Beijing Badger: August 2008

Raining Olympic Champions

Me in the Bird's Nest

Trust me it rained hard!

I completed my Olympic Games experience with two more visits - Wednesday was Men's Wrestling and today (Thursday) was Athletics at the Bird's Nest. The wrestling was special because it was a relatively small venue and I was quite close to the action. I saw the men's 66 and 74 kg finals and the winners were really quite awesome - fast and strong.

The Wrestlers

The wrestling venue

Somehow not the same as Beach Volleyball!

Turkish Gold in 66 kg.

However, I really wanted to see the Olympic Stadium and went out in search of a ticket at Beitucheng subway station which turned out to be a super market of ticket scalping. There must have been over a hundred people selling tickets with many more buyers milling around. Some of the prices being asked were quite scary! Anyway I found a ticket for about $100 Can. and counted myself fortunate. When I agreed to buy the ticket the scalper motioned me to come away from the crowds to pay. We literally went behind a sign warning that scalping tickets was illegal! It was in English so I guess the seller couldn't read it.

The Olympic Stadium is everything you have heard and more - except it doesn't have a roof! Well there is a roof for the crowd, but the athletes are under the open sky. I guess because it 'never rains in Beijing'. Well this morning it rained! Despite my umbrella, I was thoroughly wet by the time I got to the stadium. But it was worse for the athletes, especially the javelin throwers, several of whom I saw fall. Canadian Scott Russell had the best qualifying throw in his group in the pouring rain. At least the ladies 20k walk didn't seem to mind the rain. I also saw the decathlon 100 m, shot put and long jump. Canadian Nicole Forrester failed to qualify in the high jump - she couldn't make 1.93 m.

The Torch

Some of the little things I noticed - you can't bring food in so I went to the concession to get a snack. I waited in line patiently for about 10 minutes only to see that they weren't taking money, only bits of paper. I looked over to see a girl taking money and ripping bits off a paper bag and writing the amount she had taken. This script was then taken to the other line to exchange for food. I complained and was served right away. Seemed like they hadn't thought that one through! Also signage was bad all over. Not just in English; it seemed to be confusing to the Chinese too. When I came out of the subway, there were two volunteers holding up hand-made signs saying in English and Chinese, "Bird's Nest" and "Water Cube". The Olympic area is actually huge; it was about a 15 minute walk from the entrance from the subway to the stadium and of course it was raining.

So I am glad I went, but you know I think you see more on TV for the most part and it is drier!

The TV tower

Walkin' in the Rain - this is the Russian winner of the 20 K

Forrester clearing 1.89

Bertucci, Canada's decathlete

The Water Cube

A Sport Played in Bikinis!

A German serve - are pink official German colours?

I was only back in town for a day and I caught Olympic fever. I was talking to Darryl Friday morning and he told me that he and his daughter had got into the Beach Volleyball competition by buying tickets from a scalper at the gate. So I headed off for Friday night's matches to try my luck at cadging a ticket. Little did I know a Chinese team was playing. But after standing around for 40 or 50 minutes a Brazil guy offered me a ticket at a reasonable price and I was in. 400 RMB for a 100 RMB seat.

Beach volleyball is a good sport to watch even if you are not a student of the game. Four tall, fit girls running around in bikinis in the sand batting a ball back and forth. When I was growing up, the only place that kind of action happened was at the Playboy mansion! Who knew? And the matches were quite good too. I saw Germany vs Austria, Cuba vs China, Brazil vs Norway and Germany vs Brazil.

The Chinese team setting up a spike.

The hapless Cubans against the Chinese.

Germany vs. Austria

The venue was close to my apartment in Chaoyang Park, just behind the Canadian School. The stadium itself is a temporary venue put up just for the games, but quite comfortable and seating around 5000. The event itself was full of excitement - blaring rock, gyrating cheerleaders, the Mascots cavorting and beer fueled fans running up and down the aisles with flags streaming behind them. I felt sorry for the Cuban girls; the crowd was definitely pro China and the Cubans went down in 2 straight matches.

A Gogo on the beach - Annette Funicello eat your heart out!

As the sun sets over Beijing...

The crowd and the stadium

Busy volunteers.

Those lovable Mascots - Nini and Jingjing

I will be going to wrestling with Darryl on the 20th and I am going to try to get into the Bird's Nest on the 17th. One World! One Dream! - the Olympic motto for Beijing. Am I the only one that finds that a bit ominous??

Spring City

The signature # 8 hole on the lake Course.
The guy in the boat is selling 'found' balls.

What to do with two weeks before the school year starts? My oh so conscientious school started with teacher prep a week before the Olympics hit town, but like everybody else we get a two week Olympic break before beginning in earnest the morning after the Closing Ceremonies. So I decided a golf holiday would be in order. Taking the advice of a Beijing Golfers Club friend, I decided to head off to Kunming and a golf resort called Spring City. Spring City is Kunming's nickname because even though it is far south in Yunnan Province, it is at altitude (5000 ft) and quite a relief from Beijing heat and humidity.

Travel was uneventful, although it was a bit odd to be the only westerner on the 3 1/2 hour flight. Also, I found that security was very tight - a thorough wanding and pat down were followed by removing shoes, belt and everything in my pockets for inspection. I guess you can't be too careful during the Olympics.

I stayed 3 nights and played a round each day including time at the practice tee. The golf and the service was everything I had hoped it would be. Spring City is billed as "Asia's Number One Golf Resort". I am not sure where that leaves Mission Hills, but the resort was everything I could have asked for. There are two 18's - the Lake Course by Robert Trent Jones Jr. and the Mountain Course by Jack Nicklaus. Both were beautiful to the eye and superbly maintained. The Lake Course was my favourite and had spectacular views on almost every hole as it went back and forth on terraces overlooking the lake. A little piece of heaven!

