Tips for describing features of unusual place that I often visit

I'm having problems describing certain parts of a place that I usually visit. Here are some pictures:

For instance, I have no idea how I should refer to the wooden platform on the left (so I just called it wooden platform). I'm also not very sure how to call the section between the wooden platform and the handrail (I just called it sidewalk).

Well, here is the description.

The darkness and fog made it hard for Jun to see the end of the sidewalk. There were no people around, and the streets were unusually quiet. After walking a few meters, he spotted a large wooden platform and decided to sit there. He pulled a Busch beer from is bag, opened it, and looked up. In front of him, there was a sewage canal that was surrounded by a handrail and streetlights.

A minute or two passed when Jun heard the sound of a second can opening. He looked to his side and realized that someone was sitting just a few meters away from him. It was a girl. She was looking up. Something at the other side of the sewage canal.

Jun glanced his watch. It was 2 A.M. What is a girl doing here at this time, he wondered. He tried following her line of vision to the other side of the canal. It took him some time to make out the shape. It looked like a tree. A standing dead tree. It had a grayish color and had long branches.

After finishing his can, he pulled another one from his bag and continued staring at the decayed tree. He glanced to the girl from time to time, but she never never took off her eyes away from the tree.

Jun woke up in his bed with a terrible headache, wondering how he had reached home. His bag was lying on the floor with nine empty beer cans inside. An hour or two passed when the phone called. He let it ring for moment and then picked up the receiver.

Beyond simply finding words for these particular items, I would like to know how to figure out good descriptions on my own in similar cases.

posted about 12 years ago

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Alexandro Chen‭

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