There is nothing astonishing about the number, at least not for those who have watched population growth in China, India, and other developing nations.
We see his conflicting emotions both to see and not to see, a sense that he wished to observe and yet he is at, in some ways, at war with himself, knowing to gawk, to stare at this sight.
You think the Russian people will be dumbfounded to see these things, but the fact is that newly built Russian houses have all this equipment right now.
