Weather

Honestly, the weather here has been terrible. I've seen blue sky two times since I've arrived. Pollution may be the first thing that comes to your mind as it does mine when I'm riding my bike down the street pretending that I can catch a glimpse of the sun. From what I gather, the constant overcast is not common for this time of the year and is a result of pollution and the fact that Beijing is situated with mountains to the north and west. In any case, there's some serious overcast, humidity and heat. Yesterday happened to be one of those blue sky days and we finally got to explore some more of the city now that we bought bikes. One particular area we headed to is called Nan Luo Gu Xiang. It's basically just one long, long street with hutongs on either side.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hutong)on both sides. Refreshingly, it's lined with trees as well as cafes, restaurants, antique stores and small bars. Places like this are few and far between with all of the new construction. It's too bad knowing that a lot of Beijing could have looked like this if there were more urban planners with taste. The picture with the goldfish tank ceiling is from a little Korean cafe. I thought it was pretty slick.