The weather here in GZ has been nothing short of cold. At home, this is nothing, and we are all used to it. A little snow always brings roads to a crawl in Oregon...but everyone has a hat, gloves and a decent coat to protect against the chill. They just aren't used to it down here, with homes made of stone and no heating for the most part (luckily, we have it in our house and office)
More than 150,000 people were stranded at the main railway station in Guangzhou, the capital of the booming southern province of Guangdong, on Sunday.
"A Guangzhou railway official warned that the number of stranded passengers could hit 600,000 today," the China Daily said.
"Last night, 100,000 passengers packed the square in front of the railway station; another 50,000 found shelter inside the building or under nearby flyovers," an official in Guangzhou, which enjoys a relatively warm winter, was quoted as saying.
(photo from: Life of Guangzhou/Guangzhou Daily)
The last time this happened was in 1998...shortly after expat son was born. The house we had moved into at the time had no heat. The palatial 'villa' was built of stone and had stone floors which were placed directly on the ground. It was usually colder inside the house than outside. Tai-Tai would huddle new-born expat son and expat daughter into the kitchen, close the door and fire up the burners and oven in an attempt to stay warm during the day. We were lucky...many hundreds weren't as there were many deaths from the cold around the area
Word around here is they will soon be opening some of the Trade Fair venue's to take in the stranded. But, think about it...more than 1/2 million stranded. Think of the times the airport has closed and how people freak out that they cannot get their flight, etc...they are usually one of maybe a thousand...multiply it by 600%! Insane.
We're getting set to get out of here for Chinese New Year and there are problems at the airport too with stranded people. Hopefully, we'll get through without too much hassle...which we should. We have two things going for us; we're heading to Thailand and we have business class tickets. Sometimes, it pays to spend a little extra...and this is one of those times.
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