Polluted Beijing

After three days in Beijing I am ready to move on to Mongolia where I can actually see the sky and breathe the air without a burning sensation in my throat. I imagine all of the beautiful buildings and sites of Beijing would have been amazing to see on a clear day, but looking at the city I cannot comprehend that ever happens. It is the only place in the world that I have ever been where you can stare directly at the sun for a full minute and it doesn't even burn your eyes. The smog is so thick that on my way to the great wall, the bus I was on got off the interstate about an hour outside of the city and I noticed the faint outline of a mountain range nearby. Not too long after, we were right beside the mountain and it was only a couple of kilometers away. Here I had been just two or three kilometers from this enormous mountain range and could hardly even tell it was there! This smog is disgusting and it's sad to see that we are so capable of doing so much harm to the world we live in.