Yeah, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.
It might be sacrilege, though I hope not, but that scripture, Psalm 23:4 is what came to mind when I looked out the window this afternoon.
It feels as if the apocalypse has happened! And in Beijing when you go out in these kinds of conditions there is little to lessen that feeling!
It feels not just as if an apocalypse has happened, but a zombie apocalypse like those popular in modern movies and TV shows. You go out and see many people wearing face masks, and right now everyone is preparing for Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) so many shops have closed!
In Beijing you even have many people who walk not caring if they run into you or no (have they been bitten? are they zombies!?!?)
It feels like this area could inspire many more zombie movies, books, and tv shows. But in reality, the world has not ended, but rather the opposite, the world is bustling, the signs of rapid development are all around! Among these sings the most notable is the precipitously high levels of pollution that create scenes like what I posted in the picture above.
Few people know is that Beijing really does have environmental regulations, the problem is that while the central government creates the regulations, it is up to the local governments to enforce them, which they don’t always feel is in their best interests. You can read more about that here.
Anyway, I am in Beijing with my wife, Ziqin, at the moment. I have been here just over a week. Ziqin’s immigration process was taking too long so we decided I’d come visit for her birthday, Valentine’s Day, and of course Spring Festival. I am sure I will have lots to post about after I return home about how Spring Festival goes!
I can see the preparations everywhere, as I said many shops are completely closed as their owners take this time off, others close early each day and will probably close for certain days during the celebration. While there is only one day that is the New Year’s Day, the Spring Festival celebrations actually last for 15 days, students are out of school that whole time, many people are off work (obviously depending on what jobs they have), and most go home to visit family. The First, Fifth, and Fifteenth days are the days where all the big celebrations occur, I’ll be here for the first one.
Yesterday we saw many people in the subway traveling to and from the airport and train stations, all pulling luggage. Public transportation felt like it normally would during rush hour on a work day!
Speaking of transportation, they have upped the prices significantly since I was last here! Previously it always cost about $0.07 to ride the bus, regardless of the distance, now it starts at $0.16 and goes up from there! Sometimes as high as $1! Subways used to be $0.32 to ride regardless of the distance or how many trains you change between, now it starts at $0.32 but goes up based on how far you go! My nice cheap Beijing is getting to be more expensive! And I was just here four months ago!
It won’t be long before they catch up to our American prices I fear…oh well!
Besides that I can also see there are many new buildings around, this city is truly a forest of skyscrapers!
The food is still good though! On my first day here I had my beloved 煎饼 (Jianbing, it is like a tortilla with egg, onions, cilantro, some sort of sauce, wrapped around a deep-fried crunch pastry of sorts), and the second morning I went out and found a new treat! I went out in hopes of buying 油条 but found that the restaurant I normally buy them from was closed for the holidays, so I wandered around and found two other restaurants to get breakfast from. At one I bout Ziqin’s Tofu Brains (豆腐脑 – a kind of soup with chunks of tofu in it) and then at another I purchased two pastries with egg cooked into the middle, and another pastry with sweet red bean filling called dousha( 豆沙). I bought both Ziqin’s and my breakfasts for about 1 USD, so at least the food is still good and cheap 
Of course you can also have more expensive meals, we did go out for Beijing Roast Duck the other night and that cost about $20 for the two of us, of course it was enough food for about two meals each. Oh, we also ate at a Greek restaurant with a few friends the other night, and that one was more expensive, about $18 per person, with no leftovers! Foreign food is always a bit expensive in Beijing, but that is to be expected.
Anyhow, the trip is going well, and I hope to share more with you about