i have been traveling with my student group from nanjing to 3 different chinese cities and ending in beijing. it is part of our program - 10 day study tour. i have so much to complain about my job!
i will post a lot of my photos later as limited on what internet access i have these days. for the most part our trip has gone swimmingly. speaking of which, we visited the famous olympic buildings here in beijing yesterday. it might sound strange, but they seemed 'smaller' than i expected. the bird's nest (the olympic stadium where the opening ceremonies were held) is as big as any large sports arena i've been too - BYU football, UofU stadium - and indeed looks like a bird's nest. the water cube is VERY cool a 5 minute walk right across the way from the bird's nest.
china never ceases to surprise me, which is probably why i like it here so much. after spending the equivalant of the US's annual budget on their olympic venues it seems no one is quite sure what to do next. i had expected that all the tourist stuff would be set up in the strict way that it has every other tourist spot wired.
once we showed up our bus was unclear where to park. after driving around for a time that was finally figured out. no signs were posted as to how and where to access the entrance to the bird's nest so we just followed the pods of people wearing red tour group hats and their flags. even our own tour guide was running around trying to find out where and what to do. finally, we walked about as far away as you can get from the parking area to a make shift ticket station and entry.
once we were in the bird's nest complex it was a free for all. people swarming all over the stadium. which is really unusual for China as most tours are very scripted and regimented. the track was covered where people were crossing to get onto the field, and the field itself was covered in large swaths of fake turf. none of this seemed to be truly protecting the grounds. in the middle of the field was a couple of blow up cartoon character mascots that we saw in the olympics then on each corner of the field were manicans sporting the various costumes of the opening ceremonies. (the manicans wearing the fuffy prom dresses had blown over by the wind and where taking a lay down break).
people were swarming everywhere while the music sound track from the olympics played. some were snapping photos, others walking around enjoying seeing the stadium from the ground level and many others were just sitting on the ground in the sun. we joined them sitting in the sun and myself, along with several students, took the moment to enjoy a nap.
as one of my student's put it "sometimes china won't let you touch a thing and other times the kids are pee'ing on it." it never makes sense. it would be a shame if china can't figure out what to do with these beautiful buildings, but i have no doubts that within a year the tourist industry will be have a full blown infrastructure of tours and memoroblia to sell. 
i didn't have time to go into the water cube, although i would like to someday. it is not in the cards for this trip, but i will be back in december with my friend on our dec. travels so perhaps then. i am just happy to say that during my life time i took a nap in a chinese bird's nest.
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