A visit to "The Cave".

After two weeks of entering into and descending down through the sides of hills and under the ground I have this aha - These people have a burrowing mentality. Entire malls, business centers and most of the "outdoor" market (only part of which is outdoor - the rest is underground or carved out of the side of a cliff) is the result of burrowing. Skyler furrows his brows when I share this epiphany with him then says, "Well, yeah. They needed the room. Before they went up (the high rises, all less than 18 years old, remember) they went down." He explains it's unique to Chong Ching, the rest of China being relatively flat. Then he takes me to "The Cave".

"The Cave" is new - Skyler watched it being built, and it crystallizes the building habits of the Chong Chingers (haha, I made that up, don't know if it's used or not) in one large structure. The face of this eleven story, multi-purpose structure is nearly flush with the cliff it is built into - and the top of it emerges onto the top of the cliff where an existing road and other businesses are. The Cave, as they call it, houses stores, businesses, a performing arts theater, restaurants and a hotel, and is graced with patios and balconies overlooking the river.

This day we go we shop for some sunglasses and shoes for Sky. He is on a never-ending quest for a pair of dress shoes to replace the ones he has. (Somewhat frayed from chewing dogs). I say never-ending because he wears a size 11, or 12, I can't remember, I just remember the shop keepers laughing when he asks them if they have his size.

We stop at a small restaurant owned by an acquaintance of Sky's, a Belgium. Who has, very appropriately, opened up a Belgium waffle place. The kids enjoy their rare treat while I get the world's smallest cappuccino, well at least in my world it's the smallest.