Article on my trip

Last fall I was able to right an article about my trip to the Beijing Olympics in the Rice Standard. In it I described my trip and what I saw in the broader context of the unfolding story of China. It's a fairly large .pdf file, as it includes several photographs we took while we were in Beijing. Check out the article here.

I intend this to be the (very late) final post on this blog. My next trip is to China's next-door neighbor and fellow Asian megapower, India. My blog for that trip is here. Check it out!

Pictures from Beijing

I'll start with the events, and I'll have links to even more pictures. Our first event was the women's 200m butterfly (along with the finals of the men's 200m breaststroke, the men's 100m freestyle, and the women's 4x100m free relay and the semifinals of the 200m IM).

We also were able to see Elaine's butterfly leg in the prelims of the 4x100m medley relay. Given that the Americans qualified third and won a silver medal, I'd say she did pretty well.

Our next event was at the National Stadium, where we saw the 100m dash. In that race, Usain Bolt took gold and broke the world record in the process at 9.69 seconds.

The next race was rowing. That happened to be the only event where we watched the Americans win a gold medal (and hearing our national anthem). Note that we were quite far away from the medal stand, so the pictures weren't as good. Anyway, pictured is the gold medal-winning women's eight.

Next we were able to go see the women's triathlon, which was really good, given that my dad is a triathlete and a fan of the sport. American Laura Bennett came in fourth, but it was still a fun event (especially for an event not conducive to being a spectator sport).

The final event we got to see was a set of preliminary events in the athletics at the Birds Nest Stadium. Most of the events were javelin, long jump, etc., which are a bit hard to capture on photo. I decided to post a photo of a Bahrainian athlete, which, for obvious reasons, stands out.

More pictures later!

Back from Beijing: The end of the trip.

Well, after 36 hours of travel, I'm safely back at home in Lexington, Kentucky. In short, it really was an amazing trip. As I've been away from the internet for the past 60 hours or so, I'll try to sum up everything that's happened since the last time I posted Monday night, Beijing time.

Monday night was really our first excursion on our own to get true Chinese food. It turned out all right, though it became quickly apparent why we hadn't gone out to eat more often. Quite simply, Beijing waiters and waitresses really haven't mastered the English language (and we haven't exactly mastered Mandarin, either). In any case, we had our (second) taste of real Chinese food. This time, it was the Beijing specialty: Peking duck. Aside from having a duck's head cut in two pieces set on a plate in front of us (cooked, at least...but still very clearly a duck's head), it wasn't too bad.

Tuesday morning, our last day in Beijing, we managed to get tickets through the company who organized our Beijing trip, Roadtrips for the preliminary rounds of Athletics. Our assigned seats were in "Tier 4," which we figured was probably the section above the nosebleed section. We were in for a pleasant surprise when we walked into a luxury box. Not bad! I have to give Roadtrips credit: they built a fantastic package for us, so if you ever wanted to go to a major sporting events (the Olympics, the Super Bowl, World Cup, etc.), this is the organization to do it with.

We came back to our hotel in order to check out and met up with Elaine and two of her teammates (Matt Grevers and Nathan Adrian) to go visit the Summer Palace in Beijing. There is the Tower to Buddhist Incense (pictured) built on top of a huge hill which offers a fantastic view of Beijing (so long as it's a clear day). In addition, we saw the Marble Boat (pictured), constructed by the Empress Dowager Cixi in 1893 with funds earmarked for the Imperial Navy. And no, the Marble Boat most certainly does not float.

I've successfully uploaded two pictures on this blog post. I promise: this is the last blog post without significant numbers of pictures or links to an album of pictures. I've got lots more stuff coming, as I'll post pictures, other stuff we learned while in Beijing, and a little bit of perspective on what's happened thus far. I'm hoping to get another blog off later tonight, but that will depend on how much Olympics I watch and how late I can stay up (I've been up for about 26 hours, and began traveling from Beijing about 40 hours ago).

From Beijing: Day 5

Well, this is the last full day in Beijing, and we be began it by going to the women's triathlon. As an explanation, we went to that event because my dad really likes triathlon, and the men's triathlon isn't until after we leave. In any case, the three Americans came out of the water in the top eight, and Laura Bennett was the first athlete onto the bike portion. All three Americans stayed with the lead pack until the run. During the run, the Australians literally ran away with the gold medal (as well as the bronze). Portugal took the silver medal, and American Laura Bennett finished fourth. All three Americans managed to make it into the top 20.

