Would You Like Flies With That?

Yesterday I ended up down in the Wangfujing shopping district, which is also famous for its "Snack Street". This is the place you've probably seen on TV which has things to eat that make you want to gag.

Here are some examples (caution, not for those with weak stomachs).

Let's start out easy...

Those are deep fried (whole) lizards, and starfish. OK, I think I'm cool with that.

Hmmmm, I think the things on the left are fried Cicada's, and on the right is some kind of larva (maybe Cicada too?). Yummy!

Scorpions on a stick! Cool! But wait, the ones I saw on TV were black, these ones look like they haven't been cooked yet. Let's have a closer look (run the video)...



Eeewwwwww! They are still alive! This made my spine crawl. It's too bad the video is a little out of focus, because this was really creepy.

Chick Magnet

OK, I think we have a winner in the Chick Magnet hat category, and it isn't even one of the original contenders. To avoid frying the top of my head during my outdoor adventures, I bought a simple Official Beijing Olympics baseball hat (reasonably priced, by Olympic standards, at 68 Yuan, about $11 CDN).

While I was walking around the Summer Palace (blog entry to come later), I was approached by several people who wanted to get their pictures taken with me, some of whom where very cute young women. I think it was probably because I am a foreigner, but I wouldn't bet against the effects of the hat.

On the other hand, I was also wearing my Olympic credential, so maybe they thought I was an Athelete?

OK, that's a bit of a stretch, but still it was odd having all of these people thinking of you as exotic.

I also had several children run up and shout "Hello" in English, before smiling and running away. I say "Nee Hao" (pronounced "knee how") in return (as this is about the only thing I have learned here), which is an informal "Hello" in Chinese (it literally means "You Go?", which I think translates as "How's it going?").

It Never Rains But It Pours

Well, a drizzle anyways. After looking like Canada might never win a medal here, we "exploded" with 3 in one day. I happened to get home to the Media Village just in time to watch Carol Huynh win the Gold medal in Women's 48kg Freestyle Wrestling. Carol's win is considered an upset as she defeated the defending three-time world champion.

About 20 minutes later Tonya Verbeek took the Bronze in Womens 55kg Freestyle Wrestling. She had previously won a Silver in Athens.

Earlier in the day, Scott Frandsen and Dave Calder won Canada's first medal of the games, a Silver in Men's Pairs Rowing.

Also yesterday, Usain Bolt of Jamaica blew away the field and shattered the Men's 100m Final with a world record time of 9.69. He could have gone even faster, but stretched his arms out in victory with several yards remaining.

I'm sure all of this "news" is something that you've already heard back home, but other than Carol's Gold, which I was able to watch live at 5pm (5am back home), all of this was a surprises to me when I got in tonight at midnight.

Michael Phelps

There really hasn't been that much to report on the actual Olympic front. Primarly because Canada has yet to win a medal, and secondarily, because of my working hours, I almost feel like I am missing everything, as there isn't really any live action going on until near the end of my shift.

Swimming, however, has been going on each morning (primetime for you back home), and I hope you have been following the Michael Phelps story. Here's a guy who, at 19 years of age in Athens, came within a whisker of tying Mark Spitz 1972 record of seven gold medals (and seven world records) in a single Olympic games. He ended up with 6 Gold medals, and a couple of Bronze.

Now, here in Beijing at 23, he has won seven straight Gold Medals (6 of them in world record times) and now has more Gold medals than any other Olympic athlete in histlory. As if that's not enough, it has been the way in which he has been winning that is astonishing. For most of the races, he has literally left the field far behind in his wake.

A couple of the races have been very close, and one relay required his anchor to miraculously come from behind with only a few yards to go. In that race, the top 5 teams all beat the previous world record.

This morning, he won his 7th Gold Medal in the 100m Butterfly (in an Olympic, but not World, record), with perhaps the most dramatic finish of any I have ever seen. He was not leading (not even that close) with less than 2 metres left. The leader's last stroke left him too close to the wall for another stroke, so he extended his hands and reached for the wall.

At the point when his finger tips were literally inches from the wall, Phelps' hands were in mid-stroke, extended out perpendicular to his shoulders, and more than a metre from the wall. Finishing his stroke brought his hands up to the wall and he ended up touching one-hundredth of a second faster than the other guy.

