Chengdu - home of the Panda

I'm staying at the nicest hotel! An average hotel is not worth writing about, but a nice one is always worth enthusing over!

It's not one that was listed on my itinerary, but it's the Sichuan Minchan Lhasa Grand Hotel, and it's practically brand new. That and the slightly depressed tourism economy here due to the earthquake earlier in the year has placed me in a room which I wish I could almost take with me - even back to Australia! It's got one rather unusual thing though, the bathroom, which of course is adjoining the bedroom has a clear glass panel which means that if you're in the bedroom you can see right into shower...and vice versa ;) Fun for couples, I bet...!

Anyway, despite Jane (my guide in Chengdu and our driver Mr Lee) insisting that it never rains in the city during the day, this morning brought steady showers as I caught up with them outside the hotel.

I had met them last night when they had picked me up from the airport and we had gotten a chance to get to know each other over a typical Sichuan banquet of spicy tofu, fish, sliced pork with greens, slivered steamed potatoes and small noodles. Seriously, there was enough food to feed a family and with just the three of us I thought it was almost too much. But in China, it's considered good manners to leave a little behind in your plate, it means that the host has done a good job of providing enough for you to eat. If you clean your plate, it means the host has been negligent and deficient in their duties. So don't clean your plate when dining with Chinese friends!

We drove to the Giant Panda Breeding Centre and as we had chosen an early start we caught a bunch of 4 years olds (teenagers, I guess!) having their regular breakfast of bamboo all together. They were awesome! It was amazing to see them so close!

We also saw some newborns in their incubators (so small and twitchy); and one year olds hanging out with their keepers. They were seriously cute balls of fluff and loved to play. You can have your picture taken with one for about 1000yuan, but I didn't need to do that, I thought it was fantastic to just be able to see them so close.

There was also enclosures for the big pandas (mostly hiding out from the rain!) and the smaller, though no less cute red pandas, who have quite a reputation for being very naughty but fun, as they jump from tree to tree and play and tumble with each other. They are actually not a bear at all (unlike the panda which is related to the brown bear) but is closer genetically to raccoons (which explains their naughtiness, as raccoon are intelligent but mischievous scavengers).

Wenshu Temple was next for the morning; a beautiful and very high ranking Buddhist temple in the heart of Chengdu, it had fragrant incense offered free for burning, and a constant reminder that this was a practising temple by the presence of monks praying, working, studying and walking through all of its sections and buildings.

I had a lovely jasmine tea in a seating area close to the central courtyard, very relaxing!

Jane had asked me about lunch yesterday for today and I had said something typical of the region, but maybe not a banquet! So we stopped in at the Lanquoshou Tea House and she said that Menu A had some Sichuan snack-type food, which would give me a overview of the specialities of the province. I loved the little bite-sized portions of everything and was easily able to get my fill without feeling guilty about leaving so much behind.

The final stop of the day was at the poet Du Fu's Thatched Cottage, which is really a series of pavilions, pools (containing turtles or koi), bridges and picturesque trees. The gardens contain a much larger and more impressive model of the actual cottage that one of the Tang Dynasty's most celebrated poets was said to have resided in when he was living in Sichuan. Du Fu often wrote of the plight of the common people in contrast to the aristocracy and of the turmoil of contemporary life. Chairman Mao is famously said to have visited the gardens (there is a picture of him looking at some mosaiced characters close to the entrance) and there are also pictures of Henry Kissinger (former US Secretary of State and Nobel Peace Prize laureate - he was actually in Beijing for the Opening Ceremony!), Jacques Chirac (former French President) and intriguingly, a photo of the leader of the Australian arm of the Communist Party and his wife, from a visit they made here in about 1950.

Tonight I'm looking forward to watching the Closing Ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games and very curious as to what London is going to come up with for their section!

History lessons

As you know, I'm in Xi'an at the moment, which is literally the birthplace of what the West perceive as ancient China.

I had a chance to look at the Bell Tower in the centre of Xi'an yesterday and it's comparatively new, having being first built in 1384AD. It offer spectacular views of the town's main road, though you could hardly call Xi'an a town having roughly 4 times the population of Perth, with 8 million people calling the locality home.

Xi'an is in the Shaanxi province, at the heart of China and it was here that the First Emperor, Qin Shi Huangdi, unified China and standardized the country's language, currency and instilled Xi'an (then known as Chang'an) as the seat of political power. If you've seen Zhang Yimou's movie Hero, you'll be familiar with the story - how ironic that in that film, Jet Li played a character who seeks to assassinate this emperor, but in the upcoming Mummy film, he is actually playing a version of the despotic ruler himself! :)

I'm missing movies, I happened to switch on the TV here and Nottinghill was on one of the channels with Hugh Grant and Rhys Ifans chatting in Mandarin :) At least they got close to the timbre of the actors actual voices in the dubbing!

So today it was a visit to the spectacular Shaanxi Museum, which has relics from prehistoric China, through to their bronze age and up until the Ming and Tang Dynasty periods which reflect Xi'an's rise and decline as the former seat of power. I don't know if there were big crowds in general or because the weather lent itself to tourists, but there were multitudes of people eager to have their photos taken in front of the displayed terracotta warriors in the museum and the amazing (though hard to discern due to lack of light) terracotta miniature chariots with horses.

Another Xi'an must see is the Great Goose Pagoda, established during the Tang Dynasty (AD 652) and which has an interesting section documenting the chronicles of the monk Xuanzang, who travelled to India and returned with important sutras, said to immortalised with the tale of the Journey into the West (but I thought that had Monkey, Pigsy and Sandy too...or maybe I'm just nostalgic for Monkey Magic :)

We then headed off to see the much advertised terracotta warriors themselves. The countryside surrounding their location was beautiful, green hills in the distance and the centre surrounding the pits built up in a classic style to support the ensuing tourist industry.

Pit 1 is spectacular. Containing the main infantry, the large silo structure houses over 6000 warriors in battle formation with horses amongst them. There are still fragments to be assembled, and in raised sections of the pit you can see evidence of what restorers have been painstakingly working towards for over 30 years.
Pit 2 is just as fascinating, but less worked on as they are still excavating; and Pit 3, rumoured to the the command centre is unexcavated due to archaeologists wishing to wait for better restoration techniques to be developed, as the soldiers in Pit 1 and 2 had initially displayed colours upon their first discovery, however these paints have subsequently oxidised and faded with exposure to the air.

