I have started teaching quite a bit more this time back, and am now fully back in to Beijing life although i have to confess that plane journey gets harder each time as does the recovery period.I have been out and about locally so started taking more photos and have posted them on to my web site here.It was the start of the National holidays the other week so Jun has 5 days off although typically in China she had to work last Sunday and will also have to work a week on Saturday so in reality she gets 3 days off.It's a big celebration this year as its 65 years since the Communists took over,so everywhere is being tidied up and lots and lots of flowers being displayed it really does look very nice, and of course no mention of HK.
We went down to the city centre on the Friday to Tian'aman square it was very busy as you can imagine with lots of heightened security,we just walked around with me taking photos then we went to the north east gate of the Forbidden City after the sun had set for some amazing views across the canal to the large walls and towers,never seen so many photographers in one place ( is there a collective noun for a large group of photographers ha-ha).
I recently read a story of a man from one of the Southern provinces arrested for driving with no licence, apparently he has been driving for years without one,you will be now thinking " whats so special about that" and the answer is he has no arms he was using his feet to drive an ordinary unmodified car I think the courts were quite impressed with his ability as they only fined him 50 pounds.
Autumn is now set well in and showing some beautiful colours, it is lovely around the parks, and as i recently sold my scooter i am now spending more time on my bike and enjoying the exercise.
We have been having some nice clear sunny days recently after almost 1 week of smog but it is a lot colder now.Jun had to work last Sunday and will have to work a week on Sunday as they are giving Govt employees a few of days off during the week while the big APEC conference is taking place in Beijing,they have already told millions of car owners both here in Beijing and other surrounding cities covering an area the size of England they can't use their cars on certain days this week they alternate between odd and even numbers each day from the registration plate,this is so the city doesn't look to congested.They also have,to ensure the air is clear and stays clear shut down countless factories etc for a week while all the other countries leaders are here. Beijingers have even coined a new phrase for a particular sky colour it's called APEC BLUE ha-ha. Last week they said in response to comments about the pollution here " We are not the worst,India was worse than us the other day" a Chinese friend of mine said to me it's like coming home from school with a bad report card and saying to your parents "but i'm not the worst in class". Then Jun said yes the Government did say that, but now they have been caught out as they had manipulated the figures anyway,so they are in fact worse than India.
There was a Govt minister from Beijing arrested on corruption charges recently and they found money in one of his houses,well they have just released the news on how much he had in cash in the house it was the equivalent of 20,000,000 pounds in English money, they say that there was that many arrested from his department that it could no longer function as a Government department. You hear a lot of this type of news these days since the Government started to crack down on corruption.