The Great Wall - Part 1 - Getting There Is Half The Fun

I had feared I might not be able to find a way to get out to see the Great Wall, especially doing things on my own. Kevin, who works here in COMMs had not been to the wall either, but he works 3pm to 3am, so it seemed unlikely we could go together.

Fortunately, John, the COMMs manager wanted us both to be able to go, so he allowed me to leave work early at 10:30am, and Kevin to come in late about 4:30pm. That gave us a 6 hour window in which to get there and back. It takes a little over an hour each way, so we would have more than 3 hours to explore once we got there.

We arranged for Jack, a private driver (previously used by John) to pick us up at 10:30am on Monday from the IBC. On Monday morning, someone named Susan called wanting to know how many of us there were ("two"), and could we switch to leaving at 12:30am ("No!").

Susan, who is Jack's "brother", told us Jack had already left with another group. Susan doesn't drive, but arranged for another brother (who drives a taxi, but speaks no English) to take us, and Susan would come as well.

I tried to explain to her where they could pick us up (there are a lot of traffic restrictions around the IBC), but we couldn't get it straight. I ended up running down the hall and giving the phone to some here in Logistics who speaks both English and Mandarin, and she was able to explain where to go.

Then, at 10:30am, she called to say she was waiting outside, and we spent 10 minutes walking around trying to find each other. Again, I had to find a bilingual Olympic volunteer who could provide directions. Ultimately, we got in the taxi and were on our way (and a HUGE sense of relief came over me).

Susan and her other "brother" turned out to be very nice. I think we figured out later than she was using brother to mean friend. Either that, or she has a lot of brothers. She and her brothers are very entrepreneurial; they own a DVD store, and she runs a restaurant (and apparently they arrange trips for toursits on the side).

The cost for the two of them to take the two of us to the wall, wait for us for 3 hours, and then drive us home again, was 600Y (about $100, or $50 each). I would have paid three times that amount or more to make sure I got to see the wall.

But enough about the logistics, you want the pictures!

We went to the Mutianyu section of the wall, which is much less touristy than the other section that is easily accessible from Beijing. Plus it has another cool feature that you'll have to wait for.

Once you reach the wall, you pass through a little mini-market ("You need this!"), purchase tickets for the cable-car lift to take you to the mountain ridge (the Great Wall generally follows mountain ridges, designed, as they were, to keep out invading hordes).

As you head up in the cable-car, and pass over the tops of the trees near the bottom, you can catch your first glimpse of the wall through the plexiglass window.

Stepping out of the cable-car platform, and heading up the stairs onto the wall, you are suddenly presented with (what seems like) the whole thing all at once.

Turning around, I suddenly realize how high up we are, and what a great view we have of the valley and surrounding mountains.

Back to the stairs, it is now only a few short (but steep) steps until we are reach the top of the wall.

Here I am, finally, on top of the wall. And all I can think of is "Oh my God, I am standing on the Great Wall of China!". How cool is that?

Four Days In A Row

It has been sunny, warm, and beautiful here for the last four days. Canada has also won multiple medals on each of the last 4 days. Coincidence? I'm not sure. I know that I have been feeling better too. My cough is hanging on, but the doctor thinks it might be environmental and not a virus or bacterial infection. The cough is worse inside the IBC than it is outside in the (normally) smoggy air.

They've given me a non-steroidal inhaler/puffer to help clear my throat, and it was worked wonders (so much so that I've only had to use it for a couple of days). We used a laser temperature probe and measured that the cold air stream being pumped into the COMMs room is 60F, and that where we sit is at about 66F. Brrrrr.

But anyway, back to our medal performance. This is all old news for you, but I don't want to leave any of our medal winners out of the blog.

Jason Burnett brought Canada its second Silver trampoline medal in the Men's Trampoline, performing the most technically difficult routine in the field.

Alexandre Despatie also took Silver in the Men's 3m Springboard Diving competition. Note that the Chinese have won all 6 diving Gold's so far, with 2 left to be awarded.

Priscilla Lopes-Schliep won the Bronze in the Women's 100m Hurdles after a photo finish that saw her tied with an Australian runner. The judges ruled that the Australian was just thousandths of a second ahead and awarded her the Silver.

Lastly, Simon Whitfield worked madly to briefly take the lead, but was passed in a sprint to the finish in the Men's Triathalon and finished with the Silver. Simon won the Gold in Sydney in what was Triathalon's Olympic debut.

