Huanghuatan - one of the many "depressing" towns I passed along the way - often bustling with life but absolutely no atmosphere, charm, colours, etc. As impressive as the highways/main roads often were, as bad were the town roads - rough gravel/stony surfaces and huge potholes. Despite thousands of people using these roads all the time and few people used the remote main roads, it all came down to toll. Interesting how a so-called communist country doesn't support common goods - in many ways China has become one of the most capitalistic countries in the world....