One more Olympics-related photo

It was great to see Kerri and Misty win their second gold medal. They are incredible athletes. We had a lot of fun shooting a Fox Sports promo on a California beach in 2006 with Holly McPeak and other great beach volleyball athletes.

Asia-Epilogue

We arrived home last night after traveling twenty-four hours from Beijing. All went smoothly. We had a five hour layover in Tokyo, then a twelve hour flight from Tokyo to Dallas. We did our best to stay up most of the trip to get our bodies moving back toward Central Standard Time. We managed to stay awake about twenty of the twenty-four hours. Finally, the most welcome sight of our family greeted us upon our arrival home.

This experience will be a chapter marker in my life. It’s hard to even realize how much has happened over the last twenty days, and really much longer as the planning and execution is an integral part of the experience as well.

Besides our travels by air, we experienced China and Tibet at ground level, some 2,525 miles by train, over three hundred miles by Land Cruiser, and many more miles across Tokyo and Beijing covered by subway, train, taxi, bus, and feet. We traveled vertically from near sea level to over 17,000 feet. We experienced high altitude living, feeling its effects on our minds and bodies. We experienced other cultures in ways we perhaps never imagined. Finally, we experienced the unique wonder that is the Olympic Games.

Thank you so much to all who helped this become a reality. To my family, without whose support and encouragement this would have only been a dream. To Aaron, my traveling partner, I would have been incredibly thankful just to spend twenty days anywhere with you. But, to experience this together, to have your efforts, mind, and encouragement poured into this, made this something much more special. To all at my office, this couldn’t have happened without your excellence put into what we do each day.

Rick, your expert advice has proven so helpful in all my travels. If anyone reading this needs any kind of outdoor gear or gear advice, contact Rick at Backwoods in Wichita, Kansas (www.backwoods.com/locations-wichita.html). From backpacks to clothes to equipment, everything I’ve purchased there I have used over and over again, and all have made my travels much more pleasant.

China Travel and Tour (http://www.chinatravelandtour.com/) made the Tibet part of our trip happen in every way we had hoped after we had spent months continually running into closed doors.

Thanks to you who have followed this trip here. Our trip was much more fun sharing our travels with you. Please check back soon as I prepare to leave for Uganda in September for what promises to be another great life experience.

Beijing-Pandas, Volleyball, and Scorpions

The rain continued through the night. It’s just lightly raining now, fortunately. We’re getting an earlier start today. We’ve planned three hours to make it to the venue for the women’s volleyball event. Leaving the room at 9:30 a.m., we make our traditional stop by McDonald’s for some breakfast to go, then stop at an information booth to confirm our plan for getting to the venue. It’s at that point that I realize I left the volleyball tickets in the room. Better to find that out now rather than later! After running back to the room, we now have two and half hours to get to the venue.

We reach our closest subway stop to the event much sooner than expected. This stop is very close to the Beijing Zoo, home of a well-known Giant Panda exhibit. I float the idea about stopping by the zoo to Aaron. He’s on board with it.

These guys were great. They are so funny. We are very glad we made this stop.

Taking a taxi from the zoo to the venue, we’re still an hour and a half early. I remembered passing a Pizza Hut. We have been craving pizza for a while. We’d also like to have a better lunch than yesterday, which consisted of an individual size bag of potato chips and a coke.

We walk back and enjoy Pizza Hut, Beijing style. It’s more high-end than the Huts in the U.S. We are seated on the second floor of what you would perceive to be a very nice restaurant. Our waiter is very professional and dressed well. The pizzas are the same, but this menu also offers escargot(!), calamari, and other nicer dinner items.

Reaching our seats in the venue, the lady next to me introduces herself. She is the lady I bought the tickets from on eBay. She is a Chinese woman living in New York, excited to be attending the Games in her home country.

The first match is USA vs. Cuba. It starts out well, but our USA women get put away pretty handily, three games to zero. The Cuban women are good, but the USA women make a lot of errors. They must have served out or into the net at least six or seven times.

There was a strong USA contingent there cheering our ladies on. Russia is playing in the second match of the day, and the Russian fans are chanting for the Cubans.

