no. i had left by the time this happened. but i saw footage of government bulldozers tearing down all of the small stores and fruit stands. and when google earth came out, i looked at what had been done. everything had been sterilized.

there was a street end which had been blocked off by the people, where everyone in town would get dressed up and walk down in the early evening. it was one of the coolest cultural traditions i had ever seen. get out and talk to all your neighbors and make friends.

this was also removed.

there are stores and clean streets and lots of foreign investment now. especially Chinese. and things are safer in some parts of town. so some people are happy. but in my opinion, they definitely lost something valuable.