Enjoying Beijing at its finest

October is perhaps the most glorious month in Beijing. Beijingers will half-jokingly tell you there are only two season in the capital - the smoggy, sweltering summer and the dry, bitterly cold winter.

It is true that the mercury in thermometers in Beijing jumps wildly in spring, going from not much above the freezing mark to levels high enough to encourage shorts and T-shirts in a few weeks, if not a few days. And they drop just as far and as almost as swiftly in the fall.

But in between these extremes Beijing is blessed with two short, but absolutely fantastic, seasons. May, when the city's parks and gardens suddenly turn green and its cherry blossoms and magnolias bloom, is fantastic. But October, when the temperature is cool, but not yet cold, the leaves on the tree-lined streets turn flaming yellow and the skies are often clear and azure, is even more sublime.