Eric's Beijing Diary

Saw these workers chugging up the mountain today. One more reminder that there is lots of road construction going on throughout the Fragrant Hills area. I don't like it. Eventually, I'm afraid this place is going to be populated with bunches of city folks in their cars driving to the mountain to get out and have a party, and then leave. Those kinds have little or no appreciation for nature, and don't see any need to take care of it. It's the same everywhere. In Phoenix, you will occasionally see liter along the trails as you climb Camelback or Squaw Peak. But South Mountain has a road going all the way to the top, and, not surprisingly, the summit is a garbage pit. So filthy you can't stand still for five seconds without being mobbed by flies. Fragrant Hills is not nearly that bad, but if they keep bringing road crews in, I am not optimistic.

Sometimes it's frustrating hiking on weekends when there are so many hundreds of people on the trail. But I can't really complain about that, because many of those are really decent, hard working folks who just want a break like everyone else, and have limited opportunity to take it. But sycophantic businessmen with their big black cars are harder to take. Fortunately, these road crews don't do anything in a big hurry. Still, it's hard to see the mountains slowly becoming citified. Noted architect I. M. Pei was chosen to design the Fragrant Hills Hotel. After he did the job, he felt so guilty about putting such a modern, man-made structure in the middle of all that beautiful cypress, that he refused to visit the site. He has never seen his work. I think it is unlikely that those businessmen driving around in their fancy cars, honking at everything in sight have ever thought deeply enough to care about such things.