Dear friends,
The view from that rooftop really touched me last time so I decided I need to go there again, but I still want to see something different. So, I checked my phone´s weather forecast for the next best sunset day and put it into my calendar to make sure not to forget it.
On a Friday afternoon, whilst preparing my camera and all the stuff I wanted to take, I doublechecked the location with my friend and went off to the metro station. All in all, I would say it takes me about 30-40 minutes to get there from where I live, which some would consider quite a trip, but that's actually not the case for China. On the contrary, this would be considered pretty normal. Anyway, I left the house very early in case something goes wrong and I definitely did not want to miss the sunset. I think we arrived there 1 hour "too early", as far as you can come late for a sunset, lol, in my opinion, you can´t. But whatever.
So there we are now. On the roof again. To spoiler a little bit, here are my two favorite pictures of this evening, but the journey to get there was very... - keep reading and you will find out. I´d never thought that I do that, my mum would have killed me if she saw I guess.
This first picture, which happens to be my most favorite one, isn´t even edited - thanks to the sunset mode on my camera, which I first discovered on that exact same day. Guys, If you have a solid camera - it must have a sunset mode, even most phones have it today. Check it out, it makes all the difference and you mostly do not even need to edit the photos, or is it just me that thinks that way?
This on the on the hand was shot and edited by some random Chinese guy I met that night on the roof. It seems like this spot is becoming more and more popular amongst young photographers here in Chengdu. Every time I have been there, I at least met 5 other guys. Some people would say no, this is my spot, I don´t want anybody to know. But look, if there weren´t a few other guys that night, this picture would have never happened to exist in the first place. Therefore, sharing the things that make you happy can make you even happier and here is the evidence :smile:
What was that thing my mum would have killed me for?
It´s the method how I managed to get to this spot. As you might be able to see in the second picture, there is not really a safe way to get there, no stairs or ladder. So I had to take the beams, there was no way around it. I wanted to see the sunset from the edge, not from the major platform, there were too many things in the way, no clear view possible. The only way would have been jumping there, but hell no, I might be a little crazy but I am not stupid and I don´t have deathwishes. So here is what I did. Thanks to my time working on construction sites.
There we have it. I just used my surroundings to help me out! There was a scaffolding construction going on on the same rooftop and when looking at it I realized that I could use one of the scaffold floors to build a bridge! And here is where my new found Chinese friends step in again. Without there help, I did not know whether I would have been able to take out that scaffold floor, get it down and take it up to that other roof again. Teamwork people, teamwork is key.
The only thing that was left then was crossing fingers, leave fear behind and turn on your full concentration mode.
To be completely honest with you, after entering that platform, my knees were shaking, but I was happy that I made it and the view from there was just next level!! I nearly couldn´t believe my own eyes! The sunset was perfect and slowly setting so I still had so much time left to enjoy that remarkable moment.
I let myself calm down a little bit and then prepared for the little yoga session I was after in the first place, although, that yoga session turned out to be just headstand and handstands, I guess I was too excited ;-) Next time that I will be up there, I will do a proper one, I promise.
And I nearly forgot to say thanks to the rainy day before, there was this little puddle that made the picture even better. What seemed to be a bad day turned into a good one - keep positive, good things will come!
Who made this picture?
Right, who made it? Is it a screenshot of a video I took? You better bet I am not able to hit the button and do this pose within 10 seconds too, lol. There was a crazy Chinese guy who actually followed me across the beams! Looking at that picture I can´t be more thankful that he decided to go to this rooftop this evening too. If you read this, thanks, brother!
To wrap up this post, I want to leave you with the same view I was blessed with and I wish you all the best.
Cheers,
Daniel