In every slow motion replay we saw, none of us could believe how he managed it, until we saw the under water camera, and it did look like he touched first, but we still couldn't believe it. It can't hurt that he has a 6'7" "wingspan" with his arms.

The looks on the faces in the stands were priceless, especially his mother, who had been holding up two fingers thinking he was going to finish second. Her mouth dropped, and she slowly slumped into her seat.

He has one race remaining, and if he wins it (in World record time) he will have won 8 Golds (with 7 World records) in a single games, eclipsing Spitz's record. We are setting up communications with Detroit right now, so that they can interview Mark Spitz to get his reaction to this race.

The Temple of Heaven - Part 2 - Sacrifice

On the eve of the winter solstice, the Emperor would leave the Meridian Gate of the Forbidden City and head south to the Temple of Heaven. He would fast in preparation for the sacrifice. Devine music, dance, and prayer, were part of the celebration and preparation. A calf would be selected.

And a fire would be started in the sacrificial oven using pine twigs and reeds. The sacrifical animal was skinned and burned on the fire. Jade and Silk were offered to Heaven as part of the ceremony.

Ceremonial readings took place, and wine was offered three times to Heaven. The animal's skin and blood were buried in a separate vault.

Later, the sacrificial remains were burned again in a series of eight wood burning stoves (a lucky number representing the first eight generations of the Qing dynasty).

Here is a short video showing a re-enactment of an ancient sacrifical ceremony outside the Imperial Vault of Heaven.



OK, just kidding, I'm not sure what they were doing, I think they were just a tour group, but I thought we needed to lighten things up a little after all that sacrificial stuff.

The Temple of Heaven - Part 1 - Overview

A few days ago, I visited the Temple of Heaven, on what was actually a pretty nice day (and there have been few of those). The air and sky were reasonably clear, and there was a bit of a breeze so it didn't feel as hot.

The Emperor, known as the Son of Heaven, lived in the Forbidden City, which is huge, but he dared not build his own dwelling larger than the one dedicated to the worship of Heaven. So, the Temple of Heaven is actually larger than the Forbidden City, although much of the enclosed grounds are park land (beautifully filled with pines, cypress, and junipers that are as much as 800 years old).

This building is the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest, and you can see the scale of it by comparing it to the people along the base. Note the vibrant colors (an indication of its importance, or simply an indication that it has been more recently restored?)

As in the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven is organized along a north/south meridian. The design of the grounds is such that the enclosing northern wall is round (symbolizing heaven), while the southern wall is square (symbolizing the earth). The northern section is also higher in elevation than the southern section (as heaven is higher than the earth).

This is the Red Stairway Bridge which runs 360m along the north/south line. It is 30m wide and 4m high (with underpasses joining the east and west parklands).

The Temple of Heaven is the most holy of the Beijing Imperial Temples, and is the place where the Emperor would come each year on the winter solstice to offer a sacrifice to heaven. In comparing these photos, to those of the Forbidden City, you might notice that the roofs of Imperial buildings are always yellow, while the roofs of Temples are always blue.

This is the Imperial Vault of Heaven, a place where ceremonial stone tablets were stored. Located south of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest, along the Red Stairway Bridge. (As a favour to you all, I am skipping the gates that provide access to these Halls, as I figure we'd seen enough at the Forbidden City).

Further to south, we encounter the Circular Mound Altar, a place where sacrifices were made. (Not sure yet if they were animal or human, as I have read descriptions of both).

These are the three main points of interest within the Temple grounds, but there are many other buildings, and acres of park land. In the morning, many people gather in the parks to do Tai Chi, or play music, or simply to have family picnics.

Lindsay Seemann

I should mention that Lindsay Seemann of Newmarket swam last night in the 200m Backstroke heats but did not qualify for the semi-final. Lindsay just finished Grade 10 at Newmarket High School, where Connor has also just completed Grade 9.

Lindsay's story is a remarkable one. Only 15 years old, and the youngest member of Canada's Olympic team, she swims for the Newmarket Stingrays, a very competitive club that has seen many of its members head off to the US on swimming scholarships in recent years.