In other Olympic news, the United States track and field team seems to be doing rather poorly: a bronze in the men's 100m, and absent from the women's 100m. In addition, none of the Americans (one of whom, Bernard Lagat, was a contender for the gold medal) made it to the finals of the men's 1500m. One of the marquee events for the Chinese, the men's 110m hurdles, turned out to be a major disappointment when Chinese superstar Liu Xiang didn't even race in the prelims due to an Achilles injury. Liu was the gold medalist in Athens, and is perhaps one of the biggest Chinese sports stars (along with Yao Ming of basketball and Guo Jingjing of diving). The Chinese have literally been waiting for four years to see Liu defend his Athens gold medal.

Some things to watch over the final week of the Olympics include the 400m dash, where the Americans hope to sweep the medals, as they did in Athens, the women's open water swim on Wednesday, where Natalie du Toit of South Africa will compete...without her left leg. The United States men's basketball team looks to complete its "Redeem Team" image, and Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh of the United States women's beach volleyball team look to defend their Athens gold medal.

Tonight's dinner will be Peking duck, the iconic dish of Beijing Chinese food. We'll see what that ends up tasting like. Anyway, my battery continues to die, so for today it's so long from Beijing. Tomorrow we may be going to the morning session of Athletics at National Stadium, and then tomorrow evening we head off for Seoul.

From Beijing: Day 4

Well, another day in Beijing has come and gone. It's hard to believe that tomorrow is my last full day in Beijing, since it's been quite an experience.

This morning started with a trip to the television to watch Michael Phelps win gold medal number eight and complete one of the most dominating performances in sports history. In addition, the women's 4x100m medley relay captured the silver medal, earning Elaine a silver medal by swimming in the prelims Friday.

After watching Phelps and Co, we headed out to the rowing venue (it has an official name--but I can't pronounce it...like just about every other place here in Beijing), about 30km northeast of the Olympic Green near the airport. We were able to watch seven different finals, from double skulls to the marquee rowing event, the women's and men's eight. That would be eight rowers and a coxswain, each with one scull (for those familiar with rowing, forgive my ignorance). By the way, if you wish to be kept in suspense in hopes that NBC will air rowing delayed this afternoon (the 17th), I'd suggest you pause reading this until a bit later.

The one thing we had been unable to see in either swimming or track and field was an American gold medal. We wanted to see the American flag go up to the tune of the Star Spangled Banner, and while we saw several semifinal events that the Americans would go on to win, we had only heard Russian, Ethiopian, Japanese, French, etc. national anthems. Going into the final two events, we could add Dutch, British, Danish, Chinese, and Polish national anthems. Then came the final two events: men's and women's eight. The American women managed to start strong and hold onto first the entire way and win the gold medal. While the American men weren't able to make a sweep, they still captured the bronze medal behind the medal-deprived (at least in comparison to China and the United States) Canadians.

Speaking of the number of medals, it may be interesting to note that while in the United States we tally up the total number of medals and rank that way, you will never see that ranking in China. The United States is perpetually in second place, even though we outrank China in terms of the total number of medals, as China has more gold medals than we do. In fact, China hardly cares for the silver and bronze medals: it's the gold medals they really care about.

Anyway, my battery has dipped still farther, which, given that I am absent a working power cord, makes sense, but as I need this computer to work for three more days sans power cable, I'm signing off from Beijing. More to come tomorrow!

From Beijing: Day 3

So here's the big question. Was Tyson Gay able to fend off his Jamaican rivals, Asafa Powell and Usain Bolt? Was there a new world record in the 100m dash at National Stadium tonight? In other words, who won the 100 meter dash??? Well, read on if you want to know now. Otherwise, wait until tonight to watch it on NBC. In any case, you have fair warning about the "spoilers" coming. I guess that's the problem of having to air an event like the 100m dash during prime time in the US, when Beijing is 12 hours ahead of the East Coast.

Tonight should be an amazing night on television. Not only do you have the 100m dash, but Michael Phelps goes for gold medal number eight (and world record number seven) live. Also, Dara Torres will look to bring home gold in the 50m freestyle, and the women's 4x100m medley relay will look to take gold from the heavily favored Aussies.

