My first reaction upon returning to Beijing was how completely green this city is now! Not Midwest suburbia green, but green as in a city that has planted a whole forest of trees, bushes, flowers and shrubs on every sidewalk and between the lanes of every road anywhere you look. It’s crazy! Such a stark difference from all of the grey that I remember from previous trips. On top of that, the city just seems more clean, bright and colorful, which makes a world of difference and really enlivens the place. For the first time, I have really positive impressions of the city!
Not to get ahead of myself, as most of you have probably read, air quality continues to be a problem. Today was the best day yet, with normal-looking clouds, but some days have been pretty bad. Today is my fourth day here, and it is the first that I haven’t gotten a headache in the afternoon after walking around outside (even just for 10 minutes one day). There’s no way to know if the headaches are related to the air, but I’m sure it doesn’t help.
The Olympic venues are absolutely beautiful. Imagine one distinctive, massive building after the next in a clustered area and it’s an architects dream. The Bird’s Nest is like a fish bowl – you can just keep staring. And the Water Cube is funky with different color lights illuminating it at night. Throughout the Olympic Green are countless other new buildings, along with sponsor exhibition areas that go full out. This one has walls that are completely covered in grass, and we caught some workers watering and cutting the grass!
I spend my nights at Beijing Normal University, which feels a little like summer camp. Our USOC contingency has taken over the dorms and workout areas, and the training table is delicious. Then I spend my days at the Main Press Center, which is a gargantuan building in the heart of the Olympic Green that houses working areas for 6,000 journalists and is a mini-city in its own right. The bullpen can become a lively place, but we have a separate USOC office that is roomier and a bit more welcoming. It’s where myself and our 45 press officers work when not at venues, assisting the press, answering questions, arranging interviews, etc.
Today, on Day 4, my coworker Maureen and I snuck out and decided to enjoy the city a bit. We took a cab to the Summer Palace, and we were blown away. It is by far the prettiest area of Beijing I’ve seen – who knew there a huge lake and beautiful landscaping right within the city! We visited countless gardens, halls, statues, pavilions, gateways, courtyards and temples. The highlight was climbing Longevity Hill to the Tower of the Fragrance of the Buddha, which held a Buddha with 1,000 arms! (It was really about 20). Our favorite part was Kunming Lake, and we’re planning on going back one afternoon to rent a boat and see the Summer Palace from the water.
Probably the funniest and most unexpected part of our visit to the Summer Palace was our “escort.” We were followed, literally, by a security guy throughout our visit, and we have no idea why! There were plenty of other foreigners there, but perhaps he saw our U.S. Olympic Committee shirts or Olympic credentials. Whatever it was, the man following us (who very clearly worked there) was so close on some occasions we could have reached out and touched him, and then at others he stayed back a bit and tried to hide behind corners. And this in the midst of thousands of other tourists swarming among the huge, spread out grounds. By the end of our two hour visit he stood at the gate and watched us leave. It was so bizarre! We have no idea why we merited such attention, but all we could think was that they were worried we’d pull out a “Free Tibet” banner or something. Whatever the reason, we felt like Matt Damon in the “Bourne Identity,” except we couldn’t stop giggling. Here he is in the blue...
Overall I'm excited to be here and for things to get underway!
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