1. What an amazing amount of newly-constructed massive buildings. This started with the airport which is huge and beautiful. Fortunately, there were lots of signs in English. I stood in the longest line for a taxi that I have ever seen and even at midnight the cabs were just streaming into the airport.The route into central Beijing took me past row upon row of new buildings.
2. I had a sense that I was landing in London of the 19th century in which coal smoke blotted out the sun. Even at night the dense fog of pollution was very obvious. As we drove down the highway, lights would slowly appear out of the haze and then disappear again as we passed. It was like a layer of gauze had been placed over the eyes slightly blurring everything.
The next day, the smog was enveloping. I took a long walk in the neighborhood around the hotel, stopping in a McDonald's for coffee (finding a good cup has been a challenge). Part of the neighborhood around the hotel has been renovated, probably to provide nice modernish areas for tourists during the Olympics but down these side streets, know as hutongs, are throngs of people living like they probably have for generations. More on the hutongs later.
The next night, it rained hard. In the morning, it was like waking up in different city. There was bright, fresh, even crisp blue sky and a blazing sun.
Here are a couple of photos taken from the rooftop bar of the King's Joy so you can see the difference a day made.
And, yes, those are solar collectors. I saw a lot of them. While depending on coal, China is clearly serious about diversifying its energy generation.
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