China Olympics Trip

A few days ago, I took the opportunity to visit the Forbidden City. Visitors can enter the first two gates without purchasing a ticket to explore the inner parts of the City. During my previous visits, I have not had the time to explore the inside of the City, but I did on this day. Below is an intro video and some footage I took of the Imperial Court where the Emperors would host their official visitors to the City during their reign.

Below are some of the photos I have taken in and around Beijing in the past few days. The first photo is one where I am overlooking the Forbidden City from a lookout that is across the street from the north gate. The second photo is of an interesting garden arrangement of a dragon shaped to represent the year 2008. I have also included a video I took from the lookout which shows you the view of the Imperial City from this spot. This is the highest point in this part of Beijing. Again, in this video you can really see the level of smog/haze that often encompasses Beijing.

The photos below are of the moat and the walls that surround the Forbidden City.

While here in Beijing, I wanted to try and see part of the City that is outside of the Olympic bubble. While in Beijing, it is of course possible to only visit the areas around the Olympic hotels and the venues, but these areas are certainly not representative of all of Beijing. While on my way back from the Forbidden City, I walked through some of the areas of Beijing that are not as frequently traveled by visitors. Below is a video I took of one of the more common streets here in Beijing which will provide you with a view of a regular area of the city that is not a main thoroughfare for Olympic visitors.

As for the Olympics, two days ago we attended at the swimming and saw Phelps continue his dominance in the pool. It truly is remarkable what he has accomplished by winning 8 gold medals at a single Games. Below is a photo of the start for one of the women's races.

After swimming, my brother (he arrived a few days ago) and I decided to wait around for a bit before we headed back to the hotel. We decided to wait around to watch the athletes board the buses to head back to the athletes village. I took this video to show you that process, but also to show you that at these Games, the Chinese military is always close by. In addition, in this video you can see the outside of the swimming venue.

We returned to the swimming venue to print off a schedule of the afternoon events. To our surprise, after the venue cleared out, the divers entered the stadium for their practice session. Below is a clip of that session which we thought was pretty interesting.

Yesterday we attended at the rowing venue, and we were there when Canada won its first medal of the Beijing Games. The silver medal was won by the Canadian rowing pair of Dave Calder and Scott Frandsen. Below is a video of the medal presentation ceremony.

This is a video I took at Canada Olympic House (COH). COH is a place that the Canadian Olympic Committee funds which acts as a meeting point for Canadian athletes and their families attending the Games. It is meant to be a place where athletes and their families can have a place to escape the sometimes chaotic atmosphere of the Games. There is small internet cafe, a dining room, a lounge to watch the games and chefs from Canada to cook meals for the visitors to COH. The video is of an impromptu reception held last night for the silver medal winning Canadian rowing pair of Dave Calder and Scott Frandsen. Only Dave is in this video because his rowing partner was delayed in arriving at COH. My father says a few opening words, and then Dave says a few words. It is nice that Dave's mother was able to join him at this reception, as you will see at the end of the video. I was at the back of the room, near the kitchen area, so unfortunately the audio for this video is not great. You will have to listen to the audio over the sound of the staff cleaning cutlery. This is a longer video, so it may take a while to load on your screen but I think it is worth it. While I would like to take credit for this, the Budweiser in the video is of the guy standing next to me. I have not yet mastered the art of simultaneously filming over a crowd and drinking a beer.

Later last night we headed over to the Bird's Nest to see track & field. As usual, we had to go through security prior to entering the venue. I decided to shoot this video to give you an idea of how thoroughly they search every vehicle prior to entering a venue. While the vehicle is being searched, all visitors have to go through screening similar to that at airports.

Last night was the 100 metre final, and while I don't have any usable video from that race to share with you (it was too crowded to film anything), I did shoot this video which embodies the ideals of the Olympic movement. It is of all the female participants in the decathlon who decided to do a ceremonial lap of the stadium after their event had finished, and they all gave a bow to the crowd. I thought that this was a classy move by the athletes.

Today was the final for the men's 8 in rowing, where Canada won gold. It was quite something to be at the venue, as there was a lot of anticipation in the crowd for this event. Canada's men's 8 crew had not lost a race in 2 years, and were the favourites for gold heading into the race. Below are three videos: (1) the last 500 metres of the race; (2) the medal celebration followed by the raising of the Canadian flag and the playing of our national anthem; and (3) the removal of the flag which is quite the show in itself.

After rowing, we went back to Canada Olympic House where a reception was being held for Ryan Cochrane who won Canada's first Olympic swimming medal since 2000, taking bronze in the 1,500-metre freestyle. As is often the case at these Games, you never know who you are going to have the opportunity to meet. Outside of COH, I met Mark Critch and Shaun Majumder from This Hour Has 22 Minutes. I am a big fan of that show, and I think these guys are hilarious, so it was neat to meet them half way around the world. They were friendly and as you would expect, quite funny. Here is a photo I got to take with them outside of COH.

Tomorrow we are off to do some sightseeing, and are heading out to the Great Wall of China.

Hope you all enjoyed the post and enjoy the rest of your weekend.