exactly that a year or so ago, and it completely changed (for the better) the nature of the downtown area.

There have been occasions since I’ve been back that I do indeed feel like a newcomer. I’ve found myself walking or riding through a neighborhood that I used to know quite well, only to begin wondering where the hell I am because I don’t recognize anything. Then I’ll turn a corner and, seeing the surroundings and get the feeling that I’ve never left.

There are so many of the old “landmarks” that have either dramatically changed, or have completely disappeared. A few of those that immediately come to mind are: The Zhuhai Hotel in Jida which I understand was privatized a few years ago and completely closed down at the end of 2006. That was a wonderful place to have “morning tea” on the weekends. With property values going up so much in the last few years, I don’t think that a large piece of property such as that will stay idle for very long.

Also now missing from Jida is the old “City in City” restaurant which was in the shopping center across the street from the Zhuhai Hotel. That was a very large and popular buffet-style eatery where it was difficult to find a table on any day at lunchtime, or for dinner on the weekends. It’s been replaced by a video game arcade.

Gone from Ningxi is the old “Desert Bar” which was located over the “Big Mouth” restaurant, and used to be one of the more popular expat bars where I, many of my old colleagues, and others spent a lot of “quality time” together. That place was pretty cheap too; only RMB19 for a pitcher of kick-ass Haizhou.

On the other hand, there are many new places that have sprung up all over town in the past few years. The “Bar Street” is new. The street was always there, but all the bars were located elsewhere. Gongbei’s “Walking Street” used to be a regular vehicular traffic street that had the nickname amongst the locals as “The Street of Snakes and Dragons”. All the little kiosk-style bars there are an interesting addition. They remind me very much of Pattaya in Thailand, and I’m sure that they’ve done much for the “trade” here as they did there.

The city’s recent transformation of Yeli Island into a park is a refreshing addition to Xianzhou. The causeway to the island was always there, and you could walk around the island, but there was only a rough gravel path that was quite difficult to walk on. The city did a superb job with the improvements, and I applaud them for it.

Another interesting development is that most of the old, unfinished, unoccupied, and derelict buildings that dotted the city have finally been finished out and, at least partially occupied. I guess that the rise in real estate values resulting from the “spillover” from the boom in Macau had a lot to do with that. There are a few exceptions that are “eyesores” in the city, but I guess they provide some useful purpose by providing some beggars with a little bit of shelter at night.

There are, however, a couple of things that do not add up with the building boom here in Zhuhai. The number of new residential housing units and retail spaces that have been completed, or are currently under construction in Xianzhou, New Xianzhou, Jida, Gongbei, and I’m sure other districts of the city as well, seem to have increased exponentially over the past few years. There is nothing wrong with that except that I cannot help to wonder who the hell is going to buy and occupy them all. I know that Zhuhai is a rapidly growing city, but can it be growing that much and that rapidly?

I live “spiting distance” from Lovers Road in Wanzaisha, and my wife and I enjoy (when the weather is a little warmer) taking walks there. A few weeks ago we were walking there, and I noticed that in most of the new, and not-so-new (completed four to five years ago) high-rise apartment buildings that line Lovers Road appear to be only 20% to 25% at best, occupied. It seems as though the units on the first three or four floors, and the units on the top two or three floors are pretty well filled, but the rest (the middle twenty to twenty five floors) of these buildings appear to be unoccupied.

I also don’t believe that the Xianzhou district is unique in this respect. Just take a ride North on Lovers Road toward Zhongshan University and beyond, and you’ll see the same thing there.

What does this all mean? I don’t know. Your guess is as good as mine. I just seems to me that Zhuhai is being over-built, and that, in the not-too-far-distant-future, there is going to be another glut of vacant housing units on the local market, just as there was in 2003 and 2004. If this in fact does happen, however, there may be a good side to it, and that is it may drive down some of the increasing housing costs in the city.

But, then again, What do I know? I’m just a dumb foreign teacher :P