Beating the heat on a tight budget in Chongqing (3)

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WORKING IN THE SUN

Though air-conditioned shopping malls, subway stations and supermarkets are dotted throughout the downtown area, outdoor laborers often still can't make it inside to cool down.

"We, of course, want to stay indoors with air conditioning, but we just cannot. We always have to pick up rubbish whenever it appears," said two sanitation workers whose faces were dripping with sweat as they sat in the shade of some trees in downtown Chongqing.

Freelance stick men, who tote luggage on bamboo poles up and down the city's steep hillsides, however, are caught in a dilemma: catch a cool break or make some money? To get a bit of work, stick men have to be at places with heavy foot traffic, which often lack air conditioning, like old-fashioned farmer's markets.

Liu Minsheng, a stick man who was waiting for customers at the entrance to such a market, said, "There is a shelter nearby to relax, but I cannot get any work there."

A migrant worker from a rural area, Liu said he stays at cheap and non-air-conditioned inns at night. "There is nothing I can do about the heat, but a whole day of exhausting work makes me fall asleep as soon as I go to bed."

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