October 23, 2010 Made it to Beijing!

I've made it here to my hotel in Beijing! I've had a lovely shower, located the air purifier in the room and pushed the Tree button (which presumably makes the air cleaner) and most importantly, all 7 of my assorted camera batteries are queued up politely at various chargers which are stationed all over the room. :) The smog here is terrible- I've never seen smog so bad. I've flown into smoggy cities but this is like a permanent thick nasty fog. Just being outside is like walking around with an enormously fat cat on your chest squashing the air out of you. Even inside, the air quality is bad. Hence the air purifier. I hope it's working- I think it is, it's making a lot of noise and the air in here is nicer. Could be placebo effect though. :)

The flight from Heathrow was uneventful- quiet, tastier food than usual (w00t British Airways!) and the queues at the passport counters in Beijing went super fast. Beijing airport was redone for the Olympics, and it shows- it's ultramodern, sleek and streamlined, and the guards there zoom around on those Segway things. Traveling to China has never been easier- 10 hrs on a plane and bam you're in Shanghai or Beijing! The world is a shrinking place- that's one of the reasons I'm keen to visit minority groups, as they may not exist in 50 years. It also is nice for them as it generates tourism money, and they can share their culture with foreigners which is something people love to do in China. I already asked about photographing, how to be most polite, etc. Anyway I digress- that's not till next week!

Hopefully the weather will shift and the wind tomorrow will blow the smog away. With great expectation of what tomorrow will bring I am resting up, listening to BBC Radio comedy, and catching up on email. Alas no facebook for me, I can only update it via text because of the firewall here in China.