January 21, 2013

Happy New Year!

Holidays continue with the Lunar New Year coming February 10th. Currently school is back in session until Feb. 8th, and then we will have nine days off.

Pollution levels today in Shanghai = unhealthy. There was a PM reading of 173 at 6 a.m. on Huaihai Road which means that disease-causing particles are most likely getting lodged in the lungs of most of the population. Children and elderly are advised to remain inside and avoid exercise outdoors. At least the reading is not "Very Unhealthy" or "Hazardous" today. Nonetheless I wear a mask while riding my bike. And I wonder what the reading would be out on this side of the city, further west and closer to factories. What is the air quality index of your city? I see it is also bad in Utah today.

Sometime I would like to see this festival with my own eyes, in Xinjiang or Thailand.

People fly sky lanterns, also known as Kongming lanterns, at the Ayding Lake area in the Turpan basin in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to celebrate the upcoming Spring Festival, which falls on February 10. The dry lakebed is about 155 meters below sea level, which makes it the world's second lowest point after the Dead Sea. -from Shanghai Daily 

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