We're Literally in a Fog! April 13 - 15 Beijing, China

The airport in Beijing is a wonder- designed to look like a dragon and expanded to handle the hoards of expected Olympic visitors. In fact, all of Beijing appears to be in a state of renovation. Like the aging film star Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard, China is packing on its makeup and getting ready for its close-up when all eyes are upon it. You can’t imagine the sheer volume of construction- construction cranes dot the skyline. Roads are constantly being added to accommodate the new drivers- over 1000 per day- now clogging Beijing roads.

After a few hours to clean up, we all met in the Regents Hotel lobby for our first official set of scavenges (visit the GSH organizer blog on www.globalscavengerhunt.com for details on local scavenges.) Bill warns the group, “don’t try to do them all,” as he hands out the booklet with over 80 cryptic riddles, hunts and tasks that would keep us frantic and bleary eyed over the next two days. He also warned us to pace ourselves (easier said than done!), to keep healthy (code words for “stick to bottled water) and to listen to our instincts on safety issues.

We were sure to experience the more common tourist activities- the Forbidden City, the Olympic venues, and the grand daddy of them all- the great wall of China (this is very odd- the more “touristy wall site has a Starbucks at the base so we opted for the less-visited location. It had a ski chair lift to get up to the wall and an alpine slide option to come down.) Other activities ranged from 5 point tasks that might require asking for translation assistance from a local or getting a bit of information on Chinese history. The more common 20 – 35 point items sent us scurrying to and fro around Beijing, its historic landmarks and landmarks-to-be. We pored over badly-marked maps to find small neighborhoods or unique items or worked to be on-hand exactly where & when certain activities took place. We scoured traditional Chinese pharmacies (yes, they still carried a multitude of fine Pfizer products!) and visited lively local snack streets where locals enjoyed sates, fruits and epicurean delights such as eel, urchin & octopus.

Thoughts on China:
The issue I probably found most troubling in Beijing was the drain on natural resources and lack of stewardship for the environment. I can’t describe the poor air quality in Beijing. Photos of buildings just a few hundred yards away, come out as just a hazy gray image. The warmest of days still appear fall-like due to the dark haze that lingers over the city. Your eyes constantly burn and you can’t help but wonder what this is doing to a generation of Chinese children and what the repercussions will be on public health on years to come. Supposedly, 2 weeks before the Olympics, China will ban construction and card in the city so the haze will lift in time for the TV audiences.

Another somewhat naïve surprise for me was the government censorship. Yes, I know… I do read the papers. But until you attempt to log into your laptop and find that half of the internet content is unavailable to you, you really don’t have a sense of how it affects people on a personal level. We found all blogs were blocked as well. We saw in the paper today that during the Olympics, the internet at hotels and internet cafes will be opened to give foreigners the illusion of open media access.

Another interesting surprise to me was also that I have probably never felt safer anywhere than I did in Beijing. We wandered in some dodgy hatongs in the evenings and not once did I feel threatened. People were very kind to us and I never felt any anti-Westerner sentiments.

Two days later we gathered and got the word… pack up… we are off to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in the morning. Get a few hours sleep.