The next match, Brazil vs. Russia is play on another level. Many of the points are long battles. It’s exciting and the crowd is into it. Brazilian fans never disappoint. Covered in yellow and green, they sing and cheer loudly for their home team. Although playing better than the American women, the Russians are no match for the powerhouse that is Brazil. Brazil wins, three matches to zero.

After the matches, which were one of the many highlights of this trip, we drop some things off at the room, then head for some last minute gift shopping at the Friendship Store in Beijing.

From there, we head to the street markets of Wangfujing. This is a high energy place. All sorts of unusual foods are sold by the vendors here. Fried squid on a stick seems to be the most popular selection, but fried silkworms, scorpions, snake, lizards, and seahorses are all available too. I have every intention of ordering a stick of scorpion when I arrive, but I have a change of heart. They are still moving on the stick before being grilled. I decide to pass.

We walk around some more and buy an iron dragon art piece we had seen before, had not bought, but wished we had. As we’re about to leave, I change my mind about the scorpions. I can’t miss this opportunity. One order of scorpions, please.

First bite – a tiny stick of a leg. Not too much flavor, but not bad. Time to go for it. One whole scorpion. Actually, it’s not bad, maybe even good. I couldn’t place it at the time, but it resembles soft shell crab a bit. They are fried in a hot spicy oil on a grill. They have some fire to them. Aaron tried some as well.

For desert, a stick of pineapple with a crispy sugar coating around it. Pretty good!

After a quick stop at Romana in the nearby mall for some more of that amazing gelato, we grab some rolls to go at a bakery so we’ll have something for breakfast in the morning. We still have to pack tonight and be ready to meet our cab to the airport at 4:30 a.m.

Olympic Judo

Today we attend our first event of the Olympics. We leave two hours early thinking that will get us there plenty early. How we forget that we’re traveling in Beijing each day, I don’t know. We race in various configurations of trains and taxi and make it only ten minutes late.

This is our first judo competition. It was very interesting and great fun. It ran over four hours long. We cheered for our man from the USA. He won his first two matches, but lost the third one.

The ladies competitor from China. She won all of her matches:

We could hear thunder beginning while we were inside during the judo matches. When we got out, it was the definition of a torrential downpour. Even though we had raincoats and umbrellas, we were completely soaked from the wind blowing the rain in a horizontal direction. I had waterproof shoes on, but that didn’t help a lot when we had to walk through areas of ankle deep water.

Our destination was Wukesong, the sight of the basketball competition. Tonight is one of the biggest events of the Olympics, USA versus China in men’s basketball. We don’t have tickets, but are going to give finding some in front of the venue a shot. We made it there about ninety minutes after leaving the judo venue, about ten minutes after the game started. It was still raining like there was a typhoon. We ask around for fifteen or twenty minutes, but the best price we’re quoted is $1,700 US for two tickets. No thanks.

We’re in for the night. It’s hard to believe we are leaving for home in just over twenty-four hours. So much has happened on this trip. Every day, we’re amazed at what this experience has been.

Saw this while walking around. This business is a new one to us:

Great Wall, Forbidden City

We arranged a trip to the Great Wall of China today. The area of the wall we visited, Mutianyu, is about one hour forty minutes from our hostel. As we get closer, we pass through large orchards. Fruit stands are everywhere selling fresh fruit right off the trees. It is morning, so the haze adds an other-worldly quality to the scenery.

The Great Wall itself is stunning. It truly is everything you imagine and more. We were literally completely soaked from the heat and humidity. It was like rain forest conditions.

Even though we were practically wiped out from the lack of sleep, the hiking, and the weather, we had the driver drop us off at the Forbidden City on the way back to the hostel. We bought our tickets and started to look around. It is an amazing place.

If you've ever seen the film Mulan, you have to figure this guy was the inspiration for Mu Shu:

In the Imperial Garden:

By the time we reach the subway stop for our hostel, our feet are aching and we are toast. Another McDonald’s dinner (it’s a block from the hostel and we can’t make ourselves want to go out to dinner), watch some of the Olympics on their big television, then head back for some major rest.

Our first Olympic event is tomorrow. We’re pumped!

Wangfujing, Opening Ceremonies

Today is the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games. We are told all workers in Beijing have the day off.

