Beijing again
Wow, I just looked at my blog and see its almost 3 weeks since I got back, and nothing new posted. I had hardly unpacked when we were off on another trip - back to Beijing last weekend for a quick 3 day business/shopping trip for Ray.
One afternoon I went for a walk to Tian’anmen Square but the air pollution was so bad I didn’t take many pictures. This was the first day of a pollution reduction test in which only odd numbered cars could use the roads on odd numbered days, even numbers on even days. The experiment lasted for 4 days and having a million less vehicles on the road certainly made getting around much easier, but it didn’t do much to reduce the smog. These pictures were taken around 4pm and the sun had already disappeared into the dirty haze.
Chang’an Avenue approaching Tian’anmn Square
Tian’anmen Square
There is a beautiful park behind the wall running parallel to the main road and walking through this on my return to the hotel was a far nicer experience.
Pretty stream, weeping willows and traditional wooden bridge
Traditional brick and tile house. Sadly most of the “hutongs” with these old buildings are being torn down to make way for huge multi storey buildings.
Maybe if more people went back to riding bicycles the air would be cleaner, but cars = progress.
