Dark Skies

James Fallows, my favorite journalist, living temporarily in Beijing, is keeping a close eye on the sky in the Olympic city. On his blog he frequently publishes photos of the view out of his highrise apartment building in Beijing. So far it's not looking too good, the sky is still murky and the IOC is getting worried. The leaders in Beijing are making plans for an emergency shutdown of more factories and the banning of more cars on the streets - anything to cut the pollution before the Olympics.

Meanwhile, here in Shanghai the typhoon-induced rains have started and are expected to continue through the weekend at least.

Typhoon Blows in Clean Air

While the pollution in Beijing seems to be as bad as ever one week out from the Olympics here in Shanghai it's better than usual. A typhoon south of Shanghai is blowing the winds off of the ocean and clearing the sky. Whenever the clouds begin moving northward and westward the air cleans up - there aren't any factories out to sea.

Alexandria Virginia

Return to Shanghai

Sorry for not posting in awhile. There's been a lot of travel in the last few weeks and I was sick for awhile - that's my excuse. When I returned to Shanghai last week the rainy season had hit and the air was uncomfortably damp. It became so humid that mildew grew on the brick walkways in the compound and turned them into skating rinks. Everything in the garage sprouted mildew as well so we had to move some of it into the air-conditioned house.

Bali was, by contrast, very comfortable. No rainy season, not too hot, and very, very, friendly. Here's some photos.