Rebecca, my guide was reasonably helpful with her local knowledge, but really so much has been written and documented about the terracotta warriors (there's even a kung fu/ acrobat/ opera spectacular currently playing in Beijing all about them!); that I already knew most of the information from my DK book and the notes at the museum.
I did get a chance to buy some jade earlier in the day though, and I was happy to get the real thing (totally worried I was going to ignorantly buy a cheap hard plastic knock-off!:)

Here's a pic of some warriors in the latest leisure wear in Xi'an :)

The Road to Xi'an

I had been told a few days ago that cab to the Beijing Airport from my hotel at Beijingzhan East Liu (street) was going to cost about 120yuan.
Now in the grand scheme of things, that's about AU$20, but you know what happens when you start living in a new country... you get savvy to the prices that the locals pay for everything, and despite spending close to that amount to get from the airport to the hotel when I first came into China, I was now goldfishing about the extra 20yuan it was going to cost to get back out there.

In my crisscrossing subway adventures, I had noticed that there was an airport express line which was very conveniently just one transfer from my main line to get to. I had intended to catch a cab anyway to Dongzhimen station and just go straight onto the Airport Express to Terminal 2, but when I checked out this morning it was pouring so heavily that taxis scurried like beetles to avoid the rain and just about all of them seemed to be heavy with passengers who would normally be either walking, cycling or catching one of those lightly covered motorcycle one person taxis, that to my mind I've never really seen yet anywhere else in the world.

So I was grateful to have the fallback plan of taking the subway all the way to the airport and that my luggage, though heavier than I would have liked (I blame the sturdy but dense case more than anything) was compact enough for me to levy up and down stairs without having to resort to drastic measures (Lian knows what I'm talking about!:)

I think I must have flown into Beijing's Terminal 3 when I first arrived, because Terminal 2 was not familiar at all.
More domestic flights seems to be on the arrivals and departures screens and at first I was confused as to where I needed to go to check in, as my contact from China Odyssey Tours had only given a flight number as my booking and said that all I needed to do was show up to the counter with my passport and I would be issued with a boarding pass.

I managed to find the correct series of counters, and right before I was up to see the check-in staff, a woman with a tall tween age son, walked right in front of me and started waving her tickets in front of the woman behind the counter.
When it became clear that this wasn't an emergency and the woman behind the counter could do nothing to help her, I had to speak up and really, I was pretty indignant to her face as to why did she think that it was perfectly fine for her to push in right in front of not just me but everyone else in the line to think that she should be served first?! She looked embarrassed, but didn't really say anything, and while I stood glaring at her, she grabbed her bags and walked away. Honestly!

On the whole, the Chinese people I have met here and chatted with have been great. Friendly, helpful and eager to talk about their country and the world; but there have been a few things...
The mad crush to be the first inside the subway, even if people are trying to get out... absolutely no rules for drivers and the pedestrians who risk their lives trying to cross busy intersections... and yesterday someone referred to me as a banana (!) though I think he meant to be lightly teasing, it kinda made me sad to think that even here I could be discriminated against.
I guess in Australia at least I could be vocal in my rebuttal, at the time I was almost too shocked to utter anything more than a "Hey...!" before deciding I'd be better served by walking off into the Tae Kwon Do venue.

For the most part though, it's the younger Chinese that have been the most open and welcoming - the high school student studying to be a teacher who was shyly envious that I had been to Japan and was hoping to one day go himself; the dual US/ Chinese college student who chatted to me about movies and how even though he had taken Tae Kwon Do as an sports option, couldn't figure out the winning moves any better than anyone else in the arena yesterday; and my Xi'an guide, Jung Shing aka Rebecca, a sweet girl who met me today at the airport and who upon showing me around the city's restored South Wall and classical Bell Tower told me her dreams about travelling and her lack of knowledge as a tour guide :) She's right, I got more information on those structures from my DK China book :)

But it's okay, it's a little funny having you own personal guide about town. I feel like she's my kid sister and as she's done tours with far older participants, she's not used to having someone reasonably active (!) In response to whether or not the schedule was too much, I told her that having climbed the Great Wall at Mutianyu, I should be okay taking the steps up a three storey building. Heck, my room in Beijing was on the 4th floor of the complex and there were no elevators. I've been in stair climbing training for over two weeks!

So at this hotel I have access to the Internet, but no USB drive on the Lenovo set up, so I can't add any pictures for a bit, maybe at Chengdu :)

Tae Kwon Do and my last full day in Beijing!

Well, it all ended pretty much the way it began.

I headed back to the Beijing Science and Technology University Gymnasium for my last event of this Olympic season, the Tae Kwon Do, which ironically was having it's first day of competition.

It was the Women's Under 49kg and Men's under 59kg weight classes, and while the women may have been small, the Chinese and Kenyan fighters especially had an attitude (and in the Kenyan's case, quite a war cry) that made you want to clear a very wide berth around them. It totally psyched their opponents out :)

I'm a local now when it comes to using the Beijing Subway, and so had none of the problems I experienced trying to get here the first time for Judo; and it felt satisfying somehow to see how reasonably I'd adapted to the day to day of living in this city.

In a way Beijing's kinda been at the centre of the world during this amazing sporting event, and soon the rest of the foreign visitors, like me, will move on. Athletes will lick their wounds, winners will pack their medals, losers will set aside their pride, and all will begin to focus on London in 2012.

(Though if you're into winter sports, Vancouver is now practically around the corner! But Australia doesn't do so well in the Winter Games... :)

It was back to my humble abode to finish packing and this write up. I'm not sure if I'll have as much of a chance to post any future missives with the hotels I'll be staying at for the next week or so, but I'll try to make notes and see how I go.

In the meantime, thanks for all your comments and for reading my blog. I've had a great time putting it together and I hope you enjoyed my view from China.

See you soon,

Athletics and Beach Volleyball

I'm never travelling without Echinacea again!

Those who live with me know I have been religious about having some of the herb as a tea (which comes in a yummy blackcurrant flavour), right before I go to bed pretty much ever since I started rehearsals for the last show I was in; and I kept up the practise ahead of my trip to China.

However, I was worried that Customs over here might hassle me about bringing foodstuffs into the country so decided against packing any with me just in case.

I thought I had been getting better, but I spent an inordinate amount of time yesterday sneezing and trying to stem a runny nose. I was taking things easy, just visiting a couple of temples ahead of my Athletics session which was due to start at 7.00pm in the evening, the weather was warm, but I guess when a virus catches ya...!

