We’ve seen a lot of people spitting in a way that would gross out most people and after breathing the fresh air of Beijing I’m starting to realize why. Apparently they are going to temporarily shut down all factories in Beijing for the upcoming olympics in order to fix the air (among other things) since the athletics never could compete in this.

Luckily one can hide from the smog by going to markets; we started early by going back to Yashow for some tailoring. It ended up me leaving my coat for repair, ordering two three piece-suits, two extra vests and three shirts. Since I left my coat I’d to buy a winter-jacket. Alex’s knowledge of prices again proved invaluable when it was time to haggle. I bought a nice warm olive green Peak Performance parka for 35 € and the last 5 € was since the seller could pronounce the price in swedish. Starting price was 85 € after we revealed that we where guided by a local, usually the price was 120 € (but of course).

After that we went to some student-market, there was less yelling and most buyers were locals (which was reflected by the lack of english skills for the sellers). However most of the clothing was for ladies so the guys got tired rather quick of the shopping. I managed to get a nice white shoulder bag though. The last market for the day was “black market” where electronics, stolen goods or power tools were to be found. Nothing that caught my eye here though. Now back at the hostel writing this and trying to organize some photos.