Olympics Day 2
Breaking news, it has been announced that Liu Xiang, former world record holder and gold medallist in Athens in 2004, who represented China's great hope in the 110m hurdles has pulled out due to injury. Liu had been suffering from injuries, the most recent being in his right achilles tendon and pulled up lame in qualifying heats.
The press conference was interesting as journalists from all over peppered his coaches with difficult questions, with one of them bursting into tears at one point.
The rumors are true; besides buses, taxis and the odd law-breaking vehicle, today was an "even number" day. The only privately owned cars that could be on roads today had license plates ending in even numbers. Note the light level of traffic below during afternoon rush hour. While the area I am in (Wangjing for those who are curious) is certainly not central Beijing, it's hardly the boonies and there's usually a fair bit of traffic in this part of town, especially during rush hour. A look at the fourth ring road (not pictured) confirmed my thoughts.
While the roads may have been nearly empty, subway stations were not. The shot below was taken at a transit point from subway line 10 to line 8 (the Olympic Line). Along the transit point hallways and the streets outside, there were numerous scalpers and ticket purchasers openly conducting business. There were, to my knowledge and observation, none at any of the Olympic venues.
Security though, has been beefed up significantly, starting almost a year ago, when every bag coming into Tiananmen Square was searched by hand. Reports from my friends who live in Beijing have stated they have seen SWAT teams, increased police and military personnel everywhere. Personally, I've noticed no change (this is probably a result of my not having been downtown yet). Although there were numerous volunteers and security guards at the Olympics Area, they were certainly not intimidating. I am certain there were loads of plainclothes officers, but it's not like I know how to tell them apart from normal fans.
What I did notice was a high increase in "security volunteers." These are ordinary residents and shopkeepers (I was in a mall this afternoon), but wear a sort of red security armband on their elbow. (No picture, sorry, working on it). I don't think they really have any authority besides the ability to tell on someone, though I could be wrong. The mall did have some screens set up with chairs for people interested in watching live Olympics coverage though.
Anyhow, as I entered the Wangjing West subway station en-route to the Bird's Nest, I was faced with the sign below. The bottom sign sets two entrances: "without bags, enter station" (on the left) "with bags security check." There was an x-ray machine, but having no bag, I simply walked to the left.
Another interesting bit: subway tickets. When I left Beijing this past January, one-way subway tickets were little strips of paper like the one below. One would go to the ticket window, pay money, and get this piece of paper . Upon entering the stairwells leading to the platform, one would had this ticket to the ticket collector who would sort of drop it into a trash can.
Now however, and according to a friend, for the last month or so, one way tickets have changed into a card. Same payment procedure, but the passenger scans the card at a turnstile, uses the subway and slips it into a slot at the destination station's turnstile at which point the card is eaten up and presumable re-used. There's also a convenient map on the back of each ticket in English and Chinese (see below).
In order to use the Olympic Line, one had to go through security check in addition to scanning their Olympics tickets. Below is a photo of the lines waiting. Lines were separated once again, by those who had bags and those who didn't in addition to going through metal detectors. Although I showed the nice girl my phone, camera and wallet, my lip balm set her sensor off when I was being patted down. She asked that I use some to prove it wasn't dangerous and I gladly did.
Nothing too crazy, besides actually watching the games, and simply being in the massive complex. Below are are a few photos of the Bird's Nest (inside and out) and the Water Cube. The "mass hurdle" event (2nd photo down) is the men's steeple chase.
Oh yeah, watching the Russian Elena Isinbaeva break the world record in pole vault in her final attempt despite having already been guaranteed the gold and the US men make a clean sweep of the 400m hurdles was pretty awesome. I just had to get that out.
On a more serious note, I hope to get into the city center tomorrow and get a better feel for what's going on in other areas.
The press conference was interesting as journalists from all over peppered his coaches with difficult questions, with one of them bursting into tears at one point.
The rumors are true; besides buses, taxis and the odd law-breaking vehicle, today was an "even number" day. The only privately owned cars that could be on roads today had license plates ending in even numbers. Note the light level of traffic below during afternoon rush hour. While the area I am in (Wangjing for those who are curious) is certainly not central Beijing, it's hardly the boonies and there's usually a fair bit of traffic in this part of town, especially during rush hour. A look at the fourth ring road (not pictured) confirmed my thoughts.
While the roads may have been nearly empty, subway stations were not. The shot below was taken at a transit point from subway line 10 to line 8 (the Olympic Line). Along the transit point hallways and the streets outside, there were numerous scalpers and ticket purchasers openly conducting business. There were, to my knowledge and observation, none at any of the Olympic venues.
Security though, has been beefed up significantly, starting almost a year ago, when every bag coming into Tiananmen Square was searched by hand. Reports from my friends who live in Beijing have stated they have seen SWAT teams, increased police and military personnel everywhere. Personally, I've noticed no change (this is probably a result of my not having been downtown yet). Although there were numerous volunteers and security guards at the Olympics Area, they were certainly not intimidating. I am certain there were loads of plainclothes officers, but it's not like I know how to tell them apart from normal fans.
What I did notice was a high increase in "security volunteers." These are ordinary residents and shopkeepers (I was in a mall this afternoon), but wear a sort of red security armband on their elbow. (No picture, sorry, working on it). I don't think they really have any authority besides the ability to tell on someone, though I could be wrong. The mall did have some screens set up with chairs for people interested in watching live Olympics coverage though.
Anyhow, as I entered the Wangjing West subway station en-route to the Bird's Nest, I was faced with the sign below. The bottom sign sets two entrances: "without bags, enter station" (on the left) "with bags security check." There was an x-ray machine, but having no bag, I simply walked to the left.
Another interesting bit: subway tickets. When I left Beijing this past January, one-way subway tickets were little strips of paper like the one below. One would go to the ticket window, pay money, and get this piece of paper . Upon entering the stairwells leading to the platform, one would had this ticket to the ticket collector who would sort of drop it into a trash can.
Now however, and according to a friend, for the last month or so, one way tickets have changed into a card. Same payment procedure, but the passenger scans the card at a turnstile, uses the subway and slips it into a slot at the destination station's turnstile at which point the card is eaten up and presumable re-used. There's also a convenient map on the back of each ticket in English and Chinese (see below).
In order to use the Olympic Line, one had to go through security check in addition to scanning their Olympics tickets. Below is a photo of the lines waiting. Lines were separated once again, by those who had bags and those who didn't in addition to going through metal detectors. Although I showed the nice girl my phone, camera and wallet, my lip balm set her sensor off when I was being patted down. She asked that I use some to prove it wasn't dangerous and I gladly did.
Nothing too crazy, besides actually watching the games, and simply being in the massive complex. Below are are a few photos of the Bird's Nest (inside and out) and the Water Cube. The "mass hurdle" event (2nd photo down) is the men's steeple chase.
Oh yeah, watching the Russian Elena Isinbaeva break the world record in pole vault in her final attempt despite having already been guaranteed the gold and the US men make a clean sweep of the 400m hurdles was pretty awesome. I just had to get that out.On a more serious note, I hope to get into the city center tomorrow and get a better feel for what's going on in other areas.
posted by Batcha at
10:11 PM
3 Comments:
MUCHA SUERTE TIENEN LOS CHINOS,SUERTE.....
Dude, you should be a citizen journalist for CNN! Great to read the latest happenings in Beijing. Sounds like you are having a blast.
wow, when do you have time to work? so, which country are you in now?
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