It is 97 days and counting until the Beijing Summer Games get under way, and (cough, cough) the air is pretty bad.

Despite a May 1 holiday period that has cleared many vehicles off the road in Beijing, we are experiencing a terrible period of smog.

My wife washed the car on Wednesday. By Friday, it was filthy. I had to wash the windshield to see properly. When I went to pick up a friend at the new Terminal 3 in the airport last night, I noticed to my astonishment that you could actually see smog in the pedestrian sky bridge between the terminal and the parking garage.

I can only include the photos above from our 14th floor window.

This is the (Chinese language) link to Beijing’s environmental protection bureau website that lists the pollution index for 28 spots around the capital. All of them show what China describes as moderate levels of air pollution. It may be moderate to the local officials, but it is heavy enough that I don’t particularly want to go out riding a bike today.