Back to beijing: I saw the Olympics!
Trip Start
Jun 10, 2008
1
6
21
Trip End
Jan 25, 2009
Beijing,
China
Friday, August 8, 2008
In this entry I'll give it a bit of a brief overview on my Olympic related activities in my unfortunately short return to Beijing. A conceptual underpinning if you will... OK maybe just an overview. In general, it was good. And I've probably said it before, but I'm definitely saying it again - Beijing is a great place to live, but maybe not to visit. I just can't see how a short trip here could ever really indoctrinate you into the amazingness of the people and lifestyle of this COLOSSAL city -especially during the Olympics - when the plastic table bars were closed, government-endorsed snack vendors had to wear uniforms, and Ouighers weren't allowed into bars or certain entire districts of the city (!). BUT I came around to it a little on a few issues.
one - the Subway was AMAZING. Imagine the DC metro's level of cleanliness, except with more coverage and unbelievable efficiency. Trains run every like 5 minutes, max, and every one of them is packed wall-to-wall with people. It's still cheap like only a business handling that amount of volume can be.
Biking Statue
Plus, you no longer have to walk 5 blocks from the metro stop to get where you're going, unless you're going where only shockingly wealthy westerners and young Chinese are going (as in bar districts with higher prices than big cities in America) - they can probably afford the 50 RMB cab ride to get there anyway.two - Cab drivers. I love Chinese cabbies - garlic breath, incomprehensibly thick accents and all. But now for te Olympics, there was ALWAYS something to talk about. And they really must have just been in the spirit to be helpful. The conversations always started with the Olympics - finding out the Chinese transliterations of their favorite basketball players, discussing who would come out on top in medals, etc. But it always led to so many other things. The propr way to ask directions and not get ripped off, recommendations on where to find the best Muslim food, just discussions of food in gneral (this is beijing after all), and unbelievably professional lessons on more complex aspects of the Chinese language. In short the cabbies were awesome, even if they do have to wear goofy uniforms now.
three - The Olympic community. I think it really takes seeing the Olympics in person to buy that the whole peace, brotherhood, community, aspect isn't just a bunch of fooey. I'll admit, when I first got there it was the increase in ugly tourism that caught my eye. The people utterly uninterested in the culture, utterly uninterested in politeness, and overly interested in buying some cheap Chinese shit, admittedly, were there in force. But as the Olympics went on, the westerners there who DIDN'T stick out became the ones I was interested in. There were quite a number of people who, every two to four years, use the largest collection of exceptional athletes as an excuse, to collect in a new place, see new things, really dig the lifestyle of a different culture, and meet a wide variety of other people there to do the same. This was the Olympic community, where it wasn't just o, you're from England/ America/ Poland/ whatever, what's that like? That people w\called different places home faded away entirely. Suddenly it was about cheering on the people of other countries, saluting the indcredible achievments that ANY country has produced. Plus I learned a good bit about cricket (it really is just the same as baseball, not in the rules or anything, but that it's just a really good excuse to go somewhere, drink beer, and eat peanuts for a rather extended period of time), not to mention the sporting history and culture of Hugary and Latvia. O and we taught some Chinese people baseball - again, not the rules, just the beer, peanuts and hanging out in the sunshine part. I hope this wasn't my last Olympic games.
