Chinese Electric Dreams

Touchdown in NingBo, Zhejiang province and straight off I liked the place because the of blue skies; Hong Kong and Guangzhou were under a permanent grey-on-grey sky, polluted pall quite different from 10 years ago. It's literally dismal [from the Latin dies = day, and mali = bad, hence "bad day"]. Guangdong is called the Factory of the World but you don't even need to see a factory to appreciate the industrial activity.

NingBo, twinned with Nottingham, is an ancient Chinese port city, south of Shanghai and is now an economic zone with sprawling factories (chemical, plastics) over the river delta. Hence the visit. It's also the site of the world's longest road bridge that just opened this week.

Our hotel had a decidedly local character; the lobby, lobby cafe and lobby bar were all smoking areas, a stark contrast to Hong Kong where smokers have to do the outside-the-door huddle. The bar, actually a Cigar Bar, offered a happy hour (between 5pm and 8pm?) and a live 5-piece guitar band with 2 gals on vocals, one with a flute. And it really was a cigar bar; I got dizzy just poking my head through the door but by compensation, the Japanese restaurant was really good and the expat business community seems well served; there's even river-side condos.

Downtown remains non-industrial with some historic sights, pagodas and the like. Our hotel was next to the TianFeng Tower (pagoda) but I didn't have the 5 yuan (30p) entrance fee. There's a confluence of 2 rivers, forming a third so there's a 3-rivers theme, and a bull fighting theme, captured in a large bronze ox sculpture outside the No. 2 NingBo dept. store.

The most remarkable sight was not bovine but the omnipresent 50W electric scooters. The city has banned all motorbikes from the downtown apparently to cut down on dangerous driving but these scooters can do 25mph, perhaps 30 downhill. They are nearly silent, apart from the crappy bicycle-style caliper brakes and I would question the effectiveness of the policy's aims as these things weave around the roads, cycle lanes and pavements.

They certainly are a hit here and I'm amazed this is the first place to mandate their use. One problem, they are nearly silent so you won't be bothered by any tinny 2-stroke clatter just before they run into you on the pavement. Caveat pedes.

Weather Report from 1deg North

Given I live 1.42deg north of the equator, my expectations for a warm life should be assured. Not so this week which has me wearing the same clothes I wore in England in February. Today's Times reported what we all knew, that so far, the average temperature this March has been 25.6C, not much above the all time low of 25C set in 1934. Overnight lows have been down to 21C - I needed to put on actual clothes and close the windows to keep warm.

It's also been very wet with dull, rainy days for most of the week. The Kranji area had 401mm (that's 15.7") of rain in one day, while most places had over 100mm (4"). That's not a problem since such downpours are engineered into the drainage system and only odd low-lying areas suffer surface flooding. Last year, one of those made the news with 1m deep water, but the area is a plant nursery so it's hardly a tragedy. The rain does make commuting a pain as you are bound to get very wet feet/shoes/trousers.

More rain is forecast, but with only half of March gone, I doubt if the 74 year record is in danger. Today is nice and warm (27C at 9:30am) and I'm feeling better already.

Weather Widget

I've given up on my PC's desktop weather widget and closed it down for good. It was nice, showed 5 days worth of weather with little graphic representations and numbers for the daytime highs but most of the time, all the days show the same graphic and temperature.

That's not to say Singapore doesn't have weather or seasons, but the short-term outlook is pretty consistent at any time of year. It's now autumn, and as respite from the heat, is the best time of year. January will also be cool but that's supposed to be rainy season (and it does rain)

Singaporean autums (indeed winters, if you can call it that) do not have mass leaf colour changes and bare trees; on some trees, the leaves just go brown and fall off, causing the maintenance guys more work but it must be a confusing time for a tree as it's still warm and humid, so they just immediately grow a new set. All light, verdant green ones, which are very pretty, but I don't need a weather widget to tell me that.

Perfect Weather for Brits

Singapore's climate is pretty dull by English standards; being just 1deg North of the equator means it's 'hot' (28 - 32C) most of the time with a rainy season from December through March, or thereabouts. December can be cool and it's odd to be reaching for a t-shirt against the on-shore breeze. September through November has afternoon thunder storms which are terrifically dramatic, but pass through within an hour.

The Singapore National Environment Agency has an info sheet on lightning, and we average 171 thunderstorm days, mainly between 2pm and 6pm. That's a lot, and there are many ground strikes, but few people injured as people take cover and buildings with their lightning strips and rods provide good protection.

All this makes it perfect for English expatriates. Imagine getting up on an August morning and it's already a little warm, the sun puts some heat on the face and the blue sky promises a cracking day. Thoughts drift to a pub lunch and sitting out in the beer garden. That's Singapore. Without the pubs.