Beijing Day 1

Sorry for the lack of creativity in the subject but I'm too tired to think about being creative right now. Today's blog consists of a bunch of random events.

Drove by the site of the Olympic Stadium and the swimming venue. It is already a tourist attraction as people are lining up around the building site to have their picture taken in front. I of course drove by quickly in a taxi so I apologize for the quality of the images below. The giant birds nest on the left is the new stadium the picture on the right is the swimming pavilion.

The fact that I was in a taxi also made me miss numerous photographic opportunities as I headed back from a meeting. Drove about 15 KM from the center of Beijing and it was striking the differences, the city is just like any other city loads of skyscrapers and very modern. As you drive further from the center you see more people riding bicycles laden down with goods, run down buildings, people on the streets selling their wares. In many ways it reminded me of South Africa.

On the way back we stopped for dinner, I had heard many people told me I had to have the Beijing duck so we stopped at a restaurant for duck. After 90 minutes of being told that it would be 20 minutes and there were still 4 parties ahead of us we decided to leave for elsewhere. Ended up at a Japanese restaurant, we ordered way too much food but it was all great. By far my favorite was the item below. I have no idea what it was but I loved the fact that it had gold flecks on it. I've never eaten gold before. Oh yeah, it tasted excellent as well.

I get to play tourist for the rest of the week. Tomorrow the Forbidden City and Friday the Great Wall. Stay tuned for photos.