Olympics!

I return from the capital and hustle and bustle. I had forgotten just how big Beijing is. It is big. Comparable to LA in terms of population, but size, I dont know. Using public transport it is enormous. Consider riding public transport for multiple hours every day and always ending up somewhere different. You could ride to subway for a hour in any direction and not reach the end. One day I started from the center of the city, rode the subway for a hour, then transfered to a bus for half hour before finally reaching my destination on the third ring road. There are six ring roads. The diameter of the 4,5,6 and ring roads must be immense.

Beijing was much the same, except there was noticeable crowding. It was hard to differentiate the normal summer tourism crowding and Olympic crowding. There were people everywhere. Since I was there last three new subway lines have opened, and they are all packed. It didnt help that half of the private cars were prevented from driving to reduce beijing's air pollution. Beijing Air,
Harmful Air

It was pretty and relaxing to take a break from Ha'erbin and chinese class. Attending track and field was exciting. The crowd was mostly chinese and there were a surprising number of Empty Seats. In the stands I was asked to pose with some little chinese boy for a picture. The same little boy a little latter was instructed by his mother to retrieve a coke bottle from under my seat and then urinate in it. I guess she wasnt willing to take him to the restroom.

The olympic park is enormous. It took a good half hour to walk from the front gate to the rear gate and the beginning of the forest park. When I go back to beijing in a week I will explore the forest park. I cant help but wonder, what will become of the olympic park when the olympics are done. Right now it is just very wide two mile paved swath of land with a few buildings here and there. I assume there is a massive underground complex of offices and facilities, as I saw many barricaded staircases. We will see later this year on another trip. By the way have Beijing and the Friendlies welcomed you yet? Beijing Welcomes You

So I am not alone in being disappointed with CCTV's coverage of the olympics. Here is a piece that explains some of vexations in prettier language. NBC vs CCTV

In other news, I have a week of classes left. Just enough time for midterms, and then a 10day vacation to the south. On the 29th I leave for Changsha via beijing and eventual end up in Chengdu. Back in harbin on the 8th. Going to explore and check out possible locations for next semester.

http://picasaweb.google.com/xisphias/olympic