Beijing Pollution

 

 

 

 

 

When the opportunity to move to Beijing arose, our little family put a lot of energy into our decision.  We prayed, we discussed, we talked a lot, prayed some more and ultimately all came up with the same answer and choice.  It wasn't until the decision had already been made that I turned to the internet...which was a good thing because by the time I had spent a short time online I was calling Rob to see if we could back out :)  I read post after post about Beijing's pollution problem and got really nervous about the effect it would have on my already weakened lungs, and on the health of my children's developing lungs.

I turned to Google again and came across the blog of a woman expat in Beijing who I happened to share religions with.  After spending hours reading her blog I was comforted and reminded of the reasons we had decided to do this for our family.  It wasn't really anything specific she said or even a specific post, but maybe the reality that hey, there are actually families like ours that are doing this, we will be okay...

So, we went shopping...for these :)

We have a few of these beauties scattered throughout our house that add to the decor :)  They provide great white-noise and even greater air! 

I decided to focus on the things that I could  control.  I may not be in control of the outdoor pollution situation, but I CAN control the air in my home and car.  We can wear filter masks outside when the air is bad.  My kids go to a school with one of the most advanced air-filtration systems in China.  They don't go outside for recess when the air quality is above a certain number.  The school built two massive "domes" that the kids can have recess in with air quality control.  They still get to play and exercise, and I have peace of mind that I'm not damaging their health.

I have an app on my phone where I monitor the pollution.  It might be a bad habit and unnecessary, but I check it first thing in the morning (looking outside is a good indicator also!)  This app gives the reading from the US Embassy and the reading from the Chinese government.  The Embassy's reading is almost aLwAYs higher.  (We also live out of the city a bit so the air is slightly better).  I took a screen-shot because it makes me laugh.  The US and China have oBViOus differences in the way we categorize the severity of air pollution :)  Notice how our classification is "Very Unhealthy" Protection recommended, and the China one says "Lightly Polluted"

 

 

Honestly, since moving here I've been surprised that it hasn't been "as bad" as I was anticipating.  We have had many more "blue sky" days than I thought we would see.  The trend is usually bad air for a couple days then a wind or rain storm comes and cleans it up for a day or two and then it gradually builds back up over the next few days.  Until January :)  There was a particular weekend in January where we saw the pollution climb to 1000 (number explanation follows).  A record. The chart tops out at 500, the embassy stopped reporting at around 750.  It's been bad.  Hazardous actually.  We stay indoors as much as we can when it's in the purple box.  That was a couple weeks ago.  But the last few days haven't been so good either.

 

Here is a chart from the last 7 days...

 

 

 

And the last 24 hours

 

 

 

(it "snowed" or something like it last night, so we have beautiful blue skies today!) The government "seeds" the clouds sometimes to make it snow or rain - yikes! (that's a whole other issue!)

 

 

This summer my plan is to climb the highest mountain near me, camp-out for a few days, and just Breathe......

 



 

*****Send some clean air vibes our way, okay?*****

Harbin, China

Harbin has been on Rob's list of "places to see" ever since he first traveled to China about 20 years ago.  We finally made it! 

Harbin, China is home to one of the four biggest Ice and Snow Festivals in the world.  It is located in North-East China and the reason it can host one of the biggest ice and snow festivals is because it is sooooo darn COLD!  I can't count on one hand the number of people who tried to talk us out of going, or who thought we were crazy for going because of the temperature.  Puhleeeease!  If you let things like weather, or distance, or whatever stop you from doing things then you would never do anything or see anything because there is aLWaYs a reason you can find to talk yourself out of it.

We were thinking that we might have to go next year because we were running out of weekends to go.  But Rob surprised us by coming home from his Munich, Germany work trip a day early so we bought us some plane tickets and were OFF for a quick two-day trip to Harbin!!

The forecast...

 

(1*F/-22*F on Saturday)

 

 

Checking into the Hotel.

