Pax Beijing

The day after the swimming and the handball I had to return to work for about four days. Work during the Olympics was some of the hardest work I ever had to do. I was very distracted and took every opportunity to steal away and take a look at the medal count. The medal count was posted everywhere in Beijing. The Chinese were quite proud of all of their medals that were gold colored and they wanted to let me know about it. I must have been asked twenty times in three days what I thought of China's performance in the Olympics. My standard response was that it was impressive and very special. My Australian colleague Chris responded with, "Let's see how the medal count goes once we start running in circles," obviously referring to the Track and Field events.

After several days Rosen came to Beijing. He arrived at the new terminal late in the evening and I met him as he came out of customs, both of us throwing up gang signs well before we were within shouting distance. We made it back to my apartment and I was starved so we went out to a hot-pot restaurant. This is where Rosen was introduced to complimentary chicken feet. It was just the beginning of strange things I would try to persuade Rosen to eat.

Sidenote: I have never eaten chicken feet. I don't eat feet of any kind.

The next day was a bit lazy then we headed to The Olympic green in the evening for an evening of Track and Field with the men's 100m final as the featured race of the night. We got on The Green plenty early and in our travels Rosen was exposed to the crush of humanity that is a journey on the Beijing subway. On The Green we took plenty of pictures and posed for many others with Chinese fans before heading into the arena. The Bird's Nest is a fantastic looking structure. At night its concourses are lit up with a striking red color that accents the blood red paint used all over the interior. It was a little like taking the human body tour at Epcot Center, "This is your intestine."

While the architecture is thoroughly impressive the technology is somewhat disappointing. Not an escalator in sight, just long stairways that lead straight to the top of the stadium. It is hard to believe that they are going to have the Paralympics at a venue with no escalators and very few elevators. The concession stands had no running water (tap beer) or permanent refrigeration systems. It is real glitzy on the outside but it all seemed rather low tech on the inside. It really captures what is happening here during the Olympics.

Rosen and I settled into our seats as the first competitions began. I knew Track and Field would be interesting, but this was fantastic. At one point there were three events happening at one time: Javelin, long jump, and 100m heats. Crowds across the stadium were cheering for accomplishments I missed while looking at the long jump. It was a great atmosphere. The last event of the evening was the Men's 100m Final. The anticipation was great even though Tyson Gay failed to qualify for the final. They lined up and were off. The whole thing was over in 9.69 seconds. It was quite an impressive display but I couldn't help but question the validity of the record given the history of drug use in the sport. Suspicions aside, there was a great atmosphere in the stadium and I will always remember it.

The next day Rosen and I attended brunch with some of my friends at the Westin hotel. The brunch was decadent, as always, and included free flowing champagne and caviar among other treats. After brunch we all went to get foot massages and after that headed to a Belgian bar for some drinks. We had been going at it pretty well all day so when some in the group wanted to go to Dutch House, the Dutch party center for athletes and anyone else who likes croquettes and Heineken, I was trepidatious but wen't along. Boy am I glad I did.

Dutch House if famous at the Olympics for being the best party around. It lived up to that billing. We had tried to go there the previous evening but it was full and they were only allowing people with Dutch passports to enter. This time we got there early and stayed late. They showed a live (field) hockey match between the Dutch and Australia. While the Dutch fans vastly outnumbered the Aussies, there were fans for both sides and it made for a good atmosphere.

Rosen and I walked around the vast complex and even ran into some American Olympians. Rosen and I had been looking for official Team USA gear and there was a guy wearing what looked like the shirt the American athletes wore in the Opening Ceremonies. I asked him where he bought it and that is when he told us he was given it because he was on the trap shooting team. He then told us that his buddy actually won a gold medal. We walked over to Glen Eller and he showed us his gold and even let us take pictures with it.. We hung out with him for a bit chatting about the competition and things. He and his friend we met before are actually members of the Marines. They travel the world competing in qualifying events and competitions. They were pretty cool guys. Shortly afterwards I had had my fill of drink and croquettes so Rosen and I headed back to the apartment.

This ends my blow by blow account of the Olympic festivities. It all seems so dated now and I am kicking myself for not blogging more frequently while the games were on. Here now are some rapid fire bits of info.