The Bird's Nest interior was impressive, yet surprisingly intimate. I don't know if I was expecting it to be larger, as it's imagery has dominated the representation of New Beijing for so long, but seeing as it seats roughly 91,000 people at any one time, you could hardly call it a small venue :)

I was up in the third tier, but still had good views of just about all the events taking place, and with my trusty binoculars I managed to get close enough to see the expressions on the athletes I focused on - though the screens on either side of the stadium were quick to take you straight to all the action.

So I was there when the US won it's first discus gold since 1932; when Russia took out the gold for the highest women's pole vault and set a new world record; and I also saw Kenya dominate the men's 3000m steeplechase.

I got to see the fastest man in the world, Usian Bolt (how fitting a name!) run in a qualifying round of the 200m (he sailed through and appeared to look back and smile at his opponents, nearly a whole body length behind him); and stand up for the Jamaican national anthem as the Olympic podium received the three extraordinary women who won the one gold and two silvers for the 100m sprint.
All in all a fantastic night. Except for my nose, of course :)

It would be remiss of me if I didn't mention how fantastic all the volunteers were on the stadium field. From the team who patiently and with dedicated precision set up and dismantled the hurdles and steeplechase for those events; to the flag bearers, athlete equipment handlers, even the guys who worked the remote control toy cars that would be sent out to bring back each discus after it was thrown (that was cute!)

While they will never been seen by the audience at home, I know for a fact that the sportspeople here have appreciated immensely just how smooth the Olympics have been progressing due to the time and effort of the quiet and practically invisible crew.

Earlier in the day, I had taken in the grandeur and then spiritually of the Temple of Heaven and then Yonghegong Lama Temple. The former was situated in a park, and though the main attraction of the Hall of Prayer and Good Harvests still had the tourist photographer's singular attention; I was surprised to see that the surrounds still functioned, as a park.

A few people were practising tai chi, some were just sitting and having a meal with their family, a lot were watching Olympic events on a giant screen set up close to a walled intersection, and here and there groups of locals and foreigners alike were playing impromptu games of hackey sack (or the Chinese version) with bought toys from the local vendors.

Yonghegong was set up more for active prayer, with retailers leading up to the lamasery selling incense in all it's forms as well as other local arts and crafts. It is believed to be the largest Tibetan Lama Temple in the world and houses a giant sandlewood Buddha carved from one piece of wood that has been certified by the Guiness Book of World Records no less :)

No pictures within the interior of temples themselves, of course.

After my evening at the Bird's Nest, I was anxious to get back to my hotel as I had an early start this morning for Beach Volleyball for 9.00am at Chaoyang Park. Unfortunately, just when I closed my eyes at around midnight, a Polish group who are obviously in residence for the Games, began to gather in the courtyard - which is central for all the inner hotel rooms - and shout! sing! drink! for the next 3 hours.

At around an hour in, I called the Front Desk to try to get them to please do something about the noise, they apologised but said that the group didn't seem to listen to them and that they had already had about 15 complaints about the noise from other guests. Arrgh!

I was aware that I had set my alarm for 6.30am and was seriously debating whether to head down there myself to tell them to just shut up, but really, drunk people very rarely listen to sober ones trying to sleep unless they happen to be wearing a badge.

I stuffed cotton wool in my ears, put a pillow over my head and cursed the lot of them to lose their voices for the next few days.

I was puffy, but awake for Beach Volleyball and it was a hot day at the stadium, perfect for recreating the summer sport - all you needed was the ocean on the horizon with a smattering of surfers and the vision would be complete!

I was a little disappointed that I had a ticket to a Women's Final (reigning champions USA vs Brazil) as with all the bikinis on show, a few fit and muscled male physiques would have balanced out the winsome but generic "cheerleaders" that bounced throughout the game breaks. At least the Fuwa were fun, the number of times they tried to do some complicated jump in those inflatable suits only to fall on their faces having misjudged how much softer sand is to land on...hilarious :)

The game was over quickly and Team USA emerged triumphant, despite strong support from a vocal but much smaller contingent of Brazilian fans.

I thought I might head over to Tain'namen Square proper for a bit as it was now open to the public, and took some pictures of those imposing and determined statues before gazing with disbelief at the great wall of people that made up the line into Mao's Memorial Hall. (It's free to go in with ID and the man himself in there under glass - like a macabre version of not-Snow White).
Um, pass!

I realised that I actually needed to pack as I have a morning flight on Thursday and a late evening finish to my last event of Tae Kwon Do tomorrow night.

Much as I've enjoyed seeing all the events and exploring Beijing, it'll be good to see a few other parts of China (and yes, I'm looking forward to Chengdu and the panda bears!:)

The tail end of my Olympic adventure

I decided to take it a little easy this weekend, as I have invariably caught a mild virus from riding on numerous squishy subways.

I'm mostly okay though, and headed off yesterday to the Softball at the Fengtai Sport Centre Field to take in a game which finally gave me a chance to fly my Australia flag! :)

It was Australia versus the Netherlands, and from the onset the Dutch didn't really stand a chance. While they were a strong enough team - with a hell of a pitcher - the introduction by the commentators when both teams were warming up that Australia had earned the bronze medal for the sport at both the Atlanta and Sydney Games and a silver in Athens, might have psyched the opposing team out.

Australia won easily and I was happy that I had a chance to wave my flag and clap enthusiastically through the 7 innings afforded on this Olympic event. My ticket also meant I had entry to see the second game of Canada taking on Venezuela, and they seemed initially more evenly matched, despite Softball being more widely promoted in Canada.

It was interesting to see all the Australian fans in their green and gold livery (and headgear!) depart the stands after the first game, to soon be replaced by the white and red flags and costumes of the Canadian supporters. I guess when you barrack for a team, it's way more fun when you're there en masse! :)

As I had time earlier in the day for a bit of a wander, I noticed that the Military Museum of the People's Republic of China was on my way, so stopped in to have a look at China's proud Communist legacy.

As expected, it was an overview of the giants of China's 20th century regime, with whole floors given over to the vehicles and instruments of war that remind you that what has been achieved here has sometimes been at the point of a gun.

But on the higher levels there were sections devoted to art, calligraphy and the philosophy of Sun Tzu, author of the prodigious 'The Art of War' which despite it's title, also advocates diplomacy and the cultivation of positive relationships with other nations.

