Majestic skies and indifferent cows

A break from the city - just a few hours away from Beijing - delivers a surprising highlight

As people in Beijing raved about how blue the sky was just before the big commemorative parade on Sept 3, I was setting off for Hulun Buir in Inner Mongolia to escape from the hubbub and to get a taste of more authentic clean air.

However, for a while at least that escape from Beijing was not so clearcut, because in Manzhouli, a city in western Hulun Buir prefecture, as in cities, towns and villages across the nation, people were transfixed to their televisions watching the parade. With other tourists there, I was no exception, gathered around the TV in the lobby of the youth hostel where I was staying.