Monday: Clear skies in Beijing

This morning we are seeing clearer skies than we've been seeing in the last week.  Pictures to come soon.  Sunday we had heavy rainfall and winds.  That always helps clean out the gunk in the air!

Arrival in Beijing

We got to Beijing at about 2am on 8/8/08 (local time).  Heavy heat and humidity upon exiting the aircraft.  As we taxied in, we couldn't see much at all because of the thick fog-like sand/dust/smog!  Thick air, heavy heat...

Beijing has put up lots of beautiful banners and flags along major roads in the city.

Another interesting feature on the freeways is the new "Olympic lane" - the far left lane on the freeways is reserved exclusively for vehicles with an Olympic pass - cars on official Olympic business, etc.  

In hotel now . . . looking forward to this adventure.

Beijing has blue skies almost daily!

(is this one of the "blue sky" days??)

I love this site! I also love how the Chinese government created a system to rate air pollution that yields the following results:

• In July 2008, there were 26 blue sky days (i.e., only 5 days were "somewhat polluted" or above.)

By this standard, there are no polluted days in the United States - not even in San Bernadino County (currently #1 in the U.S. for air pollution).

Anyway, check out the website linked above. The photographer has taken daily shots of the view outside his window for hundreds of days. He also provides Beijing's government-issued pollution ranking for each particular day. Please check it out. You will now excuse me while I go to Costco to buy a gas mask for next week's trip to China.

Beijing's Clean Air