Beijing Trip Day 1 - Dust and Traffic jam
**I uploaded my Beijing Trip photos to Flickr. Also, all the pictures were taken with a lousy Free Creative DiVi Cam. After this I'm taking my award-winning HP camera back from my dad.
The trip to Beijing was really quite unexpected. The week before, my dad asked me if I had any friends that were proficient in Chinese, and could go to Beijing on short notice. The only person I could think of was Ben in Shanghai, but he couldn't make it. My Chinese can't make it as well, but I wanted to go along, not to just have a holiday, but to meet my business contact there - Allen. In the end, they (my uncle Alan, dad and Henry) had to make do with my Uncle Alan's Chinese in the business discussions, which turned out to be slightly better than mine.
Anyways, Day1 was basically travelling there on a 5 hr flight on SIA. We left at 5pm and arrived at about 10pm. Took us about an hour to check out. Which was fine, considering that most airports I've been to are not as efficient as Changi Airport. So we stepped outside to get a cab. And the first thing I noticed was the dirt on the road and in the a ir. Every car there seemed to be covered in a layer of dust. The air was breathable, but then again, it seems that in China, people have the license to smoke anywhere. From waiting at the taxi line, to the next 3 days in Beijing, I've had to experience people smoking everywhere , even in air-con restaurants. So that made the feeling of pollution even worst. But back to the dust. I knew beforehand that Beijing, and the whole of China, is suffering from pollution problems. Beijing in particular, due to the depletion of forests surrounding the city, has resulted in sands from the Gobi desert blowing into the city. Adding the effects of construction due to the Beijing 2008 Games, and the growing number of cars, Beijing has become a place where the color white doesn't exist. Seriously, everything seemed to have a tinge of yellow on it.
We got a cab, and found ourselves stuck in horrendous traffic - at midnight. It took us a good 20 minutes to get out of the airport vincinity, which I thought was ridiculous given the time. They had better do something about it if the city is going to support the Olympic Games in 2008. Finally, after an hour in a taxi, we got to the hotel at 1am. Had to wake up early the next day to meet Allen.
The trip to Beijing was really quite unexpected. The week before, my dad asked me if I had any friends that were proficient in Chinese, and could go to Beijing on short notice. The only person I could think of was Ben in Shanghai, but he couldn't make it. My Chinese can't make it as well, but I wanted to go along, not to just have a holiday, but to meet my business contact there - Allen. In the end, they (my uncle Alan, dad and Henry) had to make do with my Uncle Alan's Chinese in the business discussions, which turned out to be slightly better than mine.
Anyways, Day1 was basically travelling there on a 5 hr flight on SIA. We left at 5pm and arrived at about 10pm. Took us about an hour to check out. Which was fine, considering that most airports I've been to are not as efficient as Changi Airport. So we stepped outside to get a cab. And the first thing I noticed was the dirt on the road and in the a ir. Every car there seemed to be covered in a layer of dust. The air was breathable, but then again, it seems that in China, people have the license to smoke anywhere. From waiting at the taxi line, to the next 3 days in Beijing, I've had to experience people smoking everywhere , even in air-con restaurants. So that made the feeling of pollution even worst. But back to the dust. I knew beforehand that Beijing, and the whole of China, is suffering from pollution problems. Beijing in particular, due to the depletion of forests surrounding the city, has resulted in sands from the Gobi desert blowing into the city. Adding the effects of construction due to the Beijing 2008 Games, and the growing number of cars, Beijing has become a place where the color white doesn't exist. Seriously, everything seemed to have a tinge of yellow on it.
We got a cab, and found ourselves stuck in horrendous traffic - at midnight. It took us a good 20 minutes to get out of the airport vincinity, which I thought was ridiculous given the time. They had better do something about it if the city is going to support the Olympic Games in 2008. Finally, after an hour in a taxi, we got to the hotel at 1am. Had to wake up early the next day to meet Allen.
posted by Kevin at 1:18 AM
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