Eric's Beijing Diary

When I get to heaven, I'm going to ask God if I can go to Beijing in November. I like the climate in Beijing (except for the middle of the summer), but I would have to say that autumn is the nicest. They say that autumn is a short season. Officially 45 days. But "they" have never been to North Dakota. Of course, the Dakotas have their own beauty, but it seems like the leaves came off the trees a lot earlier. And they all fall the same day. Here in Beijing, the process is much lazier, although it certainly varies a bit from year to year. The beginning part kinda depends on how soon the fever breaks from the heat of the summer. September was really nice this year. We did have a cold spell in October, but most of the month was nice. That's the thing--if you pick any three or four days out of the fall, they could be warm or cold. But the cold snap is nice, because it really cuts down on the bugs. And then the sun comes out again. In that respect, all northern climates are similar. We used to have Indian Summer in North Dakota after the first blizzard of winter. I can remember standing in shirt sleeves in December. Of course, the cold always came eventually. There is about a month and a half delay in the atmosphere, so while December 21st is officially the shortest, it is not necessarily the coldest. In North Dakota, we used to say, "When the days begin to lengthen, the cold begins to strengthen."

But Beijing has a much milder climate than North Dakota or Minnesota. It reminds me of Prescott, Arizona, except that the middle of the summer here is not only hot here, but very humid, which is bizarre, because Beijing is known otherwise as having a very dry climate. The Shanghai folks (especially women) complain about it, because they say it dries their skin, but I do like a dry climate, because it is so much easier to keep warm. Cold and wet is tough to deal with, but cold and dry is easy--just keep adding layers until you feel comfortable. But I'm getting ahead of myself. I've somehow wandered into a discussion of winter, and I'm supposed to be talking about fall. That's the thing with me...I tend to wander all over the place in my writing. If I were writing this for publication, I would have to straighten it up considerably, but since I am a blogger, I can say whatever I want, and I don't give a hang what any publisher thinks about it. Anyway, back to my subject, I guess everyone has their preferences, but in my opinion, it's pretty hard to beat a North China autumn.

Today we went to Fragrant Hills and did some hiking. There were lots and lots of people, but it was such a nice day, that we didn't even notice them. OK, that's a bit strong. Anyway, you can either take the chair lift to the top, or climb the steps (which is what we did). Then you can take your pick of different pathways down the hill. We ended up the day by stopping at the Sculpting in Time coffee bar just outside the East Gate for some pizza. The manager of that place is cat, and he is really bossy. You should have seen the waitresses trying to coax him off a table when they ran out of places for people to sit.