If you live in a cave, you might want to know that swimmer Michael Phelps is completing one of the greatest feats in all of the history of sports. He's going for eight gold medals in a single Olympics, a feat never done before. What makes it more impressive is that he set world records in his first six events (and doubtless, the world record in the 4x100 medley relay will be broken too). He certainly has a knack for making it spectular, first with the 4x100m freestyle relay, which ended in a photo finish against the heavily-favored and smack-talking French, and second by outtouching Serbian Milorad Cavic by a single hundredth of a second in the 100m butterfly. The rest are simply new world records. He is quite possibly the greatest athlete we've ever seen. In any case, his 2008 Olympics end tomorrow morning in Beijing.

Now, what did happen in the 100m dash? Toward the beginning of the evening, they raced in the semifinals. Walter Dix easily made it through to the finals, as did all three Jamaicans (including world record holder Usain Bolt and former world record holder Asafa Powell). In the second heat, Tyson Gay came in fifth in his heat. Only the top four advance, and America's best hope in the 100m was dashed. After enduring shot put, javelin throwing, long jump qualifying rounds, and several preliminary races of varying lengths (including five heats of women's heptathlon 800m races), we came to the Olympics' marquee event, the 100m dash.

Usain Bolt started out fast--very fast, and was clearly in control of the entire race, and won easily. What made his victory so special was not how he won, but how fast he won: 9.69 seconds, a new world record. Richard Thompson of Trinidad and Tobago won second, and American Walter Dix kept the Americans on the podium for the third straight Olympics.

Seeing the Bird's Nest Stadium was truly spectacular, especially at night (I finally got a picture put up of the stadium at night). In fact, the entire Olympic Green lit up at night is quite specacular. Indeed, the design can only truly be appreciated when seen in person.

I'm watching my battery life slowly disinigrate, and as I have three more days in Beijing, I must sign off for now. Good night from Beijing!

From Beijing: Day 2

So here's another day from Beijing. Today the weather was absolutely amazing. There was a blue sky (probably complements of all the rain we had yesterday which cleaned up the air). The weather was pleasant enough (mid-80's, maybe?), and the humidity was down. As such, it was an absolutely perfect day to visit the Ming Tombs and the Great Wall of China.

So we did, and we had a great time. The Ming Tombs are impressive, if only because they're very peaceful and beautiful. "Tombs" is a bit of a misnomer, since we saw no tombs and no bodies. The closest we got was a sort of mausoleum, as well as the "Sacred Way" which is a set of roads leading up to the tombs. It was the first of two World Heritage Sites.

The other, of course, was the Great Wall of China. My first impression of the Great Wall is "busy." Indeed, it was wall-to-wall people. For that, I have a list of the top 5 ways to make life difficult for other visitors on the Great Wall:

1. Bring an umbrella, and, like most Chinese people, be shorter than me so that the prongs of the umbrella are right at eye level.
2. Stop for pictures at inopportune places to take pictures (think Asians and photographs)
3. Stop for a picnic in the middle of the Great Wall.
4. Walk extra slowly up the Great Wall.
5. Be a VIP so that you get a motorcade and the Wall all to yourself, so that you stop anyone from getting out.

Not that any of this happened to us....

Anyway, we managed to get two tickets for the prelims of the 4x100 medley relays, which Elaine was able to swim the 100m butterfly leg in. She and her American teammates did quite well, qualifying third for the finals Sunday morning (Saturday night in the US). The lineup will probably be Natalie Coughlin for the backstroke, Rebecca Soni in the breastroke (who claimed the gold medal and the world record over Australia's Leisal Jones), Christine Magnuson in the butterfly (the silver medalist and American record holder), and perhaps Dara Torres for the freestyle (who has the fastest 100m split in history). The competition will be from the Australians, who hold the world record.

The men's 4x100m medley relay team qualified first for the finals, and will lead out world record holder Aaron Piersol in the backstroke, former world record holder Brendan Hansen in the breastroke, world record holder Michael Phelps in the butterfly, and Jason Lezak in the freestyle (who holds the fastest 100m relay split in history).

Sorry about the lack of pictures...it takes up too much time to upload it to the server from here in China. We have a lot, but for most of them they'll have to wait until we get back from China.

My battery allotment for the day is up, so I'll post more tomorrow. I'll also be posting some recaps of stuff I didn't get to here later on.