There was also a veritable treasure trove of gifts from heads of state from around the world to China; I spotted items from Bob Hawke and Kevin Rudd in the Oceania section and Richard Nixon and Yasser Arafat in the Americas and Middle Eastern sections respectively.

I had no events today and so just walked through the Wangfujing centre mall and dropped by a Christian event in Liangmaqiao, as it had been advertised that multi-sport former Olympian Carl Lewis was going to be there.

However, I left soon after the highlight of seeing one of the Harlem Globetrotters and hearing an inspiring former Olympian runner speak about her relationship with Jesus. While she was cool and so were the other sports people there, (I had gotten the invite from Dr David Smethurst, a likable chaplain for the athletes who happened to sit with his group at my table in McDonalds a few days ago - the people you meet on Olympic Green!); my lapsed Catholic reticence and general secular attitude made the whole white gospel atmosphere of the event a little too much for me to take.

But hey, to each their own, and what is amazing it that the Chinese Government, who less than a decade ago disapproved of any outward form of religious worship (one of the tenets of Communism); is now quite supportive of the Christian ministries that seem to be springing up all over China.

Tomorrow I finally get my chance to see the Track and Field events at the Bird's Nest, so I'm very excited about that! :)

Starry, starry night

I hadn't realised until Jackie mentioned it in conversation, but I haven't seen a single star since I've been in Beijing.

I guess a combination of overcast conditions and the general amount of light that a metropolis of about 17 million people would demand, means that a 24-hour city gets no views of worlds beyond our own.

However, I did see some stars of an earthly kind yesterday evening (and early morning!) after a very long day at the Olympic Green.

First up was Archery at 10.30am. The morning was humid and getting hotter by the minute, but I still enjoyed the outdoor viewing at the Archery Field located in the Forest Park, north of the Green. The Koreans appeared to be the strong front runners in this competition and a lot of their compatriots had turned up to support them in at times rousingly choreographed cheering and clapping :) Their enthusiasm was deserved, as one shooter scored 6 in a row of perfect 10 bulls eyes. The arrows were going so fast, you couldn't see them with the naked eye - just when they pierced the target; and while the session I was in seemed dominated by Asians, I couldn't help but think of the rather English Robin Hood in Sherwood Forest :)

I headed back to main part of the Green to grab some lunch, and just as I was walking out of the ginormous McDonalds (as a sponsor, the only major food store available at Olympic Park) it steadily, but surely began to rain.

I was very glad that I had been carrying a cheap rain poncho in my bag, as just having an umbrella wasn't going to cut it in this downpour. My shoes got sodden as I tracked to the bus that would take me to the Tennis Centre - located in the same park as the Archery earlier - and many of the other sports fans looked like drenched rats before the Olympic Volunteers began handing out free ponchos to all the spectators.

The Tennis was supposed to start at 4.00pm, but as I sat down at 3.00pm there was an announcement that due to the weather, the referees would have to postpone the start of the game until 5.00pm. I was disappointed, but as I had booked this evening for the Tennis anyway, I figured I'd wait it out, and kept myself amused with Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey (I've brought her whole canon with me to China and intend on reading them all while I'm here:).

Well, I got through quite a significant portion of the novel as the rain didn't stop for almost 3 hours!

The cheering started at about 7.00pm when a referee poked his head out and made the decision that play would go ahead - a veritable army of cleaners, court driers and crew turned out to transform the sodden and sorry state of Centre Court to arena more befitting for the giants of the game.

And wow, we did have some amazing players that night! Roger Federer for Switzerland against James Blake of the US was the first game; then Venus Williams of the US versus home town favourite Na Li of China; and finally current Wimbledon champion, Rafael Nadal of Spain going against Jurgen Melzer of Austria.

Bill Gates (yeah, Mr Microsoft himself) was even in the stands watching the Williams/ Li match!

But it was definitely a late night - the final game didn't even start until midnight!

So I was thankful that I could sleep in this morning and leisurely catch the subway to Wukesong after lunch for Basketball at the Beijing Olympic Basketball Gymnasium.

I love watching a good game of b-ball - it's fast paced and I easily get caught up in plays and great hoop shots. I had a ticket to the afternoon session so just missed out on seeing Australia play in the morning, but got a couple of great games with Russia versus Brazil and then China against Mali.

The stadium was impressive, and I had really great (and comfortable!) seats, so a fantastic view of all the action. And I loved the interludes with the Fuwa and the Beijing Stunt Team during timeouts and half time.

It was absolutely hilarious was it to see that the Mexican Wave was started time and time again by an actual Mexican!!

One of the Seven Wonders of the World

I didn't have any events scheduled today, so decided to make a serious attempt to reach the Great Wall of China.

The Badaling portion of the Wall, its most accessible site and located about 70 kms northwest of Beijing, was still closed due to the fact that the Beijing Olympic Committee had booked a recognisable portion of it for the upcoming marathon; but there were still two sites you could access the wall at.

I decided to try Mutianyu, listed in some tourist notes as "challenging but safe" and it's appeal was heightened by the further text as having a "dramatic hilly setting...with a series of watchtowers along it's restored length, the wall you see here dates from 1368 and was built upon the foundations of the wall built during the Northern Qi dynasty (AD550 - 77)" DK China

My China book stated that I could catch a coach bus from Xuanwumen, a subway stop on Line 2, but upon exiting station I couldn't find any indicators that Bus No. 6 even existed from this site.

I spotted a bakery and feeling the need for some breakfast, decided to have a bit of a browse. A Western couple and a Chinese friend of theirs stepped in after me and as they chatted away I decided to ask for some help from the girl. She said that she didn't think there was a No. 6 bus from here and wasn't sure how to get to Mutianyu. I thanked her and resolved to head back to the subway to ask the transit guards if they might know a little more.

I was just about to leave the store when the girl came back in and told me that she had called a friend of hers and he said that I could catch a coach from Dongzhimen that would go to Mutianyu. How fab of her to do that!

I thanked her and the couple most profusely and headed back to the subway.

It's pretty bad to learn that an international publication like the DK range could be so wrong (how many other travellers might be put out as well?), so I decided to confirm with the subway staff, but had a heck of a time being understood. A friendly Chinese businessmen, sweating profusely in the heat, but keen to help me find out some info, chatted to a few of the transit staff but even he said that they had no idea about the existence of this mysterious bus no. 6 to Mutianyu. Welcome to Beijing! he smiled and chuckled. I told him about the Donzhimen theory and he said that made sense, that station was north and so was Mutianyu - I was currently in a south facing location.

