Photos of China

In honor of the Olympics, I'm gonna share a few photos of my travels to China.

Let's start with the Olympic stadium - a.k.a., the Bird's Nest - which I had occasion to see twice while under construction.  It's located on the 3rd ring road in Beijing, I believe, which is the third of five beltways around the incredibly crowded metropolis.  I saw it first in May '06 (first two images) and then again in August '07 (third image).  I've also seen the Water Cube, which is adjacent if memory serves.  See a photo of the stadium today.

Focusing in on the first image, I was told by a local that the black banner at the construction site was some type of propaganda for the workers.  That, I could believe.

Notice the air quality on both of the random days that I was there.  I experienced the worse air in August '07, despite the fact that my trip coincided with trials by the local authorities to reduce smog.  They banned about 50% of the registered cars from driving, based on license plate numbers.  In anticipation of this reality, many wealthy residents actually bought a second car and arranged for alternating license plate codes, in order to be able to drive on all days.  I take it they were still working out the kinks in the system at that point.  The lesson: air quality in Beijing is truly terrible.