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!