Getaway that leaves a bad taste in the mouth

Weekend relaxation, seeing historic sights and pollution

Lately a lot of people have been talking about making trips to escape from smog, and that's exactly what my family did last weekend. Waking up on a smoggy Saturday morning, we decided to get out of Beijing to get some fresh air.

We chose Luoyang, Henan province, about 800 kilometers to the south of the capital, a journey that takes about four hours by high-speed train. So we could come home for work and school on Monday.