It was a day of meeting friendly people today :) After exiting the Dongzhimen station I found the bus terminal but had no idea which one to take to the Wall. I finally got pointed in the right direction and scooted onto a coach and sat behind some Americans.

I was sold a ticket, but still worried that I might be on the road to nowhere, and called an Instant Interpretation and Helpdesk number that I had gotten from a flyer at the Beijing Tourism Office. The passcode allowed for a free one-time only trail, which I hoped was all that I needed.

I spoke to the consultant and said that I was on a bus and could she please tell the conductor that I wanted to go to Mutianyu and was this bus heading there? The conductor looked surprised when I handed her my phone, but the consultant chatted to her and then let me know that when we reached Mutianyu Town in Hairou County, the conductor would direct me off the bus and advised that I could then catch a taxi the rest of the way to the Great Wall.

The Americans got off too and as a bunch we headed to a series of small vans, where the guy began negotiating with the driver to take him and his two friends up to the Mutianyu portion of the Wall. The driver indicated a price and had included me in the count and so they said did I want to join them and we could split the cost? Heck, that sounded like a good deal to me, so I agreed :)

Maurice and Amy are teaching English here in China and have been in the country for about a year; and their friend Jackie was visiting from Pennsylvania and currently in her final year at university - China is her first trip abroad and what a way to start your travels!

They were great, really cool and friendly and Maurice knew quite a bit of Mandarin and so was able to talk to the locals to figure out what the prices were for the taxi and later order a delicious and very affordable lunch from the nearby hutong. Amy was a sweetheart and told this great story about one of her students mistaking the word 'killer' for 'kidder' in giving a description of why he liked his mother (!) and Jackie was the daredevil, deciding to have a beer on the Great Wall to boast about it back home :) and taking the very steep stairs with no fear.

A cable car took you from the base of the Mutianyu hills to the Great Wall, and we saw people tobogganing down it's slopes, yes, you read right - tobogganing!! China can be that combination of the sublime and the ridiculous.

The Wall proper was awesome - seriously, just amazing. We set about to reach one of the higher roofed watchtowers and while the views were breathtaking on the way there, the very steep steps were also literally taking our breath away. It was a serious workout and I sweated so much, sunscreen was stinging into my eyes! Some good photos too, but of course, nothing compares to the view you see for yourself.

Getting back down was faster and after a long queue, we were on track for the toboggan ride - which was actually a lot of fun, but you'd have to watch your speed or it became a bumper car derby!

Back to Mutianyu Town and then a bus back to Dongzhimen; I thanked the guys for letting me hang with them today and not wanting to impose on them too much more (I think they were planning a fun pizza, beer and ice-cream night watching the Olympics for the rest of the evening) I headed for the station and missed them already.

Ah well, I have a full on day tomorrow at Forest Park, north of Olympic Green - two events, with the second scheduled to finish at about 10.00pm. Archery starts mid morning and Tennis at 4.00pm - I wonder who'll be playing on Centre Court?

A blue sky day in Beijing

Well, I was wrong about the weather! :) I woke up to a wonderfully pleasant and not at all humid day in Beijing - fingers crossed I get something similar for the Archery and Tennis on Thursday! But today it was off to see the Badminton at the Beijing University of Technology Gymnasium located at Songyunanlu.

I had thought that I could catch the subway there and then just walk, but further study of the very handy Beijing Olympic Venues - Tourism and Transport Map (everything, including roads, subway stops, venues and places of note in English and Chinese! A boon when you have to chat to a local cabbie) revealed that the Songyunanlu subway appeared as a broken line on the map, an indication that the station was still under construction.

However, I had seen a lot of the station names on that line as being accessible when I had been criss crossing the Underground last week, so obviously the Beijing Transport Authority had been working triple time to make sure as many stations as possible were ready and open when the world came to visit. A news commentator had mentioned that as many as 50 new stations had opened in the last month and within the next decade, Beijing would be able to boast as having the biggest subway system in the world.

The new stations were first class, large screens showed news and advertising (currently Olympic sponsors and the Fuwa - Welcome to Beijing!) while smaller drop down from the roof screens were positioned next to the boarding areas of the trains; yesterday everyone was watching the replay of the basketball match between the US and China; today it was the diving.

The new trains also have screens next to the interior door, these are on a silent loop to alternatively play either a presentation on Beijing's new subway system, how to buy a ticket and ride the train - hosted by two attractive local stars; or a mini docu on the various sports of the Summer Olympics - everything from Equestrian to Rowing :)

There is also a voiceover announcement while you travel of the name of the next station stop and it's transit links, in Chinese and then in English - a handy thing for a wandering tourist!

I ended up catching the subway to Puhuangyu and then hailed a cab to take me to the Badminton venue. I went through the usual security check and had walked through and wandered into the venue's outside area when I suddenly realised that I had left my camera behind in the security section! (Cameras have to be put in seperate trays to be scanned, sometimes they even switch them on! To check that it's really a camera, I guess?)

Anyway, I dashed back to my entry point and said that I had left my camera behind, a volunteer pointed to a couple of guys behind me, one of whom was definitely holding my camera in it's black Kodak case.

I went up to him and pointed at the camera and then at me, and he got... this suspicious look on his face. I said, "Do you want some ID?" and he seemed to not at all be interested in seeing my ID....in fact, he didn't seem interested in giving me back my camera...!

It was right at this point that an Olympic Volunteer popped up next to me and asked if he could help :) I mentioned that the security guy had my camera, and did I need to show some ID to get it back? I also indicated that there was a card in the front pocket of the case that had my name and contact details and that my camera also had my name stickered on the inside panel.

The volunteer spoke to the man for a while in Mandarin and the man seemed to be arguing with him, I guess about my camera, but in the end he reluctantly gave it to the volunteer who passed it onto me. I showed him the card, but the volunteer seemed more concerned about this guy's attitude! I decided to leave the drama and head for the venue proper to find my seat.