I was there (in Sydney), and managed to get a photo of myself (a much heavier version of myself) with Simon as he enterred the CBC studios for an interview.

We now have 13 medals, and have already surpassed our total of 12 medals won in Athens. We still have several medal contenders to come, including our flag bearer, Adam van Koeverden, who set a new world record in qualifying for the K-1 500m Kayak final.

The Summer Palace - Part 3 - Empress Cixi

The Empress Dowager Cixi started Imperial life as a concubine, but worked her way up into the inner circle of the Emperor and gave him a son. She was a shrewd and skilled politician and manipulator who schemed her way into power when the Emperor died.

Keeping first her son, and then later her nephew, in a kind of house arrest inside the Summer Palace, she wielded power through them as children and even as young men. Many blame her for the downfall of the Qing dynasty, though foreign influences and power would likely have led to the same end.

Traditionally, in bronze sculpture, the Emperor is depicted as a Dragon, and the Empresses depicted as a pair of Phoenixes by his side. So great was Cixi's power and ego, that she had built a hall in which a single Phoenix is flanked by a pair of Dragons.

Her excesses included the building of a huge marble paddleboat at the Summer Palace using money intended for the Chinese navy. Unfortunately, the grounds of the Summer Palace are so huge that I never made it over to see the boat.

The Qing dynasty finally fell when the young Emperor Puyi abdicated the throne (to avoid death) and was evicted from the Imperial City in 1924 (as depicted in the movie the Last Emperor).

The last part of the Summer Palace that I got to visit, before my time (and camera battery) ran out, was the Long Corridoor. The corridor is a covered outdoor walkway that stretches for 784 metres (so that the Emperor could stroll along the lake side without having to be in the sun). The corridor is interrupted by a couple of pavillions so that the Emperor could rest and view the lake.

Originally the corridor was simply painted red and blue to protect it from the elements, but one Emperor began having paintings transferred and recreated in the corridor. There are now over 14,000 paintings along the way.

Unfortunately, on the day of my visit, the corridor was closed to pedestrian traffic, and was patrolled by guards, so I was not able to walk along it. In truth, I was pretty much exhausted by the time I got there anyway.

This was by far the nicest day (weather and scenery) of any I have had here. There is just so much to see. I could probably come back for two or three more visits if only I had the time.

Note that some of the pictures in this post are really unrelated to the narrative. These include the lotus flower, a symbol of purity and perfection, and the stone walkway through the forest, which I just thought was pretty.

The Summer Palace - Part 2 - Treasure Gallery

Hidden in the forests surrounding the lake are numerous other Gates, and Halls, and Palaces. The Wenchang Tower is the largest of 6 gate forts in the Summer Palace garden.

The gate leads to a pretty little courtyard that includes the Treasure Gallery, a series of small buildings with their own courtyard in the Hutong style.

Each of the buildings houses a different type of Chinese art or sculpture and their are buildings dedicated to Porcelain, Jade, and Bronze. I'm going to show you a few of the more interesting pieces. I don't have a story for each of them, I just thought they were pretty.

The porcelain pieces were stunning, and extremely detailed.

Note the Swastika symbols on this last piece (circa 1600, pre-dating the Nazi's by more than 300 years).

The jade was really hard to photograph (the lighting and glass panels created horrid reflections), so I really only got one good photo there. Many of the jade pieces were tablets with carvings in them, but there were also many traditional sculpture. This one includes a piece of red coral.

The bronze hall was the most disappointing. I had thought that there would have been lots of interesting bronze sculpture, but this was the best I could find.

Here is a painting, supposedly created by the Empress Dowager Cixi (more on her later).

This is a carving done in ivory, the detail is just amazing.

Here is another carving done in bamboo, again, the detail is extraordinary, there are dozens of tiny people in this boat

Lastly, outside the gallery there is a frieze in the wall depicting a Phoenix (the symbol of the Empress) and a Dragon (the symbol of the Emperor).

The Summer Palace - Part 1 - Imperial Getaway

This was a place that was very high on my list of places to get to (as high a priority as the Great Wall). So, last week, after a few days of rain, when I saw that the sky was clear (and blue!) for the first time since I got here, I knew that was the day. You can't just spontaneously head off to the Great Wall, so the Summer Palace had to be the destination.

