ghost town

I live just outside a fairly big town by US standards. Being from a city of several million, it sometimes seems tiny, but it is still a kind of big place. I'm frequently laughed at by locals who find it hilarious I am fascinated by chickens (or goats) wandering around frreely, but there are still factories, busses, and thousands of people.

So, a few nights ago I met up with a few friends to barbecue. We met at the market by my house, which was crowded with motorcycles, vans, people, chickens, and bad disco music as usual. We then drove about 5 minutes into a place I'd never been.

Up in the hills is a lake thought to be haunted. Apparently some people disappeared there before, though I'm not sure if they are the ones haunting the place or if something haunting it is thought to have taken them. Many Chinese seem to believe in ghosts, and most are extremely uncomfortable with anything involving death (The Chinese word for 4 sounds similar to the word for death, so it's a very unlucky number. The floors in my building are 1, 2, 3, 3a, 5, 6..). This made the land cheap, so a developer built a small hotel and a bunch of houses. Looks like they might have been nice if any had ever sold. All lie empty, with grass and trees growing wild.

So, you can drive to my house in about 15 minutes from downtown (if there's no traffic), in the process passing thousands of people, surrounded by car horns, loud music from shops, jackhammers where the street is being worked on, etc. Then drive 5 minutes more and reach a place where you won't see a soul or hear anything other than the wind and lake.

No classes today, so I might drive back and take some pictures. or go back to sleep. I'm unpredictable that way.