Air Pollution in Beijing – and Other Various Sights

Hello all!

Well this is a strange deviation from my usual once-a-month-update (if even). I decided to write a blog since we had a sandstorm here in Beijing this morning, and I wanted to post a picture that I took from my window- and, well… posting just one measly picture didn’t really feel right, so I decided to download all the pictures from my phone and upload them too.

I woke up this and I thought that I had gotten up a couple of hours earlier than I was supposed to, because my room was pretty dark still. Amusingly, when I drew back the curtains I thought that I had some gunk in my eyes because everything was yellow! (And I assure you, this isn’t because of bad white-balance, lol).

Speaking of air quality here in Beijing, I’ve actually been taking pictures from the 五道口 (WuDaoKou; also known as ‘The Wu’. At least, I’ve been trying to get more people to call it that because I think it sounds cool, heh.) subway station, trying to document the differing conditions of air pollution that we get here in Beijing. Pollution is no joke here; I actually picked up a dust-mask from Respro. It’s pretty hardcore- maybe a bit too hardcore my my daily walking-activities, but I was actually thinking of picking up a fixed-gear bike here in Beijing; however, perhaps even fortunately, I was never able to get a frame size big enough for me =(. But, I realize that I really should be saving up for other things, such as plane tickets for my friend’s wedding.

Anyhow- I’m digressing. Back to air pollution here in Beijing. Just a note, you can get hourly-ish updates on the API (air pollution index) from the Beijing US embassy, at least via twitter: @beijingair.

Here are a series of pictures that I’ve taken randomly during my time here in Beijing, where I’ve noticed extremely bad pollution, or extremely clean air- I guess it sort of exaggerates the quality of air here, heh. It’s a pretty nice progression of lung-ownage going on; that first picture, where I could actually see the mountains in the back was definitely a treat for my lungs. It’s no walk in the park in Beijing though; the usual air-pollution status given by the Beijing US Embassy is usually listed as: Hazardous, or Very Unhealthy; pretty reassuring, huh? Haha.

Anyhow, here are some random pictures that I had on my phone that I figured I should upload:

We’ve had a couple of snow days here in Beijing-

These two pictures were taken way back when, during 春节 (Spring Festival), and all these random fireworks stalls popped up around Beijing-

Here’s a little look into rush-hour at a Beijing subway station. It’s definitely not for the faint-hearted. People will push and shove you. The frustrating thing that always bugs me, is that people don’t try to make way for others. They will actually raise their elbows up and shove you out of the way; actually, now that I think about it, it’s only the women who do this. I guess it’s just a habit from being pushed around. Oh China China…

Well this concludes this post- I have some other pictures of the handsets that I’ve been playing around from work. Until next time!

-Duncan