Ciao Beijing!

Well, we leave for the airport in just over 24 hours...hard to believe we've been here almost two full weeks.  This is definitely the experience of a lifetime.

A lot has happened over the last 12 or so days - met Gold, Silver and Bronze medalists from all over the world, as well as a ton of athletes who are just happy to be here.  I'm going to miss it - it's a lot of fun talk to them, whether it was for 2 minutes or 20 - the standard questions, of course, being: "What sport do you play? How did you do?"  I shook the hand of every medallist I met - and we met a lot. I even got to hold Malcom Howard's (CAN) Gold medal for Rowing (Mens' Eights).  Got a picture of that one.  At the risk of sounding like a completely biased homer, the Canadian athletes were by far the coolest.  A special thanks to Erin McLean from the Canadian Women's Softball Team - she's from Whitby too and saved me from working in the kitchen for about 10 mins...your next Big Mac is on me! :)

We've seen and done a lot over the last several days.  Tianneman Square.  The Forbidden City.  The Great Wall.  We went shopping at the Ya Show market.  We visited Hough Hai (pronounced Ho-Hi), which is a cool little "entertainment" district - shops, bars & restaurants surrounding a little lake in the middle of Beijing.  We had a Tai-Chi lesson in the middle of a park at the Temple of Heaven.  We were treated to some excellent food, hospitality and entertainment here at the Loong Palace.  And to top it off, tonight I'm off to the finals for Athletics.  I'm hoping for something exciting - some of our group went last night and got to see several new World and Olympic records.

And finally, some of the quirkiness of life in China.  The light switches are backward - up is off, down is on.  All of the drains in the showers at the hotel fill up to your ankles before they drain - I thought it was just our room, but apparently not.  Cabbies are crazy all over the world - 3 cars in 2 lanes is almost the norm here.  I'm sick of bottled water and buses - the tap water is not potable, so you get bottled water everywhere.  And buses - I can't wait to get home, hop in my car and zip along at the posted limit on the 401... ;)

Ciao from Beijing!

Comments

[Pat]

Loved reading your blog!! I am so glad you really enjoyed your adventure!