9/25/98: A lovely city, but the acrid haze was so thick at some points during the day that we could not see more than a couple of blocks… From what I read it is a combination of natural conditions (sand storms from the Gobi Desert to the NW), coal burning power plants all around the city (one reason they are building the Three Gorges Dam), and a densely populated city with millions of cars, busses, taxis and so on… We went looking for a less expensive hotel and found that the guidebooks don’t always have the best suggestions… The first one we check out was so unclean that Ruth got several flea bites in the few minutes that we were in the lobby… Half a block away we found a place that had clean and inexpensive rooms, I think because it caters to Chinese business travelers instead of backpacking westerners… We were the only non-Chinese in the place… Spent the rest of the day wandering around the city a little bit, seeing city scenes and sampling fresh cuisine…
NOTE: The photo above shows a Beijing street lit by red lanterns.
