was laying in bed on a quiet saturday evening when john wandered in and noticed crazy plumes of smoke coming from the building next door. we looked out the balcony and the whore house slash ktv joint on anfu road was crazy crazy on fire! i was all ‘meh, let’s just walk from the balcony’ but john went into survival mode and insisted that we grab the cats (in backpacks) and our passports and laptops and rush outside. ‘the fire could spread!!! it’s so close! let’s go go go!’.
we ended up standing outside with about a zillion other rubber neckers watching the fire dance around and the emergency systems fall into place. the fire brigade turned up with their trucks and hoses (very efficient), and the whole scene was very carnival-esque. only in china, about 100 people standing about taking photos dangerously close to the action and gleefully telling any new arrivals the situation, with the obligatory group of civilian men “helping” the firefighters by holding up ladders, shouting instructions and generally getting in the way.
the cats were VERY unhappy about being dumped so unceremoniously into backpacks, and i got alot of really weird looks standing around with a meowing backpack. after about half an hour, things calmed down and the fire fighters did their job. ho hum, back to the grind.
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