I've struggled with how to present this place. It almost defies description. It is in many ways almost the polar opposite of the Forbidden City. While the Forbidden City feels cold, sterile, and inhuman, the Summer Palace is full of warmth, a paradise on the edge of Beijing, even if it was a place of intrigue and treachery.

If the Forbidden City was the "office" of the Emperor, the Summer Palace was his home (or his cottage). Wouldn't you love to have a cottage that looked like this? (Ok, maybe it is a little bit far from the cottage to the waterfront, but hey, I bet he could get somebody to carry him if necessary).

After walking through the gate (spared you again) my first impression was "Oh my God, I am not going to have nearly enough time here". And that turned out to be true. I spent more than 3 hours there, shot pictures till my camera battery died (on a full charge), and then headed home after seeing maybe one tenth of what there is to see.

The Palace grounds surround a man made lake. The entire complex encompasses 726 acres. This place is far bigger than the Forbidden City, and far prettier. It is worth noting that, two-times, invading forces have burned the Summer Palace to the ground, while leaving the Forbidden City intact, perhaps an indication of which was consisdered more important.

A number of ferry-like boats can take you to various places around the lake. You can also rent paddleboats or rowboats to explore the lake by yourself. At the east gate entrance where I started, there is a large pavillion called (unimaginateively) "The Spacious Pavillion".

The pavillion sits at the base of a 150m long bridge with 17 arches called "The Seventeen Arch Bridge" (oh, oh, I sense a trend starting here).

The bridge is guarded at both ends by a pair of lion-like sculptures.

There are also over 500 additional lion guardians along the length of the bridge.

The bridge leads to an island at the south end of the lake called (you guessed it) the "South Lake Island" (sigh, I think I preferred the pretensious names of the Forbidden City to the obvious/redundant names here, but that is the only category in which the Forbidden City beats the Summer Palace).

Canada On A Roll

Medals on three consecutive days! We are finally gaining some steam, and have moved up to 15th place in the medal standings.

Karen Cockburn of Stouffville took silver in the Women's Trampoline yesterday. Karen had previously won a Bronze in Sydney, and a Silver in Athens.

Also, Ian Millar, 61, and competing in his 9th Olympic games, finally won a medal, a Silver, in the Team Jumping equestrian event riding his horse "In Style". Too bad "Big Ben" isn't around, as they were a pair for a very long time.

Canada also has lots of potential contenders coming up, with finalists in several events over the next few days.

I finally got out to see the Great Wall yesterday (and am exhausted today). I will have a full post on this amazing trip later, but here's a photo of me and Canadian wrestler Ari Taub, of Calgary, who I met out on the wall.

Ari retired from wrestling in 1990 because of bone spurs in his neck, but found out 10 years later that it was a mis-diagnosis and started wrestling again.

He Sees You When You're Sleeping...

I've always thought that line from "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" was a little creepy, can he really see me when I'm sleeping? Ick! Why is he watching me?

Well, confession time, I've been watching you too. There is a little visitor counter on my blog, and a couple of days ago, it rolled past 1000! Here's the creepy part, the counter also keeps track of where people are visiting my blog from.

Check out this map of the world showing all the places people have visited from.

Cool! I've had visitors from over 100 cities in 20 countries! I can even get detailed statistics showing how many hits I've had from each country:

And I can even break it down by city:

It can tell me which Operating System, which Browser, the Screen Resolution, and the IP address of each visitor. It can even tell me how many visits, and how much time each visitor spends on the site. I told you it was creepy.

It doesn't, of course, tell me anybody's name or address, but I can sometimes guess who is visiting by which city I am getting hits from - Hello Brighton, Michigan!

I should also say hello to my new friend Alicia, who found me by stumbling across my Torino Blog, and who has posted some very nice comments here, and here (Thank You!). Alicia is also from Tennessee (creeped out yet? - I really nope not, I'm just illustrating how weird it is to be able to collect these statistics).

The visitor counter is a free tool, with professional versions that can provide even more information. I am sure that this kind of thing is present on every commercial website, and the information gathered is used in marketing decisions all the time.

Big Brother really is watching us!

Neither Here Nor There

This is just a collection of tid-bits that don't fit in anywhere else.

You may have seen the five Olympic Mascots on TV. They are called Fuwa, which literally means "Good Luck Dolls". They are coloured like the five Olympic rings and each represent one of China's four popular animals, plus the Olympic flame.

