Smoggysmog

For the first two weekends, I unfortunately could not go out much since the first one was ruined by the poor air quality outside and the second by me having a cold.

I of course knew about the poor air quality in Beijing before coming here but during the first weekend it was so bad that it broke all previous records. The scale used for measuring the number of small particles in the air did not even go high enough to measure the real level. This was a widely reported news not just all around the world but also here in Beijing where authorities advised people to stay indoors. Looking out the window, you didn't need any scale to realize how bad it was.

The scale used by the US Beijing Embassy. The max value of 500 was not high enough. Just a note: in 2006 when smoke of the large scale Russian forest fires blew towards Finland, the amount measured in Helsinki was 165. 150 is the level of being unhealthy and since the smoke could be seen and smelt in the air, it was a big local news story. In the three weeks I've now been in Beijing, it has rarely dropped below 200.

Past 24 hours

Even so, I have done quite a bit of walking in the Chaoyang District. The main streets are packed with shops and restaurants (and cars) but when you go into the side streets, you can see how the locals live.

The yard of a local school

This is what the coal plant that I can see from my hotel window looks like up-close. There must be hundreds of these things in the city.

Fancy some cheap Nokias or iPhones?

Old buildings get torn down. This site will most likely have a skyscraper by the end of the summer.

I have seen several places where you can rent bikes. Shouldn't be too difficult even though it's not in English

The bikes are not exactly hip though

I hear it snows maybe 3-4 times a winter.

Some yummy veggie dish, or what's left of it anyway

Peking duck. You take the duck (top right), dip it in the black sauce, put it in the tortilla/pancake looking flour thingies on the left, add some veggie sticks and then fold it a few times. After that, it's easy to eat by hand.

Who doesn't like some unexploded small owls?