First stop today is the Qinghe Sewage Treatment plant. Other highlights include the Chinese Academy of Inspection and Quarantine, the new Terminal # 3 at the airport, the Beijing Shichahai Sports School, the Beijing Environmental Protection Monitoring Centre, the headquarters of the Beijing Traffic Guidance System and the new #5 line of the Subway System.

The life of a globe-trotting coorespondent doesn't get much more sexy than that, eh? The information packet we've been given can only hint at the challenges and delights ahead for us.

For instance we're told: "..Beijing Traffic Management Bureau put great efforts on construction and perfection of a direction signs system with high technology, level and humanity, as well as use correct and easy understandable languages."

The Inspection and Quarantine folks conduct reasearch on "..application of science and technology in inspection and quarantine, as well as relevant, basic, high-tech and soft-science research, focusing on solving general, comprehensive, key, outburst and basic scientific problems and providing technical supports to the policy making of inspetion and quarantine for the national government." Outburst?

As for the Sports School, we're assured that, "In terms of multitude sports, Shichahai bSports School enjoys higher popularity in the world as the opening school in the history of Beijing, utilizing the 'brand' advantage of the school."

It will be an intersting week..

Oh one more thing, from the Traffic Guidance gurus, apparently doing their jos in response to great public concern about exactly who was making key higway signage decisions in the Olympic run-up, offer this note; "Some drivers thought the type and location of traffic signs in Beijing designed by few people and lack of conscientious."

207 days to go. And the next four could be some of the longest..