Welcome to Beijing...cough, cough! (Narrated by the voice of Kathleen Turner)

What is it like to wake up in Beijing? In a word: smoggy.  Look at that.  Doesn't it just make you want to give up, throw your hands in the air and chew down some filterless Pall Malls?

No that is not romantic fog rolling in from the mountains.  Its smog.  Apparently 16 out of 20 of the world's smoggiest cities are in China, Beijing being one of them. If you want to read the technical details, here is an informative link.  Supposedly it is getting better and the government is making efforts to improve it now.  But for the next ten days, this is the air I breathe.  Yum!  Cut me a slice of that fresh Beijing air!