When I was in the heart of China did I realize I had no clue what the country was like. Throw away the conception of communism and replace it with one of some befuddled but very effective capitalism.

Now throw away the conception of temples and replace it with lots and lots of skyscrapers and cranes. Everywhere I looked, even in the middle of the countryside, some new tall building was being erected with a crane on top.

Even the cities I’d never heard of are big cities. Big like Chicago big. And there are a whole ton of those unheard of cities. Like Changsha (below).

The cities I had heard of, Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, go on forever. Shanghai is perhaps one of the biggest cities in the world. As I was taking the train out of Shanghai all I saw for miles outside of the city were developments and factories, new bigger buildings and more cranes. Driving down a highway in Beijing was endless skyscraper after skyscraper, like downtown stretched for the whole city.

I had to take on a new perspective. The scale of roads and intersections were multiples bigger than what I’m used to. Many intersections in the big cities seem vast, even in the cities like Changsha. Something like six lanes and room for bikers or electric bikes too. Even the sidewalks look big.

Crossing the street becomes an ordeal, especially if you don’t wait for the walk sign. And few do.

Some intersections could pretty much fit a football field inside of them. When six or so streets converge at one point, that’s when there’s a whole system of underground tunnels to navigate through, and I ended up on the wrong street on more than one occasion.

The buildings are tall. The highways are long. The people are many. This beast is big.