The Air is Still Clear

Greetings from Sunday, August 17 in Beijing. Even with clouds today, we could tell that the air was clear. The sun came out just before sunset, and a headline in today's paper read: "August enjoys best air quality in decade." It went on to say "Beijing reported yesterday was the second consecutive day of Grade 1, or excellent air quality, marking a decade-long high for the number of such days in a summer month in the city.

What they are doing seems to be working.

Yesterday we had a very busy day; we took a subway ride for the first time (they are so crowded), we walked to a huge market, we took a taxi back to the hotel, then we walked our legs off at the Olympic Green in the evening. I have never been so tired!



We had a wonderful evening of track and field, but Wendy and I also had a wonderful evening of shopping at the huge SuperStore. It is as big as two football fields - and they are running out of shirts and certain items already. I tried to get some shirts for my brother, for his August 27th birthday, and found that his size was sold out. And this is China, where everything is made! I couldn't believe it - but the Chinese were in there buying like crazy.





Tom wouldn't go shopping, but Wendy and I walked a mile and a half just to get to the store (right next to a huge McDonald's). We had to wait in a long line just to get in the door, then wait some more just to get in to the shopping area! We missed two hours of track for this, but got to see Usain Bolt set the World Record in the 100 meter dash (this race was at 10:30 p.m. and the store was closed by then).


I can say that not one person was sitting down for that race!


There is lots going on here - more tomorrow.


Carol