Pollution? What pollution?

If you listened to the Chinese media, you would think this place was as clear as a Montana sky... er, not quite. I woke up this morning, threw back my curtains as I do every morning to enjoy the view and oh, hey - wait a second - where'd the Bird's Nest go? It isn't more than a half mile away from my hotel window, but I could barely see it through the dense smoggy haze.

Sunday.....


Today.....


We had a gorgeous day on Sunday that made you pause and think - wow, the chinese govt did it! They sent the pollution to Tibet! But every day since has seen the skies have gotten darker and greyer. I haven't really felt the pollution as much as I thought I would, but I have noticed that a 'gunk' in my throat since arriving. Beijing outlawed spitting during the games and when I heard about it, I thought it was just a manners thing that was both charming and gross. Well, it's actually a legitimate problem - I can see how hauking a mega sized loogie is the only way to get rid of this crap that builds up in your lungs and throat. I don't see any spitting going on in olympic land, but the minute you leave here, you see old men on bikes working up all sorts of gunk out of their lungs and out onto the sidewalks. If I wasn't positive that would be me in a few months, I would be totally disgusted.

Poor....um, dumb? bike-riders! (apparently the USOC was piissssseeedddddddd....)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/06/sports/olympics/06masks.html