At the beginning of the year, the Stingray team members are asked to list their goals for the year. Lindsay simply wrote 2:12.72 on a sheet of paper, which happens to be the Olympic qualifying time for the 200m backstroke. Pretty focused, and ambitious, given that her personal best at the time was over 2:15.

At the Canadian trials in Montreal in April, Lindsay swam 2:14 in the heats, and then dominated the final, tossing off a 2:12.06, winning the race and qualifying for the Olympics.

The world record for this event is less than 2:07, and is likely to be reduced even further given the rate at which swimming records have been falling here in Beijing. So it would have been a stretch for her to make the semi-final (she would have needed something around 2:10).

Still, she sounds like an amazing young lady, with a very bright future. We should all watch for her in London in 2012.

You Need This!

Yesterday, I went shopping for the first time here in Beijing. I visited a market out near the Boxing venue, that had been recommended to me. It is very much like the famed "Silk Market", except that the surrounding area is a home to many ex-pat foreigners, so you are not automatically treated like a tourist, the vendors aren't nearly as aggressive, and the quality of merchandise and pricing is the same or better.

The market is essentially a 4-story mall, with hundreds of vendors hawking everything from trinkets, to silks, to jewellry, to clothing and electronics (including knock-offs of many famous brands).

Walking the aisles is an adventure in itself. Each cubicle store is staffed by pretty girls in pink tops who call to you to come look at their merchandise (it reminds me of the Greek Sirens, don't get too close or you end up in trouble). If you make eye contact or say hello, they step up the sales pitch.

"What you want?", "You need this!", "Look at my pearls", "I give you best price" - they are persistent to a fault. Most of this, however, is done with a smile on their faces, and as long as you keep smiling back, you can get away by saying "Just looking", or "Not interested". I kept many of them at bay by saying I needed to look around and that I would come back (although most of the time, I didn't).

From some of the vendors, I (supposedly) learned how to tell real jade from fake (they demonstrated using a real jade bracelet to scratch glass), and how to tell real pearls from fake (scraping a real pearl with the blade of a pair of scissors creates pearl dust, without doing any visible damage to the pearl, while scraping a fake pearl reveals the glass ball under the paint). Even it the tests are fake, it was still an impressive demonstration.

I tended to shop at the places that allowed me to browse without harassing me too much (polite banter was fine), or without shoving things I had no interest in under my nose. As soon as you show interest in something, though, they lock in on you and try desperately to close the sale.

From here, these are the tips I was given:

- always ask to see the "higher quality" version (maybe a couple of times) as much of what is on display is the lowest quality

- take what they give you as their asking price and divide by six for your opening offer, don't settle for more than 33% of their original price.

- be prepared to walk away (maybe a couple of times) and they will literally chase you with a better price

- you get a better deal if you buy more than one item from the same vendor

- be firm, but polite and friendly, never stop smiling, bargain hard knowing that they will not sell you something if they aren't making money on it

- but remember that they are trying to make a living too (in a land where almost half of the population lives on less than $2 a day) and be satisfied when you feel you have gotten good value

The negotiations take place almost entirely by calculator. They type in their asking price, you "hmm and haw" a bit and look disturbed, then you type in your offer. They will look shocked and say "You killing me!", "Too low!", and respond with their second offer.

This can go on for awhile, each of you moving tiny increments (or not at all), until you threaten to leave (or actually leave), then the price drops quickly by as much as half. Now you are getting close, and they start to say "Just a little bit more" for each of your offers. Eventually you will settle, and it is smiles all around.

I bought lots of jewellry for Susan, including two jade bracelets as shown above, and a few things for the kids. I also got two gorgeous necklaces with matching bracelets, one set with jade, and another with onyx and pearl, both with sterling silver (or so I am supposed to believe). These four pieces started at 2300 Yuan, but I ended up getting all four of them for 750 total (about $124).

I was very happy with the look of everything I bought. Who knows if I got a good deal or not? Even if what I bought wasn't genuine, I think you'd be hard pressed to buy costume jewellry that looks as nice for anywhere near that price at home.

It must sound like a harrowing experience, but in all honesty, it was the most fun I have had since I have been here. I thoroughly enjoyed it - so much so, that I ended up spending all my money, and had to take the subway home because I didn't have enough for cab fare!

