China
Day 1 - Beijing
Visibility is just a few hundred metres
I've safely made it to my hotel in Beijing. I've never been to mainland China before (save for a transfer in Shanghai).After passing through immigration, I headed to the taxi rank. The taxi driver was an utter loon. He appeared to be driving a manual gearbox, but sans clutch (or at least he didn't care about a clutch). If you've ever watched touring cars, you'll have some idea of the ride. Quite brilliantly, around 50 near-misses were skilfully kept as near-misses, with the kind of precision you'd only expect from Schumacher. The guy could have been a world champion, but he's just a crazy taxi driver in Beijing. His photo ID was a little perplexing, as it pictured a man with a full head of hair and no wrinkles. However, the chap next to me had almost no hair and skin like a prune. Hmmm.
Crazy Taxi
I am rather quickly finding out what parts of the internet I am permitted to see. No facebook, no twitter, sparse Google pages, half of the video feeds don't work. As a temporary resident in Beijing, I am also not permitted to see the sky. In every direction, the haze is very, very obvious. I've never experienced anything like it first hand. Unfortunately, it means I will have to limit my time outdoors. As a climate scientist specialising in the study of small particulate matter (the exact type which create this haze), I know all too well of the detrimental effects to human health.
If you squint, you might make out planes on the runway...
It's quite impressive that planes land safely in this smog. It was rather an odd feeling; knowing you're coming in to landing, but only seeing the ground around 5 seconds before the wheels bump down.
Nothing like a good coffee
I checked in and was told that my room was still being prepared, so I ordered a coffee and got to some work in the lobby. Nothing beats a good coffee, and I always feel tired after travelling long distances.
How much would a room this size cost in Tokyo?
The hotel is rather grand, and so is the room. I've never had such a spacious room in Tokyo. If they exist, they're well out of my budget! The water pressure is feeble, but apart from that, I can't complain. Unlike any bed in Japan, it looks like I'll fit in this one.
The view from the hotel window drops off rapidly
All being well, I plan on updating the blog each day with a few photos from China. I've got plugins to automatically post to twitter and facebook - I won't have access to those until I am outside of The Great Firewall this weekend. Stay tuned!