They are named with rhyming two syllable names, which is a common way of expressing affection for children in China. The names are Beibei (the Fish), Jingjing (the Panda), Huanhuan (the Olympic Flame), Yingying (the Tibetan Antelope) and Nini (the Swallow).



When their names are put together "Bei Jing Huan Ying Ni", they form the phrase "Welcome to Beijing". Cool!

Despite what you may have heard about Beijing and pollution and smog, they have been trying very hard to make this a "Green" Olympics. While walking out on the Olympic Green, there are a number of buildings for corporate sponsors. Here's one that took the Green message to heart (yes, that is grass, or something like it, covering the building).

The Chinese love Ping Pong, if it isn't their National Sport, it should be. There are over 70 Chinese nationals playing ping pong in the Olympics - for other countries! Even as a recreation they take it seriously, and they even play it outside in the parks. Here's a link to a funny story about a foreigner who made his fame playing ping pong in the park.

And lastly, those of you who live in southern Ontario are surely familiar with CityTV, now owned by Rogers Cable. Their slogan used to be "CityTV Everywhere", so imagine my surprise, while riding the subway and staring at the embedded LCD display used to convey information and entertain while you ride.

Wow, they really are "Everywhere"!

The Temple of Heaven - Part 3 - Circles

I got distracted by the Michael Phelps hype, and by Canada's sudden "explosion" of medals, and realize now that I never did finish off the Temple of Heaven. I left you last at the "ceremony" outside the Imperial Vault.

Surrounding the Imperial Vault, is the Echo Wall, a circular wall enclosing the courtyard of the vault. In ancient times, you could stand on one side and whisper a message to someone standing on the other side, but there is too much noise now for the effect to work properly (and many people just try shouting).

Also in the court yard is a series of 3 stones, supposedly, standing on one and shouting at the wall returns one echo, the second returns two echos and the third returns three echos. Again, this is hard to put to the test in present times.

Outside the wall, there is a 500-year old tree called the Nine Dragon Juniper. The tree trunk is covered with nine spiral grooves which twist up into the sky like a coiling Dragon.

Still further south along the meridian line is the Circular Mound Altar. The altar is surrounding by two walls, the outer one is square and represents the earth, while the inner is round and represents heaven. Numerology was extremely important to the Chinese, so the dimensions and construction of the altar have extended meaning.

There are three marble terraces, representing Hell, Earth, and Heaven, in order. The upper terrace is constructed with a centre stone surrounded by 9 concentric circles of stone tiles. The first circle contains 9 stones, the second contains 18, and so on, until there are 81 stones in the 9th circle.

The centre stone is called the Heavenly Center Stone, and the voice of a person who stands on it is said to be "particularly resonant and sonorous". There was a long line of people waiting to stand (or sit) on the centre stone.

The Temple of Heaven was the first place I had encountered large groups of people (but I had visited the Forbidden City very early in the morning). Many of the visitors to these historic cultural sites are native Chinese, although I suspect that many are not local to Beijing.

It is nice to see that these places are of interest and are appreciated by the people who live here. We don't have the history that they do, but I suppose it might be like someone from Toronto visiting the Rockies or the Maritimes and being awestruck by how different they are from home.

More Medals

Well, it looks as if we were justing waiting for somebody to break down the door and let the Canadians into the Olympics. After a week without a medal, we now have 7 in just two days.

The Men's Eight Rowing team took Canada's second Gold of the games. This team has been dominant all year and were the favourites heading into the competition. They had finished a disappointing 5th in Athens, so this was a bit of redemption for them (as they had 5 rowers returning from that team).

Also in rowing, both the Women's Double Sculls, and Men's Lightweight Fours, also won Bronze medals (making it 4 out of our 7 medals so far in rowing).

Ryan Cochrane, a 19-year old from Victoria, prevented a complete Canadian shutout at the pool by taking a Bronze in the Men's 1500m Freestyle.

The Canadian swim team was shutout in Athens, and has been building for the last 4 years. It has been disappointing for those with a memory of the "glory days" with Alex Baumann, Victor Davis, and Mark Tewksbury.

Note that the last link includes a reference to Newmarket's 17-year old Matthew Swanston, a Stingrays teammate of Lindsay Seemann.

Overall, though, the swimming competition has been one of the highlights of the Olympics for me. Michael Phelps completed his historic quest by winning his record 8th Gold Medal (7 in world record times). And there have been plenty other dramatic stories from the pool.

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?").