#10 on the Lake Course

Must be one of the smallest caddies ever! Good thing we had a cart.

I took one afternoon to do a bit of site-seeing to the "Stone Forest". This is a spectacular area of rock formation - the limestone remains of an old seabed. It has eroded into peculiar shapes much like a forest. It was really quite interesting and reinforces my belief that Chinese people love stones and mountains.

Me at the Stone Forest - reminded me of Hainan's "End of the Earth"

My Yi Minority Guide

Yi Minority entertainment.

View of the Rocks

Running the Passport Control

I've been playing golf with the Beijing Golfers Club since February 2007. This is a group of golfers that play at various Beijing area courses every Sunday. It is good recreation and a good chance to meet people in the ex-patriot community in Beijing. One of the better courses is Huatang which is a 45 minute drive to the east of Beijing. So of course I signed up to play this Sunday.

As I was leaving for the course, I said to myself, "I wonder if I should take my passport because of all the extra Olympic security measures?" Well, I don't like to take my passport because I am afraid of losing it and I have never needed it before anywhere in and around Beijing, so I didn't take it. Well, it turns out that Huatang Golf Course is actually just across the border in Hebei Province which I realized as we zipped past an armed checkpoint just before arriving at the course.

As soon as I arrived at the course, I overheard some golfers saying that you will have to show your passport to get back into the city. So I immediately spoke to the BGC's sole employee, Rainbow, and explained my predicament. She told me she would look into it and to go ahead and play.

So off I went to play (90 with 4 shots in a deep bunker on the first hole) and when I finished up, Rainbow said, "Sorry but you must have your passport!" So I went to the locker room and called up two of my teacher friends, thinking that maybe they would be able to bring my passport to me. As I was on the phone trying to explain my predicament, one of my playing companions, Michael, offered to get me back into the city with his driver. Michael said, "I am sure you won't need your passport, just come with me and my driver." I agreed to this proposal and told my friend I thought I would be OK would call back if I needed the passport.

Michael and I fortified ourselves with a couple of beers as we watched the rest of the groups play the 18th and later sought shelter in the bar as a rainstorm moved through. Michael actually picked up a prize for 3rd low gross, then we grabbed our clubs and met his driver. We set off on the road back to Beijing and passed the first checkpoint without incident. We congratulated ourselves and got onto the Jinghua Expressway back to Beijing. We had barely started when the rain began pelting down and traffic stopped! There was another Passport Control Checkpoint on the expressway! They were checking more thoroughly because traffic was stopped on the expressway. Finally, traffic began moving again, but when we got to the checkpoint we were stopped. Visions of spending the night in a Chinese jail flashed before me! As the rain pelted down, the guard asked for papers. Our driver showed his ID card and permit and spoke to the guard. Finally, he waved us through! Whew!

The rest of the trip was uneventful; Michael dropped me at my apartment and I resolved to carry my passport everywhere for the duration of the Olympics.

Will you have running water?

The outdoor pool at Greenwich Apartments

When I first told people I was going to Beijing back in 2006, I remember that two of the questions I got were: "Will you have running water?" and "What will you eat?" At times these questions seemed quite silly. As you are no doubt seeing right now (with all the media attention because of the Olympics), Beijing is a very modern city! As you will see from the pictures, my living conditions are quite comfortable. But a short distance from my apartment, you can find people living in very simple conditions with public toilets, no air conditioning and basic accommodations.

The questions were also quite insightful in another way. Running water has been a challenge at times. Of course all my drinking water is bottled and brought to my door - $2 for a large bottle. I have a modern kitchen, bathroom, washer etc., but Chinese plumbing is dicey at times and it is just this week that I can say that everything in my apartment is working. Lack of hot water and small floods have been common as I broke the apartment in - it was brand new. Interestingly, my school is sub-letting this apartment. Typically, new apartments are bought as an empty concrete box by investors who finish and furnish them and sub-let them. Many apartments in my area are owned by Hong Kong investors - they have to put all that money somewhere. All over Beijing, old neighbourhoods have gone down to be replace by large modern apartment buildings. Many of them are far from full; my complex has probably got about 30% occupancy. But so much money is coming into the country, it has to go somewhere. So pouring more concrete is the answer.

Food can also be a challenge at times. The other places I lived always had a variety of restaurants - local and western - in walking distance. But this area is new and the closest restaurants are all humble, local places and at least a 10-15 minute walk. Now the local restaurants can be OK, but you have to order in Chinese and so there aren't too many things I can order. The local restaurants are always an adventure until you have been there 2 or 3 times.

There is a fruit and vegetable market fairly close by, but for western staples it is a cab ride. The closest western restaurant ironically is a sports bar run by a Canadian - the popular 'Goose & Duck'! Canada Goose and Peking Duck. I do a weekly grocery ru nand cook for myself 2 or 3 nights a week. I also have an 'ayi' or maid who comes in twice a week to clean, do laundry and cook. Usually, I will have two or three meals of Chinese home cooking - lots of garlic!

My apartment compound is quite large there are 18 or 20 large building. What attracted me to this place was the elaborate clubhouse with lots of recreational facilities as you'll see in the pictures. There are lots of other things that aren't in the pictures - a bowling alley, billiards room, library/Internet room, observatory, band room with keyboards and other musical equipment, karoke rooms etc for entertaining, steam bath, sauna, observatory, wine and cigar bar etc.