day 272: [北京 (Beijing)] = 0km

We got up at five for a last visit at the sand dunes of 月牙泉 (Crescent Moon Spring – Indiana Jones).

The sunrise was supposed to be very beautiful.

…but when we got there, the weather was absolutely nasty, and so were the people at the ticket counter:

“No student discounts for foreigners!”

What the hell? I swore at them and their understanding of this year’s Olympic motto  “同一个世界 – 同一个梦想 = one world – one dream” for a little while, then we just went back.

We had to pack our stuff.

And then we went to the airport:

敦煌 (dunhuang) is the only place within hundreds of miles that has an airport. There are two planes to the capital each day.

We got on one of them, it took off at 11:40…

…and had landed by 14:40. One…two…three hours in the air vs. nine months on foot.

When we got to 北京 (Beijing), the Games were already there:

The whole airport was swarming with volunteers, mostly university students who were adept at foreign languages to a certain extent:

Besides the volunteers, there were also myriads of reporters…

…and fans:

…

Now you’re probably wondering about the infamous air quality around the Olympic venues these days.

In one word: it’s just terrible.

The Chinese West had been hot too, but with both the merits of big blue skies and cooling winds to soothe the sunburns.

Here in the capital, it’s about the same temperature as in the West – but it’s as humid and damp as a laundromat, while at the same time leaving you with the attractive feeling a sticky dirt film on your skin:

Sure there are less cars. Because you can tell cars to go away.

But can you tell the weather to just go and change?

Robozwerg says:

“See the girl on the picture with the ‘Kobe’ sign? It was supposed to say ‘Robo Love MVP’ but she made a mistake with the letters. I forgave her and wrote my autograph on her shirt anyway.”

Soundtrack: Nelly – “Hot In Herre”

—total: 3555,1km