(posted by Stephanie)
Thanks to the urging of many, I've booked a flight to Beijing for the last 8 days of Adam's trip. It is a once-in-a-lifetime chance, but not exactly the bike trip through Europe that I had envisioned (in the days before rising gas prices and falling exchange rates) for this summer. Spoke to day with my dear friend Teresa Sobiezsczyk, who just returned from a trip to China that included sight-seeing in Beijing. She says that it is hot, chaotic, with air so heavy with pollutants that you can't see more three buildings away clearly.
Here's what the Washington Post reported a few months ago about the problems that the Olympic athletes will have with these levels of pollutants:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/23/AR2008012303954_pf.html
Thanks to the urging of many, I've booked a flight to Beijing for the last 8 days of Adam's trip. It is a once-in-a-lifetime chance, but not exactly the bike trip through Europe that I had envisioned (in the days before rising gas prices and falling exchange rates) for this summer. Spoke to day with my dear friend Teresa Sobiezsczyk, who just returned from a trip to China that included sight-seeing in Beijing. She says that it is hot, chaotic, with air so heavy with pollutants that you can't see more three buildings away clearly.
Here's what the Washington Post reported a few months ago about the problems that the Olympic athletes will have with these levels of pollutants:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/23/AR2008012303954_pf.html
De Spiegel had an even more dire article about China's "green olympics":
What am I getting myself into? And don't even get me started about China's human rights record. That was my original hesitation for booking a trip (not that a one-woman boycott would scare anyone in China.) But, the ticket's booked, so going I am. Besides, I think Adam will be very happy to have a friendly face by the time I arrive!
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