Sunday August 10, 2008

The second day of our Olympic adventure was "tennis day". I was really looking forward to this day.....we were supposed to watch several matches including Rodger Federer.

Our tickets were for the afternoon/evening session so we had some time before we needed to be at the tennis center.

We read on the Internet about the stabbing of the Americans at the drum tower....we are so sad. We have been in this tower and I think how scary that would be and wonder how the rescue people got to the victims. The tower has 72 or 73 very steep dark stairs that lead to the tower...as far as I know that is the only way in or out. There is nothing on the TV news about this incident...

Last night during one of our flood conversations, Carol suggested that we tell the police, if questioned, that we had just arrived in Beijing because the rules state that you have to register with the police within 24 hours of arrival.....because it was "our schedule" that caused the delay.....WHAT??? We had a more......"direct conversation about "our schedule" and her "assistants schedule"......Carol's Assistant was at our apartment early the next morning to collect our passports. We went to breakfast while she went to register us with the police. Passports returned.....we are officially on the "police list".

Abi found a shopping area on the map that we wanted to visit before we went to the tennis stadium. It is a "fake/copy" market with electronics, clothing, handbags, etc.... Tim wanted to have a pair of prescription sunglasses made....we heard they can make them in one hour??? I could not find my camera battery charger before we left Shanghai and my battery was dead. We were hoping to find a charger at the market as well. The kids were looking for Olympic "Swag".....ie...shirts, flags, buttons, etc. Abi directed our taxi driver to the market. As soon as we walked into the market...I found my charger....AND....the girl said she would even charge it for us for one hour while we shopped....WHAT A DEAL!!! Tim ordered his glasses.....they would be ready the following morning....and the kids struck out on the Olympic stuff. Apparently the "Fake/Copy" market is allowed to sell "knock offs" of everything except Olympic stuff....hmmmm....I find this very interesting!!!

HongQiao Market
We bought a few things at the market that we did not want to lug around the city so we took a taxi back to the apartment to unload our "goods".


Air conditioners are again turned off.....so we turned them back on and went across the street to a noodle shop. The noodle shop was in a mall area and when we got to the fourth floor....."Mai You"!!!! This was starting to be a theme of our weekend. The noodle shop was not actually open yet...the mall was pretty new and only a few things were open. We found a Chinese restaurant for lunch...who knows if there will be food at the tennis center?

The food was great....I like Northern Chinese food much better than Shanghai Chinese food.

Abi with two of the Olympic mascots.

There was a small "official" Olympic store at the mall but the offerings were pretty slim....mostly coins and buttons and other sort of "trinkety" things. They had a few shirts but nothing very "sporty" or good quality. There must be more stores in the city and at the Olympic Village area....????

Now....off to the tennis center!!!

Back to the subway

According to the map...this looks like a very easy ride.....

Take line #10 to the Olympic Village and switch to line #8 which goes through the Olympic area to the tennis center.

Ah....this is a really nice subway.....new, clean and air conditioned!

We get to the end of subway #10 and look for #8. #8 is the newest section and was built specifically for the Olympic Area. The signs lead us to #8......hey....why are we leaving the subway station? We are now outside....we look puzzled...others also look a puzzled. We continue to follow the crowd and find an area with "shoots" and security guards. Ah...we must be in the right place. We get in line....the line checker says we can not go this way.....She directs us to a parking lot? At the parking lot there are many covered bus stop looking things. We still look puzzled. There are people with bull horns shouting something in Chinese. We have no idea where to go. It starts to rain. We have one umbrella. We show someone our tickets.....they point us to a bus stop area. There is no line at the bus stop...just lots of people pushing forward. We are still not sure we are in the right place.....And....what happened to subway line#8?

A bus arrives and the bull horn lady yells something to the crowd. Some people push forward and others hang back....we have no idea what to do. We wait.....the first group has gotten on the bus....the rest of the crowd begin pushing forward again. We look at each other and shrug......the bull horn lady looks at our tickets and motions for us to get on the bus...

We get on the bus with two thousand of our closest wet and sweaty friends. The bus starts to move......we ride...we ride...we ride.....my feet are on two different steps....my leg starts to ache...we continue riding....we pass the birds nest, then the cube, then some other buildings, then we see peeks of the athletes village and lots of flags....we continue to ride...the bus is hot and sweaty...I shift my weight from one leg to another.....I can't actually move my feet because they surrounded by other feet.....we ride some more....It felt like we were on the bus for days....but I think it was really only about 30 minutes. The finally bus stops!!!! Yippee!!! We get off...the tennis center is in the distance....we walk to the security line....we wait....it is starting to rain a little harder....the tennis center does not have a cover.....

We wait in the security line....we are still smiling...
All of our bus friends also wait in the security lines....

As we get closer to the security tent it rains harder...We get through the check point...no one searches my bag....my fiber one bar is safe!

Just as we got through the security line they stopped letting people in......There was a "holding area" of people just outside the tent and it was full....We stayed under the security tent....the sky opened up and dumped buckets of water on the the people in the holding area....thunder, lightening...etc. The volunteers handed out rain ponchos to everyone...
Our friends waiting under the tent...
The unlucky friends that were just minutes ahead of us in the security line....no longer under the tent..... It is pouring buckets of water.....

I think the cloud seeding has something to do with the bad weather...