Some exciting matches today! Jiten, my housemate and erstwhile badminton super umpire and player would probably have loved to have seen all the teams and singles games, but in light of no Australians on the courts (and me with the Oz flag I had recently bought from the Olympic Super Store!), I switched my support to a lone Malaysian, Choeng Wei Lee who was a pretty awesome player and blitzed his match with the poor guy from Lithuania. "Go Malaysia!" I yelled on my own - surrounded by mostly Chinese and a scattering of Americans...

After the games, I decided to walk a few streets and attempt to find the Beijing Chaoyang Theatre, which has a twice daily Flying Acrobatics Show. http://www.bycyjc.com/

I had a squizz inside the Antiques Market as I was passing it by (pretty but looked expensive - you might need to be in the mood for bargaining!) and passed street after street with no luck.

I was just about to give up after walking for about 2 - 3 hours and was already thinking, I'm just going to take the next subway I see; when that crazy cubist CCTV building appeared in front of me, it's sharp edges dominating the skyline from behind the Hujialou station. As I rushed forward to get a better look, a space cleared next to the station... and the Beijing Chaoyang Theatre was suddenly to my left.

I bought a ticket to the early evening show, went to get a very late lunch and then took a pic and just marvelled at that CCTV tower. It's...like nothing I've ever seen in the real world...ever. Though I guess the same could also be said about the Water Cube, the Bird's Nest and the National Theatre. They are all structures that defy what you would typically term, a building. Each of them is making a striking statement of the future of China - as being innovative, assertive and most of all, at the cutting edge of all things.

The show was amazing, no pictures, sorry (though I did see a few tourists sneak a couple of shots) but it was well worth seeing. I had a great seat too, it was Cirque de Soliel in China!

Artistic Gymnastics and Fencing

Yesterday was a much better day (thank goodness!) to get to my Olympic Venue. Probably because it was Sunday, and also because I was actually heading to the Olympic Green - a location reached directly from the subway system - I managed the entire journey from hotel to venue in under an hour.

The sky overhead was looking rather threatening and the air had that feel of an oncoming storm; but inside the National Indoor Stadium all was bright and exciting.

So far, this was the biggest stadium I had been in, and while I did have a decent view of all the action from my seat, I was grateful that I had brought a strong pair of binoculars to China so I could see the action up close with my own eyes, instead of having to rely on the large stadium screens which only tracked certain athletes at a time.

For my session, I had 4 countries competing in the Artistic Gymnastics - Japan, Italy, USA and Great Britian. The gymnasts would be in teams that would rotate across the 4 disciplines on the stadium floor and judged not only individually on their performances, and also as a team in terms of points scored overall.

Yesterday had been the Men's events (which would have been awesome to watch! I'm particularly in awe of the Rings and Parallel Bars); but today's Women's events were just as exciting, especially as there were a lot of supporters in the stands for the US and Japanese delegations.

I had been feeling a little unAustralian at the Judo on Saturday, what with no flags to wave, or even temporary tattoos to highlight on my cheek :) so I brought along the only thing that I had that was even close - a Jeans for Genes pin which had Grant Hackett on one leg and the words 'Australia' with the Southern Cross stars on the other (thanks, Nikki and Anne!)
Suffice to say the pin wasn't that noticeable on my dress, as Chinese volunteers would still initially start speaking to me in Mandarin, until I shrugged sheepishly and say "Sorry!" :)

Anyway, I think you have to be at least 16 to compete in the Olympics, but the Japanese girls looked like they were 12 with their dimunitive size and lean build; the Italians looked sparkly, courtesy of their glittering costumes; while both the Americans and British looked compact but strong, with muscled limbs and chiselled features.

There had been quite a fanfare when the teams had come in, and this was repeated everytime they moved over to the next section.
The stadium arena was set up for Floorwork, the Balance Beam, the Vault and finally, the Uneven Bars. Everyone was most impressive during their set, but even at this level, it's inevitable that falls, trips and spills happen - the Olympic thing though is to get up and continue to work towards a great score - and to not let that mistake affect your performance both right now and in the future. Let the muscle memory and positive visualisation kick in!

My session finished mid afternoon and I took the opportunity to go for a bit of a wander around the Green. The weather had definitely taken a turn for the worse while I had been inside, and a lot of the general entertainment around the Green had been cancelled and put under cover as a light rain continued to fall. It was definitely cooling the city down though - so I was grateful for that!

I took photos of interesting sculptures decorating the centre where all the trees provided a visual reminder of China's commitment to a green Olympics; and also marvelled at the the sheer extravagance of some of the sponsors' booths on show - Johnson & Johnson had actual Terracotta Warriors (they are intimately involved in the restoration and protection of these national treasures); Adidas showcased their commitment to outfitting the athletes to perform at their best (Thorpy's Swim Suit was on display here amongst other Olympic historial treasures); and today I went to the Coke Cola booth and got to hold an actual Olympic Torch!

I was eager to do some shopping though, so I walked over to the Olympic Super Store where the weather had obviously chased some of the crowd away, but still had about a 30 minute wait to get through the doors.

Just as I stepped into the store, the electrical storm that had been tearing the sky with lighting all afternoon decided to step it up a notch and unleashed a torrential downpour so heavy, a Beijing TV commentator later remarked that it was like being in a carwash... outside! (He had neglected to take an umbrella with him to work :)

Things were just as crazy inside with more Fuwa stamped/ inspired/ promoted goods than you could possibly imagine :) And the Chinese? Well, I know the Olympic Volunteers have received special training on being polite and helpful, but in general a lot of Chinese people have no concept of queues, so will push right past you! And they never bother with saying 'excuse me' or the Mandarin equivalent 'duibuqi' (dway boo chee), so you're left with a rather indignant look on your face and a need to say rather loudly, 'Hey!'
I managed to pick up some cute and affordable items though, thank goodness for the current exchange rate!

Fencing today was fast, furious and surprisingly, involved a lot of screaming! I was in the Fencing Hall of the National Convention Centre for the Women's Individual Foil, and a lot of the competitors not only screamed in frustration, but also in triumph :)

I had been warned in the Spectator Guide that due to the uniforms the fencers had to wear, the arena would be a chilly 16 degrees Celsius, so I gratefully brought out the cardi and scarf I had in my bag. The rain from yesterday had cooled Beijing down somewhat so wearing jeans today hadn't been too uncomfortable. I'm sure the humidity's going to return in force tomorrow though!

As I have fenced before (and even studied for a short time under a master in London) I avidly watched the proceedings and looked out for technique - though it can sometimes just be about getting the point by whatever means necessary! Sabre would be even more ferocious and Epee... well, let's just say if these were real bouts it'd be a bloodbath..!

