After the excitement of the Holiday

Well, technically the holiday is still going on. Chinese New Year was last week and the festivities last for about a week, then there's a week of dead time before everyone heads back to work. We're still in Spring Festival week, the week after the Chinese New Year. That's when the Chinese mark the start of spring, which is obviously wrong because it's still cold as hell here. Actually, I'm exaggerating. It's cold today. At the time of this writing, but the weather is supposed to warm up into the low 20s over the weekend. That's pretty warm for February. And we've had several warm spells over the winter, such that we've only ever had a few weeks of cold weather at one time. It does get down close to freezing when its cold, but that isn't that bad when we're talking about a nighttime low.

The weather here used to be colder. Whenever people show me pictures from ten years ago or before, there's always snow on the ground and people are bundled up. Now, it almost never snows. In fact, there was a huge ice storm in 2008 that shut the city down, destroyed trees and power lines, and resulted in several deaths. That was the last time it snowed here. Before that, the river flooded and destroyed the old part of town, called Yu Hou Jie. That part of town was rebuilt in the traditional Chinese style and is now a popular area of town for bars, restaurants, shops, etc. There's also a great little Hostel in that neighborhood.

Yu Hou Jie was a popular place for people to go for New Year celebrations. There were a whole lot of fireworks going off for the new year, so that was fun to watch.

Yu Hou Jie on a warm day, just prior to the New Year

It's also growing in popularity as a place to go for dinner and drinks, though housing construction has stopped in the neighborhood, likely due to the reluctance of businesses to return to the neighborhood. Prior to the flood, the neighborhood was known for crime and poverty. Now, people have returned in substantial numbers, but stores have been more cautious. Restaurants seemed to be the first to return, and several payed the price, attested to by several that had to shut their doors after only a few years.

Overall, though, I think the prospect is good for the neighborhood. Most of the commercial space is filled and the variety of businesses is promising. Currently, it has everything from Hostels to Hair salons. There's even an Italian restaurant there, the only one I know of in Chenzhou.