Our friends over at National Geographic's Intelligent Travel just told me about an interesting series of dispatches that Keith Bellows, the Traveler Editor in Chief is in the midst of. He and this year's winner of The Next Great Travel Writer contest recently touched down in Beijing and will be making their way across China into Mongolia.

Along the way they'll be sending dispatches about the experience including the Olympic games, central China and into the north, starting yesterday with their arrival into Beijing.

Bellows brings back vivid memories of my own time in China, navigating the busy streets and haggling with vendors, lost in a world of wonderful foreign people. I can still smell the streets of Shanghai and barely see through the smog of The Bund.

Apparently in light of the Olympic Games the Chinese have cleaned up Beijing quite a bit -- Bellows speaks of clear blue skies, flower pots and merriment all over the city as citizens get geared up for the games. I wonder how long this will last after this summer.

Make sure you check out Intelligent Travel to follow along with Keith and his understudy as they traverse the far east -- I'm already jealous after reading the first article.

Filed under: China