Judo/ Wrestling

My looks in Asia as a tourist can be both a pro and a con. On the one hand, I don't get stared at too obviously, which makes getting around on public transport much less of a parade (look a foreigner!); but the con is that if I need to ask for any help, they instantly start talking to me in the local dialect.

It happened a little in Japan, but seems far more prevalent here (thanks Chinese grandpa on Mum's side!:) They all look so confused when I start speaking English, that I feel like the donkey under the lion's skin, whose bray has just given it away as something else to what it had seemed.

My imitation of the few phrases I do know in Mandarin doesn't do me any favours either, I have a reasonable musical ear and can parrot well enough; so if a conversation begins in Mandarin, I'm soon lost in a torrent of dialogue that is far beyond my meagre Chinese language skills.

The reason I bring this up today is though this situation has been happening since I got here, it was far more of an issue when I was trying to get to my first Olympic Venue of the Beijing Science and Technology University Gymnasium.

I gave myself what I thought was a reasonable amount of time - leaving my hotel at about 9.15am for the 12.00 noon start (all the venues open 2 hours before the event so you can take photos, buy products etc.) And I decided to take the Olympic Green option as the Official Spectator Guidebook stated that there was a bus that you could take from the Olympic North Bus Depot that would be able to take you right to the venue.

I got off the subway at the South Gate of Forest Park, the last stop on the Olympic Line, and after some instructions, began walking along Kehui Rd to Lincuilu, where there appeared to be a stop for Bus No.7, the advertised transport to go to the Judo venue.

I was within sight of it when I got halted at yet another security station. Now I completely understand the need for security at the Games, the last time security was slack at an Olympics, a horrific terrorist attack happened which resulted in the deaths of 11 Israeli athletes and coaches at the 1972 Munich Games; the documentary 'One Day in September'' is a riveting and profoundly tragic account of the circumstances involved.

Anyway, I think I went through about 6 security stations today. Most were general - upon coming into any subway station, you have to put your bags through an x-ray conveyor, similar to what you might see in an airport. But to get onto the Olympic Green line, which coincidentially is not currently hooked up underground - you need to exit the Beituchung station proper and then walk a short distance, go through a thorough security check - which includes scanning your ticket and a nominal body search (and yes, I mean wands and gloved hands running over your body!) before you re-enter the line again to go towards the Olympic Green.

It turned out that the bus I needed to catch was right behind a security section I couldn't get through...as it was located within the Olympic Village perimeter.

The weather was warm, I think it was about an hour before my event was about to start and I started to get a little loud in my questioning of just where I could catch this damn bus from if I couldn't get to that depot!! The Chinese senior volunteer kept telling me to walk back to the Olympic Green (well over 2kms away) and take a left, no a right (!) and with no one coming up with any other viable solutions, I was forced to take his directions.

While I was walking in what seemed to be 75% humidity, I saw some Olympic cyclists training (and taking photos of each other with other country teams:), humungous flags draped over the windows of the Olympic Village and thankfully at an intersection, taxis!

I gratefully plopped into the back seat of one, and after a map pointing discourse managed to make it to the Beijing University of Science and Technology Gymnasium - with 25 minutes to spare :)

I got another thorough security check here, but was more relieved than anything that I'd finally found the location.

The Judo was pretty good, a lot of grappling and I'm sorry to say that the Australians in the weight classes I was viewing didn't last beyond the first round. I did manage to chat a little however, to a friendly and knowledgable lady who runs the Judo Federation of Australia (she was seated quite close to me) and a few of the Australian competitors came up to visit her - she kindly introduced me as being 'from Perth' :) No photos though, I didn't want to bug them - but when they left we all wished each other well and to have a great time at the Games! :)

Opening Ceremony

Wasn't last night's Opening Ceremony amazing? I hope I get the chance to watch a video of Australia's coverage when I get back, I love the little asides the Australian commentators make to us (and each other!) Sure, they can sometimes be a little inane, but on the whole their comments are fairly insightful and informative, and I missed not knowing who the sporting stars of each country were that had been chosen to be their nation's flag bearers, and what sports that particular country was good at (basically who Australia might have to beat! :)

The Ceremony itself was awesome. I knew there would be throngs of people displaying a level of synchronicity that would be astonding, but even seeing what celebrated director Zhang Yimou (Raise the Red Lantern, House of Flying Daggers) came up with with his team took my breath away.

I happened to be watching the first part of the ceremony at Paddy O'Shea's Pub in Dongzhimenwai Dajie (I couldn't find the Kookaburra Pub, purported to be next to the Australian Embassy, so this was the next best thing and within walking distance); and the gent next to me, a middle-aged Londoner who currently lives in Beijing was bemoaning that there was no way that London could possibly compete with the ceremony that China had just put together.

He may be right.

London will have to come up with something English and innovative (which I'm sure they're working on right now! Maybe with Richard Branson:), but I don't really compare countries too much when it comes to hosting the Olympics - the ceremony is usually indicative of the culture presenting, and I enjoy watching the Olympics in general. (This probably comes from having athletes as parents I guess - both mum and dad competed at high levels in the Malaysian Games, in running and swimming respectively.)

Back to the spectacle - I thought the use of wirework was a revelation and the importance placed on calligraphy with the symbolism of using the scroll to tell of China's rich history was inspired.

The initial countdown to the start with the drums was jaw-dropping. And kung-fu! :) Yup, lots to admire.

But I really got a little teary when Li Ning, after receiving the flame as the final runner and lifted into the upper reaches of the Bird's Nest began to run...against a background of an unfurling scroll...un.be.lie.va.ble! And in his wake, all the previous runners in the Olympic Torch Relay were added to the screens - bringing this tumultous but hopefully ultimately uplifting event right up to the present moment. Then out of nowhere (how did they do that?) a giant version of the scroll inspired Chinese Olympic Torch appeared and the cauldron flame was lit accompanied by a last round of possibly millions of dollars worth of fireworks. The night exploded with colour and heralded the start of competition.

My first event is today :) Judo at the Beijing Science and Technology University Gymnasium.

So, what did you think of the ceremony?

Beijing Birthday celebrations!

