1/9
It rained overnight and cleared the air. The megasmog has gone… into the ground I guess… and a welcome breeze on stepping out of the hotel this morning. Slept soundly, all the way through from 2230 until 0730. Felt much more balanced, and present in a less stressy way. Shower, meditation, then to breakfast – fruits and then omelette again. At 0930 we took a taxi to the fair – many complaints from attendees, apparently, about moving it all the way out to near the airport this year. It’s a good 20 minutes by taxi. It felt OK to breathe today. No cloying feeling in the throat nor prickles at the back of the nose. So it’s not always quite the hell I thought Beijing might be. The fair went well, with discussions about the quality of translation, and then another major Chinese publisher very interested. Back by 1630 for a snooze and a swim before supper.

We have named our tiny booth The Cage. Picked up some nice Peter Rabbit postcards with Chinese text from the Penguin stand. There’s is definitely not a cage. Or maybe just a very fancy one.