NBC at the IBC

Back in my Torino Blog, I explained Broadcasting Basics, so I won't get into too many gory details again here (just follow the link if you need a refresher), but I do want to briefly show you where I work here in Beijing.

This is my "office", and where I spend most of my time, handling requests from various intercom users here at the IBC, out at the venues, and even back in New York.

The equipment that I am babysitting is just in front of the COMM's console in a RIB (Rack in a Box) that has been re-designed for Beijing (the previous version was used with only minor adjustments for Sydney, Salt Lake, Athens, and Torino).

This whole setup is used to let people in the controls rooms talk to everybody else in the plant, including the crews at the venues. This is Control A, which produces the Primetime show on NBC with Bob Costas (done from Studio 1).

The sound is mixed from Audio A, which also provides mix-minus to the talent in the Studio and at the venues.

The "host broadcaster" is BOB (Beijing Olympic Broadcasting) and they have a centralized "ingest" system where all camera feeds from all venues are brought back to the IBC and then made available to each of the "rights holders" (including NBC).

NBC also has their own "unilateral" feeds from their own cameras at some venues. These VANDA's (Video and Audio) plus those from BOB are ingested in our BOC (Broadcast Operations Centre) which is just outside of COMMs (actually, we hang off of BOC).

A whole wack of NBC interns called "loggers" watch these feeds (including the host feeds) from a place called Central Tape (although there is no tape anymore as everything is recorded in High Definition on the equivalent of Blu-Ray DVD).

The output of the control room comes back to BOC for "release", and is transmitted through BOB back to the USA.

All of these people talk to each other using our COMM's. This is our team, from left to right, Kevin, Bob, Rickey, Chuck, John (COMM's Manager), Jeff, me, and Tony.

OK, that's pretty much how it works. Maybe a little more gory details than you wanted to know, but it's hard to just throw the photos up without a little explanation.

Olympic Art

The Olympic Green is a vast area that, ironically, doesn't contain all that much greenery (despite the huge number of trees that have been planted in the areas surrounding the Green). In many respects it looks like a giant parking lot with (interesting) buildings plopped here and there (kinda like the CNE grounds, but larger and with better looking buildings).

To try and add some flair and make it look more attractive, they have placed dozens of sculptures throughout the Green, some of which are very interesting, a couple of which I think are downright beautiful.

Here is a sampling of the ones I find most compelling (the first five are in order of my preference). Many others can be found on my Flickr site (see the sidebar). The title of the sculpture, and my comments if any, will appear below the pictures.

"Wind from the Sea" - This is by far my favourite. I wish there were no trees behind her, as I think she would look great with only the Aquatic Cube as a backdrop.

"Rhythym" - Not sure what attracts me to this, I'm not usually an abstract guy.

"Morning Dressing" - Very peaceful

"Big Dapple" - My first encounter, looks like what I imagined Chinese art to look like

"Joy of Sport" - I like this jovial looking guy!

"Dance with the Wind"

"Passing of the Torch"

"The Origin of Football"

"Dream"

"Love"

Olympic Green at Night

I guess I am getting used to working the night shift, but the hardest part has been figuring out when to eat. The routine I've fallen into is to have dinner shortly after midnight when I get in (ususally a stir-fry or curry on rice from the NBC commissary, which has been OK), and then have breakfast at around 6am, and lunch around noon. This way I am having normal meals at just about the normal time, except I'm having them in the wrong order.

It has been very slow at night. NBC has really cut back on the amount of production that occurs here, and is doing a lot more back in New York. In Athens, the two control rooms were busy almost 24 hours a day with several shows (Primetime, Late night, CNBC, MSNBC, Telemnudo, USA, etc...), but here all of the cable shows are being produced from New York.

This means that when I get in, there might still be a basketball game going on (and if it involves the USA, it is being shown back home), but other than that, the studios are "dark" until about 5am (well, Control B is usually recording some intro's for a Gymnastic's show on the Oxygen network, but that's it). Between 5am and 6am, the Control A crew shows up, and the venues start checking in with COMMs. Then things usually get a little busier. We have been lucky so far, in that there have not been any major COMMs problems.

Tonight, it was very quiet, so I slipped out onto the Olympic Green to take the night shots that appear in this blog post. The last one here is a short video showing a panorama of the area between the Bird's Nest and the Aquatic Cube.



