Wow, I just finished watching the opening ceremony (recorded) which was absolutely spectacular. It was fun to see the Birds Nest having just been there a few months ago, though I just missed getting a tour of the insdie by having to leave a few days before it was open for visits.
China’s presentation went off flawlessly and in super spectacular fashion with a historically unprecedented, stunning and breathtaking blend of technology, humans, and history. Wow.
First I want to say how I really appreciate the fact NBC is going to place all of the Olympic sports content online – a real boon for those of us who follow sports like Table Tennis and Badminton. Those sports don’t make prime time NBC TV – in fact historically they are simply left out of the TV coverage.
But reading in NYT about how they spent much of the past few days keeping the opening ceremony offline makes me wonder how well they thought this out. I really love watching the opening ceremonies – even the boring parts – and for the audience that would have watched this online live I think they could have targeted some great advertising – for example I would have been happy to sign up for “Olympic Specials” and give more demographic info than I normally would do in exchange for the privilege of a real time or short delayed webcast. As an advertisers how would you like it if NBC offered you the ability to slice and dice your audience according to a survey you helped produce?
As it happens my daughter’s play conflicted with the first few hours of the ceremony, so I’ve taped them on media center and will watch them tonight or later. But you can bet your bottom NBC dollar I probably will FF through most if not all of the ads – in fact through the boring parts and ads which I would have *had* to watch if they’d let me see this live on China’s 8/8/8
I can’t help but think NBC’s approach was shortsighted. Why squelch all the videos they could find rather than work to provide us with coverage of one of the the greatest events humanity has to offer at the time we want to watch it? In this case wouldn’t choice have been more profitable?
Olympic Stadium from Pangu Plaza
Originally uploaded by JoeDuck
Wikipedia has a great summary of the Beijing Olympics. I’m a little concerned about the delayed coverages by NBC since I’m a night owl and would enjoy sitting back and watching in real time, but I’m thrilled that NBC will have all the events online so I can watch the Table Tennis, which generally is hardly touched by TV coverage. China is favored to take most if not all of the Table Tennis medals, but the champion has had a bad prior two major tournaments so he may not take the gold.
Squid on a Stick – Wangfujing Street, China
Originally uploaded by JoeDuck
My China travel pal and I were talking about how we missed all the foods we sampled in China. At the time I was not all that impressed. We ate at many different places of various prices and quality, and although most of the meals were good none really stood out to me as “great”. Charley did like the Beijing King Wah Restaurant, a fairly nice place that specialized in Peking Duck (aka Beijing Duck). Duck is enough of a treat in China that you can expect to pay about $15 per person – an exceptionally high amount when alternative large meals will run $5 – $10 per person for a huge selection of food. Street food – much of which is very good – is practically free. These squids on a stick were 5 yuan= .75 In fact my favorite meal of all was Won Ton Soup in Shanghai. The hand made Won Ton were fresh and spectacularly good, served to the bowl after boiling in a huge pot of delicious broth along with deep fried bready things. 75 cents for a meal sized bowl.
Model of Olympic Village Apartments in Beijing
Originally uploaded by JoeDuck
It’s fun to start to see so much Beijing stuff on TV after just being there. The Travel Channel is playing Samantha Brown china visits and the news increasingly features Beijing Olympics items. I have yet to see much about the three major big ticket Beijing buildings though. These are the “Birds Nest” Olympic Stadium, the big blue Aquatic Center, and my favorite feature which is just off the new Olympic Green – Pangu Plaza apartments and the Pangu Plaza‘s brand new seven star hotel. I’m trying to find my picture of the Olympic Media Center which really had an ominous look from the outside as the rumors swirled about how restrictive the Chinese Government would be with respect to Olympics coverage.
Here’s a New York Times article suggesting the internet will be censored (as it is during normal times in China) for Olympic journalists.
However I think people have the wrong idea about both the extent and the effectiveness of censorship in China. In Beijing we were watching CNN international’s coverage of the Tibet protests around the world and I even brought up the topic with several people who, rather than sympathetic, seemed more nationalistic about Tibet, suggesting it was part of China and the protests were not representative.
Certainly some of this view was helped along by China’s own government news coverage which is very propagandistic, but I didn’t get the idea people in China are too far out of touch with the rest of the world – rather they are proud of their country and defensive about the criticism.
