Xiaobin took us to the Olympic site. It turned out that we needed
tickets to get into the area and the place to buy tickets is far away.
A scalper approached and after much bargaining, we were the owners
of tickets. It was a gray day, but much of Beijing was there enjoying
looking at the buildings. It is a huge area - 3 metro stops long. There
are many benches, snack stands and toilets.
We were not able to go into the buildings because that took more
tickets, but we enjoyed looking at all of them.
We did the Chinese thing and had our picture taken to
prove that we were there:
Notice that even the lights follow the Bird's Nest look:
The tour groups had an "el primo" photo spot. One group is being
photoed while two others wait. Then the group turns around and is
in front of the water cube forthat picture.
This is the spectacular hotel. Notice the really big screen TV on its side.
During the Olympicsthey showed the coverage of events on it.
Kids everywhere love the bouncy houses.
This building is covered in grass. It was one of the Olympic sponsors.
The irony isthat it is a petro-chemical company.
All of the lights had these solar panels:
The TV tower:
We took the special Olympic line metro to the Olympic park at the far
north end. Just as we got there, the dancing waters display started:
We watched it until it started raining and then decided to go to a
dumpling restaurant for lunch. Xiaobin called someone to ask for a
restaurant, but when we go there it was a "Hot Pot" instead. We took
a cab to find another dumpling place. We had several kinds of dumplings:
And celery with lily root:
Chuck and I went back to the hotel and Xiaobin went shopping for
a sim chip for my phone. He was determined to get the best price.
I said not to obsess about it because by my standards they all were
cheap. He came back with one that cost 60 RMB.
That included the chip and 80 RMB's worth of minutes.
We installed it and tried it out. He showed me how
to call to find out the time remaining and how to add
minutes. A local call costs .2 (If I remember to dial
the correct access code and .4 if I don't) This makes life
easier, because Chuck can borrow a phone from one of the
Chinese guys or use the room phone to call me, if I am out
and about. I can also call someone for help, if I have a real problem.
We had dinner at the hotel:
Bacon and mushrooms:
Baby cuttlefish with garlic: (No vampires in China - they don't even have
the legends) and baby bok choy
Fruit for dessert:
We were in bed at 8 and slept until 5:30. My back was killing me when
I woke up. I am still working on the correct padding technique. I did my
exercises and then felt much better.
No comments:
Post a Comment