-While on a walk around Houhai lake on a day when we didn't have any tickets, Rosen and I spotted the actor Vince Vaughn riding on a boat in the lake. I hollered something annoying at him.

-On a chance meeting in a bar I saw an old high school friend of mine, Adam Lobel. He now works for Cosport which was responsible for ticketing at major sporting events. He was able to get Mike and I additional tickets to Basketball (USA v. Australia AND Argentina v. Greece, on Mike's birthday no less), Soccer finals (Argentina v. Nigeria), and....Closing Ceremonies.

- Rosen and I attended Boxing (totally rigged) and Soccer (Brazil v. Argentina) on the same day. Boxing was fun and the venue was cool but the scoring system left something to be desired, like fairness. Points are scored for 'clean' blows to the head and body. The definition of clean seemed to shift with every match. Soccer was phenomenal. Brazil v. Argentina, it gets no bigger than that. The fans were mostly Chinese (obviously) but the smattering of Brazilians and Argentinians made for a festive atmosphere. There were even some fights in the stands which was surprising. With the score at 3-0 to Argentina Chinese fans focused their attention on the Minister of Sport. A spontaneous cheer broke out and I had no idea what was being said. A Chinese man informed me that they were calling for the resignation of the Minister of Sport.

Chinese fans love soccer. They watch the English Premier League, Spanish League, French League, Italian League, and even the Japanese League. They are totally embarrassed by their domestic league. Corruption has wracked the Chinese league and I have seen many matches that ended in protest with one team walking off the field due to a terrible call. They are totally embarrassed by this.

-The basketball match was fantastic. It was great to see all those players (again) and this time they were competing for true Olympic glory. Argentina v. Greece proved to be the better game and that was a real treat. Luis Scola, Manu Ginobili, Andres Noccioni, all those Argentinians could play.

The day after the match Rosen and I headed to a sports bar to watch the USA v. Argentina game. The game was great, with the US winning and all, but the highlight of the night came after the match when a cover band came out for a couple of sets. Live music is so rare in China and these guys were actually fantastic. They played lots of classic rock like Hendrix, CCR, and they even had an entire set of Police covers.

- One of the last events we went to was the soccer final. It was BLAZING hot in the Bird's Nest and the air was not moving. Our seats were excellent (thanks to Adam Lobel) so we were in the shade. It was the first time I had seen a game where the ref called a time out for a water break and he did it twice, it was that hot.

-On the last day of competition Rosen and I went to the men's bronze and gold medal games. Handball is a sport America should be great at. It combines the soccer and basketball and values running, jumping, and throwing skills, all skills that I have found through my conversations and travels that Americans have a disproportionate amount of skill in.

Rosen and I watched the first game but became distracted by the USA v. Spain gold medal match that was happening at the same time. I was receiving text updates from my friends and the game was too close so Rosen and I headed out of the stadium to find a big screen to watch the 4th quarter. We watched the USA pull away and protect their lead. It was a joyous moment.

Afterwards I received a call from Adam Lobel. He had the Closing Ceremony tickets for us. We met up with him, had a few beers, and went into the Bird's Nest for the last time. The stadium was well decked out and we got bags full of objects to wave and were given explicit instructions as to what to wave when. All instructions were ignored by the entire stadium. Things were just too damn exciting to remember. At some point I spotted Yao Ming amongst all the Chinese athletes, then Jimmy Page came out (Rosen insisted it wasn't actually him and vowed to check the internet to see if it was him when we went home).

My friends who had no idea I was at the Closing Ceremonies called me tell me that they saw me on the screen when the Greek flag was raised. If you have the Closing Ceremonies on Tivo give it a check.

Then the Olympics ended and I was sad, Rosen went home, and I returned to work for about a week. I then quit my job and was forced to move out of my apartment ahead of schedule when my landlord had a change of heart. I stayed at my friend Steve's apartment for several days before embarking on my farewell tour across Asia. My itinerary has been this. Beijing to Cambodia, Cambodia to Shanghai, Shanghai to Guilin, and from Guilin to Beijing. I am actually in Guilin right now and will be posting about my travels in the next couple of days. Briefly: Cambodia was one of the best travel destinations I have ever been to. Bryne was in Shanghai and the architecture there is amazing. Guilin is hot and it currently sucking the life out of me. More on all that to come.