Although we were lucky enough to have Kevin’s* cousin as our Great Wall Guide for our trip to Simatai, if you don’t have contacts in China you’ll want to hire a taxi or take a Great Wall Tour. Always use caution with this type of business agreement and make sure you negotiate and understand the costs *beforehand*. Generally, it is acceptable form in China to clarify costs.
I was surfing for pictures of Simatai and and found this travel agency which runs camping/hiking/lodge trips along the wall. I expected the prices to be *much* higher so although I can’t directly endorse these guys this really looks like a reasonable price for a great trip. I should say you could probably get lower if know somebody in the area or have a good hotel concierge that could find you a combination of driver, guide, and lodging, but if you want the comfort of a quality experience this place might be a good choice.
In any case they have a great panorama of the Simatai Wall at their website:
http://www.thebeijingguide.com
* Dr Kevin, my friend and in my opinion the best Medford Oregon Dentist
Hongqiao Pearl Market, Beijing 449
Originally uploaded by JoeDuck
The Hongqiao Market building was under repair during my April 14 visit, but I think will be beautiful when finished before the Olympic Games. It is located across the street from the metro stop for the Temple of Heaven, a Beijing Attraction you’ll want to visit. A day in Biejing would be a shame but if that is all you have and you have great stamina you could visit Tianenmen Square, Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, and Wanfujing Street for shopping, food stalls, and souvenir vendors. All these places are along the excellent Biejing Metro which is very crowded but clean, cheap, and efficient. Taxis are also cheap and easy to find if you prefer that approach. For taxis try to have a written description of where you are going to show the driver. The subways announce the stops in English.
Hongqiao Pearl Market is one of several huge market buildings in Beijing where there are hundreds of vendors in small stalls hawking their wares. I didn’t see any Pearls here but bought a suitcase to carry home all the stuff I bought at … other markets!
Note that the vendors in China often practice a kind of cutthroat capitalism that is not common in the USA. Initially the price they quote you will be far above reasonable and the game is to get them to come down a huge amount while they make you feel guilty for doing that. I enjoyed the little jousting with the vendors, especially because they tended to have good English and I’d bring up other topics to discuss.
However I think the aggressive style common in the markets might upset or intimidate people who were simply looking for a good deal and in that case you should learn to say (phoentic spelling here) “Byao Byao” which means “no!”.
Bullfrog Stew 158
Originally uploaded by JoeDuck
Bullfrog Stew was one of the more interesting dishes we sampled in Beijing. It was tasty – spicy stew with the bullfrog meat very soft and tender. The tiny bones, however, made it kind of hard to really savor.
Pictured is Kevin Wu, my friend and Medford Oregon Dentist.
When travelling to or from Beijing’s Airports, keep these items in mind:
BCIA stands for “Beijing Capital International Airport” and is commonly used when referencing the Beijing Airport even though PEK is the same Airport.
Know your Terminal! PEK is a *huge* Airport, and the taxi will need to know which Terminal you are departing from. My United Airlines PEK to SFO flight was from Terminal three and I think most international departures are now from that terminal. Your hotel concierge may ask you “which airport” and I think they really mean “which terminal”. Clear this up before getting in the Taxi as the Chinese Taxi drivers rarely (read that as “never”) speak English. If you plan to use Taxis in China be sure to get the excellent printed cards from your concierge (or make some yourself before you leave) that list locations in Chinese so the driver will understand where you want to go.
PEK is the Airport Code for Beijing’s main Airport which, without much traffic, is approximately a 40-50 minute taxi ride from most areas of the city. The cost for the taxi should be about 100 Yuan, perhaps a little more. In Beijing and Shanghai always ride in taxis with meters to avoid scams.
Note: This is a repost from AirportCityCodes.com, where this got no traction. I’m trying to see how the ranking will differ at JoeDuck which has higher authority with Google, seemingly pretty much for anything I write about!
Originally uploaded by JoeDuck
We had a lesson from a former member of the China National Team here in the TT club located in the Basement of the huge sporting goods store on Wanfujing Street, Beijing’s big shopping area.
Translating for me is my pong pal Dr. Kevin Wu, the best medford oregon dentist who is also a very good table tennis player.
Joe Duck 