[SEAJ]

Afraid I really don't have much encouraging news to relay about our favorite hamlet.

Soon as I arrived, I of course saw that petty crime in broad daylight, but I wasn't going to let that spoil my mood and right away called one of my "friends" to come over. Had a pretty good time, but it was tempered by the fact that she's just about to give up and leave Chang Ping for good in the near future. And this seems to be the recurring theme that I get confronted with the whole evening - various people all just about ready to pack it all in and never coming back.

Met up with a LCC clothing sales girls and a couple ex-YiHao KTV girls - one a model and the other just a regular - for dinner at 6000 and the place was only a third full....and this is on a Friday Night at 7:30 when previously one would most likely need to wait for a table; but there you have it - only a third full.

The model and the clothing sales girl are leaving Sunday for ZhongShan to work in a factory. What? A Factory?? Seriously?? Yeah seriously! The model figures that with housing and food provided, she'll be able to make upwards of RMB 3,000 take home and even though she'll need to work at hard labour, she figures this is probably better than just sitting around in Chang Ping with no customers and nothing to do. Plus the fact that she won't need to sell her body anymore, and of course NOT have to worry about being thrown in jail if caught doing so! And oh, the drinking part, which she hates but was forced to do so previously night after night.

Off to 85 for coffee and again, unlike even just a couple weeks ago when it was still all packed, tonight it was so easy to get a table as the place was not busy at all. Bumped into another couple old friends, a YiHao Footsy girl and a real estate agent and the both look like fish out of water. Footsy girl tells me that she's everyday just sitting around in her hotel provided dormitory - grateful that she still has a roof over her head and company provided meals to eat; but plenty worried as she worries about how long this will last as she's been doing precisely this = nothing = for the past month!! And look at what happened to the girls from HTML - who actually got thrown out and kept out by guards and were not even paid what they were owed in salaries etc.

Real Estate agent hadn't had ANY business at all for God knows how long (period prior to CNY was also bad for realtors) and about ready to go off to somewhere else, anywhere else , to find work.

And the streets? I feel that there's way less people walking about tonight. A couple weeks ago, there were still lots of people out and about - Girls chattering away, seemingly enjoying themselves with their bit of free time, couples strolling etc. In contrast, tonight I saw so much fewer people and those out there are I perceive mostly just real locals going about their business. Very few girls, pimps, horny mongers etc which were still quite abundant even just a couple weeks ago. And oh yeah, the beggars are back!!

The prevailing mood here seems to be that of abject/dejected resignation. Unlike even just a couple weeks ago when I felt that many were still quite confident that things will turn around, tonight I feel that more and more here now realizes that the good times are NOT gonna return to Chang Ping.

Sorry state of affairs in our old adult Disneyland

Tally Ho!!

SEAJ