Hey, y'all. Daddy here.

The sun almost came out today. I got a good photo from our 15th floor window of the city:

Visibility at the time was about two miles. I know this from doing a measurement in Google Earth, from the hotel to the TV tower you can just barely see in the smog. This is a retouched photo by the way, I had to lighten it up.

The island we're on is man-made, a moat was cut around the riverbank in this location in the 1700s and it was used as exile for europeans. Hence the architecture difference. Up until about ten years ago most of the national Consolates were here on the island. Now I think only Poland is left.

There are at least two schools on the island, which is a treat to see a bunch of kids all dressed in their tracksuit uniforms laughing and playing. School here is not a drudgery even though they go longer than American kids do. I guess when you have no siblings school becomes more important.

The central avenue here on Shamian Island is one long park. At this close range the smog looks more like fog and gives the island an ethereal beauty.