May 6th

Just stepped off the MagLev train which travels at 300kph. The landscape on the way in from the airport and to some extent the suburbs too, looks tidy and new with hundreds of thousands of staked trees and shrubs and low, clipped hedges. Plane trees, cinnamon, azaleas and cycads. Very formal and not particularly water sensitive, with plenty of high kerbs, but impressive nevertheless. Some vestiges of market gardens and fishponds in the distance. The gardeners have been busy.

Going on a proper tour tomorrow...