While the Olympic media are learning some lessons the hard way — such as: do not take a picture of Chairman Mao's portrait, or Chinese guards will shove you — the biggest challenge on their plate is surviving the smog, which has returned to Beijing after a few days of clear air, which was triumphantly portrayed as China caring about the environment. "At first I thought it was the smell of the jet engines," blogs CNN's Steve Almasy. "Then I thought it was the bus engines. But as we pulled away from the Beijing airport in the media shuttle, the stench was joined by a haze. It was 830 p.m. when I arrived with some of the guys from CNN sports. So we have yet to get the full visual effect of the smog. The smell of the pollution lingers with us now as we sit in the cafeteria, having a few drinks, swapping stories about the flights over and Olympics past …"