Living in Beijing - AGAIN - FBCB Annual meeting

The first 4 days in Beijing were extremely polluted. The air was so thick that it could have cut it with a knife. After walking outside for a while my throat was sore in the evening and it was heavy to breath. Best to stay home with all windows shut and air conditioner off. The US Embassy's weather control said it was HAZARDOUS. The highest number i got was 445 on the meter. It only goes to 500...Normally it should be around 10-30 for good air...

Can't be good to inhale this in the long run!! Really does not matter if your a smoker or not in Beijing, your lungs will be dark anyway.

It was almost like a miracle to wake up today with clear blue sky and air quality 20! Air was really fresh after 2 days of rain here. It was like being in Finland suddenly. (picture from my living room)

The CCTV tower that burned down 2009. They are STILL rebuilding it. The could not tear it down because it balances the other CCTV tower so all steel structure had to be rebuild. Dear taxpayers, you just lost a few billion RMB...

This is one of the reasons for bad air, traffic here basically don't move when it's rush hour and it's impossible to get a taxi

I also went to buy a scooter. Got it second hand from a guy who was moving away from Beijing. But the place I had to get it from was very far away. The battery didn't last for the whole way because the guy who sold it to me had not charged it so I had to walk. And in this scooter model I can't take out the battery which makes it very hard to charge since the living compound I live at does not offer charging service like my last one in Shanghai. I had to take it up to my kitchen for charging. The scooter is so big that it took me a few minutes to fit it into the elevator...Very 麻烦

Charging the battery in my kitchen...

 There is a new Jenny Lou opened just downstairs of the compound, now cheese is just 5 minute walk away!

 Was walking next to Sanlitun and saw this. Someone's bike had started to burn and there were just ashes left and fire department were here. Also some soldiers and police asking what was the cause. I think it was one of those carts that sell smoked sweet potatoes for 3 rmb...

 We had the Annual General Meeting for the Finnish Business Council where the ambassador started with a great speech about China  in 2012. The new communist party that will change this year, China's slowing growth from 10% to 8% and other social problems that China is phasing etc. The meeting was held  in Royal Smushi House which is a Danish restaurant opened a few months ago. Place was nice but food soso...

 Smushi art

 I kiss better than I look :) 

 My traffic card for buss and subway didn't work anymore so I had to go and fix it. The place was on the other side of the city in Xidan and it was really hard to find. I walked around for about 1 hour before finding it. I asked people how to get here but many gave me different directions...Finally found it and the que was long...In 9 days I can go and get my card back again.

An old building close to sanlitun made into a restaurant. Looks nice, should go and try it someday