Yes, it was my birthday yesterday, and coincidentally, it turned out to also be a fairly romantic day... for all the couples in China :)

The 7th day of the 7th lunar month is also called Qi Xi here in China and it is marked by a Lovers' Festival to celebrate the story of an earthly cowherd and a celestial weaving girl who were separated by the gods, but who are annually reunited in the heavens by a bridge of magpies on the seventh day of the seventh moon.

This is how the Chinese have explained the stars of Altair and Vega reaching towards each other in the late summer night sky; the love story has many variations, but of course in modern times it's mainly an excuse to spoil your sweetie and for girls to tout ginormous bouquets of flowers on public transport :)

I didn't manage to make it to the Badaling portion of The Great Wall. I had seen on the news that morning that the Olympic Torch Relay was going to be traversing through it on it's way to the cauldron at the National Stadium and suspected that regular transport to the site might be severely restricted.

I still made an attempt, heading over to Tain'namen to try to find the Tourist Centre there, only to be told that it was closed... Hmm. I then went to one of the subway stations and a helpful volunteer told me that if I took the line to Jishuitan, bus 919 would be able to take me to Badaling.

I dutifully followed her instructions, but after getting rejection after rejection from the multitudes of 919 bus drivers and conductors, an attendant finally managed to produce a notice in English which said that due to Olympic activities, The Great Wall would be closed until further notice :(

Oh well, I think there was mention that part of the marathon would be run on the Wall (how exciting for the athletes!) and since the torch relay had been there earlier in the day, it was not an unforeseen circumstance.

I decided to go to Plan B - the theatre! I caught the subway back to the interior and headed to the National Theatre, an amazing structure, which seriously is like something out of a Spielburgian sci fi extravaganza. I was thinking about maybe some Beijing Opera for the night? Unfortunately all the tickets for that evening were sold out, but that idea beget Plan C - a visit to the Lao She Teahouse. http://www.loasheteahouse.com/

I managed to get the last ticket for the evening show and had a great time enjoying a few examples of the Chinese folk theatre which included shadow puppetry (the performance was of the ever popular Adventures of Monkey, or Journey into the West); a few scenes from Peking Opera staple "Farewell My Concubine"; and some amazing feats of kung fu. The ticket price also gave you a few local house snacks and an endless supply of green tea :)

Exploring Beijing

Yesterday was all about getting my Olympic tickets from CoSport, the official ticket sellers to the Games.

While I had initially thought that I might have to catch cabs to get to a lot of the Olympic venues, I was pleasantly delighted to find out that Beijing has a fast and efficient subway system, and a lot of sites and tourist locations are easily accessible via the Underground. The cost of each ride is about 2 yuan or AU$0.33, so very affordable indeed.

I got all my tickets, including my Equestrian request - which is at the Hong Kong Equestrian Centre...in Hong Kong. Whoops! :) Yeah, that's a souvenir :)

I then decided to have a look at the Olympic Green, but it seems the new subway line to the Green is not yet open to all the public - just officials and volunteers at this stage. You can get out at Beituchung subway station though and take a walk up, but it's a pretty big hoof and the Beisihuan Expressway eventually ends up blocking the transit through. I got a picture with the Nest though! And I found out that you have free public transport for the day you hold a ticket to any of the Games, and that'll definitely come in handy.

Delayed flights of fancy

I think I was running on adrenaline for the last few days ahead of my flight; what with prepping for the party, shooting a part in a short film with some FTI grads, packing and cleaning, and working a handover with my job; I lessened my sleep time, but still got up at about 6.30am every morning.

I was exhausted by the time I actually had to board the plane - all I wanted to do was sleep, and though a seat in Economy is not the most comfortable of beds, it beats the tall chair at the Perth Airport.

The flight out Tuesday morning departed Australia at 1.05am, and offered a supper service at about 2.00am. Despite thinking I didn't really need to eat anything (I'd had dinner with Mom and Helmet at about 7.45pm earlier in the evening); I don't know whether it was the fact that I can't pass up food when it's offered :) or the traveller's awareness of not knowing when your next decent meal was coming from... but I stayed awake enough to eat, and snuck the cheese, crackers and the dessert snack of a couple of chocolate covered macadamia nuts to enjoy later.

This proved to be a smart move as they kept the hunger pangs at bay while our connecting plane from Singapore to Beijing - the newly minted luxury A380 - experienced some technical difficulties... and ultimately our flight was delayed.
All passengers and crew had boarded, but after we left the bay, there appeared to be some problems with the air conditioning...the air was not cycling throughout the cabin - and it was actually getting quite warm as we were sitting there on the tarmac.

After about half an hour, the captain decided to get back to the docking bay; engineers were put to work to rectify the problem immediately, but after another 30 minutes had passed, they made the decision to decamp the plane and bring in another vessel for the flight.

I wondered if this meant that we wouldn't get a chance to fly on the new plane, but really, I'd rather get to Beijing safe and secure more than anything else, so if they had to use a regular 777, I didn't mind - I catnapped during all the drama actually!

Singapore Airlines were utterly apologetic, very attentive and thoroughly helpful, and comped everyone's breakfast on the Mezzanine level of the stylish Terminal 3. And they gave us a lovely box of luscious Belgian chocolates to sweeten the inconvenience. You can't fault their commitment to service!

Our flight resumed about 4 hours after the original take off time, leaving Singapore's Changi Airport at 12.30pm instead of the original 8.40am; thankfully I had no plans apart from getting to my hotel, other passengers however, had had to change tour starts and defer pick up times for friends and family; but the flight itself was smooth (especially the take off) and relatively uneventful (just some slight turbulence during the late lunch).

I enjoyed the Krisworld entertainment system by watching a couple of movies on demand (I love this function) and having a play on their Interactive site, which included a Berlitz language course with about 15 languages, including Mandarin :)
Your personal screen also included USB ports if you wanted to work on documents, look at photos on the larger screen provided, or play you own MP3s.

Beijing came into view at about 6.30pm, and the sun was setting by the time we taxied down the runway. The boy seated next to me had commented when we had started to land that there were no cars on the road, and yes, it had looked markedly deserted around the terminal - but I don't know if this was due to China's strict enviromental restrictions or just because there's usually is not much traffic in the general vicinty of airports; but taxis are exempt from this ruling and I easily caught a cab after collecting my luggage and breezing though Customs. Phew!

My hotel is modest, but clean and serviceable, with good transport links (close to trains, buses and the subway), and after a reasonable outlay (about AU$3 a day) I have a personal computer and internet access in my room - a way for me to keep in touch with the world! :)