 

We stayed right across the street from the main pedestrian street - Zhong Yang Jie.  After checking-in, we bundled up and hit the streets to see what we could find.

The kids' favorite snow sculpture...Gangnam Style!

 

Our favorite Chinese treat - Tanghulu

Sugar coated Chinese Hawthorn - but wait!  Here they had the same candy coating on bananas, grapes, strawberries, and pineapple - yum!

 

The street ends at the river that runs through town.  This is a monument to the many people who have died when the river used to over-flow its banks.

And yes, I do love my huge down coat!  I have stayed WARM this winter!

 Our first spotting of the famous ice-lanterns!

 

 

The river is packed with people and many activities to do from chair-skating and ice-biking, to kite skating and for the real crazies - swimming.

 

When we got cold we just ducked into the nearest store to warm our fingers and noses.  Harbin has a very large Russian influence.  It's actually pretty close to Russia, and a little north of Vladivostok.  This is a souvenir shop that we loved!

So now the real story begins...We had originally planned to go back to the hotel after our walk up the street so I wasn't prepared for the night-time temperatures.  We were prepared with adequate clothing, it's your exposed skin that feels the burn!  It was getting close to dark and we were close to Zhaolin Park where some ice lanterns are so we decided to walk there.  We brought those pouches that heat up and you can stick in your gloves and boots - but they are still at the hotel.  In our research we found two places to go and see the ice lanterns but didn't realize one was much smaller than the other.  We walked to the small one at Zhaolin Park and this is what we found - so beautiful!

 

Anytime you travel with kids you have to be flexible and prepared.  And hardships are multiplied when it is -20*F outside :)  We had one child that wouldn't walk, two others who had frozen fingers, one who wanted to go to the hotel and a Dad who was just finished with this day (granted, he was the one carrying small fry).  To top it off, my fully charged camera battery was sucked dry by the frigid temperatures, and I didn't bring another battery. Good thing we had Keely's camera and our phones.  Sure, we are all smiles in the pictures but when I brought up going to the "big" park that night, I got vetoed... times 5. 

There's always tomorrow :)


Sometimes we luck out and find a taxi driver who will let all 6 of us squish in.  I am always nervous when we have to take 2 taxi's that we will get separated and not find each other, or one will end up in the wrong place.  But this guy was great so we just paid him to stick around for the day.  It's arctic outside so we are all bundled up.  Then we get into a taxi where the driver has the heat cranking and I'm pretty sure one kid almost dIEd because he was so hot and squished.  By the end of the day they had learned to unlayer before getting in the car :)  Good thing they're still small!

The official "Ice & Snow World"

Apparently this is the place to go at night when all the ice lanterns are all lit up.  We only had one night but we still wanted to see the huge ice buildings so we went during the day (half price, yay!)

View from on top

 



 

 

The favorite parts for the kids were all these ice slides that were on some of the sculptures

 

 

 

Coming during the day turned out to be a blessing.  There was hardly anyone there, so all the fun activities they had set up for the kids - we had all to ourselves.  No lines, no crowds, only a few people staring ;)  I know the lanterns are more impressive at night - but we saw the ones the night before, plus the buildings were still very impressive during the day - and that's what we came to see!  I think the kids had more fun sliding down the ice over and over again.  I think had we come at night they wouldn't have had the chance because of the crowds.  Day 2 saved the trip :)

When Mom and Dad want a picture together this is what we get...I'll take it :)

 

 

 

 

 

 Warming up with some hot (watered down) chocolate!

 Exhausted!  They played hard and had a great time!!  Jake even fell asleep so I kNoW he was comfortable!

All bundled up!  The kids wore thermals and fleece pants then their snow pants.  They had their snow boots and never complained about being cold (except some fingers the first night).  But once we had the hand warmers, it was awesome!

  We had a rough start but day 2 definitely made the trip worth it! Was it cold? Yes!  Was it miserable? No!  Definitely worth seeing if you have the chance!  I'm all ready to go again next year - Rob...not so much - been there done that, what's next?!!