We hang out and wait for the rain to stop...
Still smiling....but these ponchos are getting a little steamy...
People waiting to get through security....they have the same tickets we have...



The kids entertain themselves by decorating their ponchos..
Look at that Olympic Spirit!
Beijing 2008 China (in Chinese Characters)

The rain subsides....we move away from the tent and get in line....the volunteers tell people that the games are delayed....Tim and the kids go to find drinks and snacks.....they come back with chips, water bottles, and soda....I eat my smuggled fiber one bar.

No one is allowed to enter the stadium because the "morning session" people are still in there....it is way past the morning sessions ticket time....we continue to wait....

People in the "holding area" have needs.....we have been here for hours.....the line at the only port-a-potty gets really long...
They fork lift a second port-a-potty into the "holding area"

Everyone waits......and waits....and waits....
No one knows what is happening....the rain has stopped but they are not letting anyone into the stadium....the morning session people are still inside....

We ask three different volunteers what is happening....we get three different answers..

We talk to a couple from Holland....they have a different answer still.....

A volunteer comes to us and says..."sorry your tickets are not valid"...you can get a refund for your ticket but you can not reschedule for another day. This is code for "we really want you to leave because we don't know what to do with you" . I ask a different volunteer what is happening. "The games have been delayed....I ask..."delayed or cancelled"? She says delayed....so we wait...

The "behind the security check point people" are getting really restless.....the rain stopped a while ago and they want to come in.....some people in the "holding area" have left....they start to let more people in...the crowd is getting a little rowdy...more security people appear....they really don't have clear instructions....they argue among themselves... They start letting "select" people in. We think this is a good sign....they must be about to let us into the stadium....



The "new arrivals" are excited and rush to the gates of the stadium only to be turned away and detained in the "holding area" with us. I ask one of the "newbies" why they let him in....he said because he has a ticket for a match that will start in three minutes....hmmmmm

The volunteers have a meeting...they come back...they say "the games are delayed"

NO KIDDING!!!!
ARE YOU EVER GOING TO LET US GO INTO THE STADIUM????

We wait some more.....the morning session people are still in the stadium...

The crowd in the "holding area" are not happy....the poor volunteers get yelled at by their fellow county men....the security guards are standing in the background....
The Westerners are too afraid to yell...so we just watch

More yelling......a crowd starts to gather....more yelling...

We understand from the conversation that the people just want to go into the stadium to buy some souvenirs....after all..... we have been waiting here in the rain for hours....it's our turn to go in!!!

It starts to rain again....we decide that we are never going to be allowed to enter the stadium. We move toward the exit, pick up our "refund forms" and look for "our" bus. At this point we think subway line #8 does not really exist....it just looks good on paper.

More bull horn people direct us to a bus and we get on....

We meet three young men on the bus that appear to be about Tuckers age and chat with them..

They are very disappointed and say "we have lost our Olympic spirit". They went to the opening ceremony area to watch the fireworks. They arrived two hours early to get a good spot. Then....the police swept the area and they were not allowed to stay. They did not see one firework. They all three live in Beijing and two were working,...one was looking for a job. They had USA shirts on although they were from Europe. They said they heard about the stabbing but saw nothing in the local news about the incident. They said that's why they were wearing the USA shirts. They tell us about an area called "Sanlitun" that is a "bar street" with lots of restaurants. It would be a good place to watch the USA vs China basketball game.

I was not brave enough to use the port-a-potty in the "holding area" so now I really have to go!!!

We get to "bar street"....it is dark and it is pouring rain again. Thank goodess for our ponchoes! We stop at the first place that has a TV and a bathroom. We order drinks....I race to the bathroom.....aaaahhhhhh!!!

The place was a little "seedy" so we decide to move on....

We found a great Italian resturant with two big screen TV's. Shortly after we sat down the TV's went out....we think the storm is causing this problem. The owner of the resturant was hanging around at the bar....he was a very interesting character....very long hair, tattoos everywhere, and more bling than anyone I have ever seen. He looks out of place in Beijing China. His pictures are all over the walls of the resturant. Each picture has a US celeb posing with him.

We had dinner....the TV's never came back on...we decided to go back the apartment and hope the TV was working there.

It is still pouring rain....and I really mean pouring!!!! We wait for a taxi at the resturant...no taxis come. We move down the street and Tucker gets lucky....a taxi stops...they jump in and as I got into the back seat..... the taxi driver goes nuts!!! He starts yelling and pointing at me....more yelling...more yelling...The kids figure out that he does not want me to get in with my poncho on....it might get his taxi wet????? You have got to be kidding!

I yell back at him.....I wish I knew some Chinese swear words! I get out of the taxi...take my plastic poncho off and get completly soaked. Now I am really mad!!! I strongly dislike this taxi driver! I think up nasty things I can say to him when I get out of the taxi!

He takes us towards our apartment....it is dark and rainy and we are all cramped into the taxi. We get close to our apartment and he makes a wrong turn.....and then he yells at Tim!

He does not know that he is messing with some "on the edge tourists"!

He drops us off close to our apartment....the only thing I can think to say is...."I don't like you" and then I decide it is not worth it......we walk in the rain to our apartment.

Wow! We are having some fun now!!!

Our apartment is cool and dry....we have hot water....and our TV is working!

We watch the basketball game and fall into bed exhausted.

Abi sleeps on the couch because she does not want to sleep on the "board" again.

We all hope tomorrow is a better day!