It is beautiful and quiet on the Olympic Green at night. But even at 2:30am, it is still sticky hot and humid, and I was sweating by the time I headed back inside (to the freezing cold IBC, where I needed to put my hoodie back on).

Chasing your Dreams - A Canadian Story

On Tuesday afternoon, I visited the Temple of Heaven (which I'll write about later). While I was there, I ran into a couple from Canada, so I introduced myself, and asked about their Beijing experience. It turns out that the women is a Canadian athlete named Leigh Hobson, here with her husband Jeff.

Leigh competed in the Women's Road Cycling event on Sunday and finished 17th, which was the highest finish of any North American competitor. In addition, she was only 28 seconds off the winning time, after a 3.5 hour race.

What's even more interesting is that this is her first and her last Olympics.

She celebrated her 38th birthday on Sunday (race day), while her two Canadian teammates are 24 and 26, and she is a school teacher in Cambridge who took a two year sabbatical in order to try to qualify and compete in the Olympics. She qualified with a bronze at a world cup event in Montreal, competed here, and is now retired from competition.

Leigh and Jeff were really nice (typically Canadian) and I enjoyed meeting them. They are spending the next week on vacation here in Beijing. Leigh's story is the kind of story that makes me love the Olympics.

The Forbidden City - Part 4 - The Imperial Garden

Leaving the outer courtyard through the Gate of Terrestial Tranquility takes you to the Imperial Garden. Finally, the scale of things reduces to a more human level, even as the grandeur increases. Very few people other than the Emperor and his family would have been allowed in here.

The man made structures blend harmoniously with the natural environment. The Pavillion of Imperial Scenery sits atop the Hill of Accumulated Elegance, a lava rock cliff that is apparently held together with egg and rice (something they had in abundance).

Even though I enjoyed this space more than the vastness of the formal courtyards, it was finally time for me to leave (before I fell asleep on my feet). I think this little girl was feeling as exhausted and overwhelmed as I was.

As you leave the Forbidden City on the north side, you pass through (yet another) massive gate. (Yeah, I know, I'm sorry, one more gate, but it helps me illustrate my next point).

Finally outside, the entire scope of the the city becomes more clear. Here are two views looking left and right from the northern gate.

Walls, as far as the eye can see. The walls of the city are 10m high, and they are surrounded by a moat that is 50m wide and 6m deep.

The Forbidden City is almost 1km x 750m (not including the courtyards south of the Meridian Gate leading out to Tiananmen Square), and was home to almost 6000 people (all at the service of the Emperor).

I realized that I had spent over 3 hours traversing the meridian line from south to north, and had seen only a tiny fraction of the city, and none of the east and west areas of the city (where most of the smaller buildings, and less important people lived and worked).

From 1420 to 1924, this was the home to 24 Emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties. The last young Emperor "Puyi" was evicted in 1924, and was the subject of the 1987 movie called (appropriately enough) "The Last Emperor".

The Forbidden City - Part 3 - Deck the Halls

Here is a short video that provides a view of the outer courtyard in front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony. In the distance, you can see the back of the Gate of Supreme Harmony.



The three "Harmony Halls" were the primary "working offices" of the Emperor. The Hall of Supreme Harmony was where the Emperor was enthroned, or married, and was where important dignitaries were met, or where generals were dispatched to war.

This is the throne from which the Emperor to rules.

The Hall of Central Harmony was a place for the Emperor to rest before presiding over important functions in the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

The Hall of Preserved Harmony was a place for the Emperor to get dressed before moving on to rest in the Hall of Central Harmony (must have been a rough life).

Each of these halls also has a throne. There are plenty of more pictures on my Flickr page (links in the sidebar). At this point, I was starting to get tired and dehydrated, and confused by all the names:

Hall of Supreme Harmony, Hall of Central Harmony, Hall of Preserved Harmony, Gate of National Prosperity, Hall of Union and Peace, Palace of Heavenly Purity, Hall of Earthly Tranquility, and I thought that somewhere there must be a Bureau of Pretensious Nomenclature.

The scale of everything is so huge, that it is disorienting and dehumanizing (which, as I said earlier, was exactly the point). It was definetly time for me to move on to someplace a little more human.