We decide to visit the Forbidden City. We take a subway to the closest stop, only to be told we aren’t allowed to walk west, the direction we need to go. A policeman sent us around the block, which turned out to be a huge block. Twenty-five minutes later, we’re back up to the street we were on, one block west of where we were, only to be told by a different policeman that the Forbidden City is closed today, try again tomorrow. Agh!! We have walked a long time in this heat and humidity just to be shut down - again.

We need to go to a bank, so we head to the Wangfujing District, a shopping area. We see an Olympics volunteer in the subway and ask for directions to the bank. Just like yesterday's volunteer, she cheerfully gets out of line (she was headed the opposite direction) and walks us to where we need to go.

The bank is in a beautiful mall. This Nike display was extremely well done, showing every China uniform for every sport in the Olympics:








We grab an eel and duck combo lunch at the Kung Fu restaurant (featuring the likeness of Bruce Lee in their logo), then enjoy the finest gelato I’ve ever had at Romana Ice Cream Factory, then hit Wangfujing street. Now, this is what I’m talking about! This is the community feeling about the Olympics that I was looking for yesterday. This whole street has great energy. You can see it in the pictures below.

















After a couple of hours of this, we changedclothes and head for the Goose and Duck to watch the opening ceremonies. We take the subway part of the way there, meeting a nice girl from the University of Southern California, now studying in Shanghai, her friend from Canada, and a guy they had met from New Zealand. Again, good community stuff! This is the end of the subway line, so we jump out and look for a taxi to take us the rest of the way.

This picture below tells you about what this night means to people in China. These people are outdoors, gathered under a highway overpass, crowded around a single television. Everyone, everywhere here is either watching this on television or listening to it on the radio.



The cab driver got as close as he could to the Goose and Duck with the info we had. We got out and did what we do a lot here – started walking. A half hour later and several people asked along the way, we arrive at the Goose and Duck.

It is completely packed, loud, and hot. The Goose and Duck was founded by a British ex-pat, and this crowd was mostly all Anglo Europeans. Being packed, it definitely gives the room energy. We are also close enough to where the opening ceremonies are taking place that we can hear the fireworks as they are being fired at the Bird's Nest. As the different countries walk into the stadium on the televisions, cheers go up in different parts of the room for those people’s home country or even just countries they are fond of. It's a lot of fun. I have some good fish and chips, Aaron some wings, and both us down a couple of cokes and water bottles each to try to keep cool.



Once the ceremonies were over, we walk out to the street to try to find a cab. We wave our arms, trying everything we can for twenty minutes to get a cab. Nothing. It’s now 12:25 a.m. and starting to lightning. We have no choice but to do our usual – start walking.

The bad news here is that if we have to walk all the way back to our hostel, it will take at least four hours. That’s how far away we are.

We walk and hail, walk and hail, still no empty cabs pass and stop. It is now after 1:30 a.m. We have been walking for over an hour and aren’t even a quarter of the way back yet. We come across a McDonald’s and are at least able to get something to drink. It is still very hot and humid at this hour. After hitting the street again, five minutes back into walking, a cab stops. Yeay!!! We are so happy.

Finally, after 2:00 a.m., we arrive back at our hostel. We still have some unfinished business. We bought Judo tickets on eBay before we left, but are to pick them up in Beijing from the seller. We were supposed to meet after the opening ceremonies. I email him to update him on our situation. Faithfully, he shows up at our hotel at this hour and delivers the tickets. We feel so much better having these in hand.

What a day. What a night. We’re completely exhausted.

Blog update!

We are headed to our first Olympic event in less than an hour. We had an amazing experience at the Great Wall yesterday. I'll post soon!

Beijing Exploring

We must have finally got to sleep around 2:00 a.m. last night. There’s a knock on our door this morning from one of the staff at 7:45 a.m. I get out of bed, answer the door, and there is one of the staff emphatically declaring “Checking out now.” I explain that we just checked in. She replies, “Checking out now.” After two or three rounds of this, I just closed and locked the door and went back to bed. She didn’t return.

We do get up eventually, grab a breakfast double cheeseburger for me and an egg and ham Puff from McDonald’s for Aaron, then head towards the Olympic Park. We want to see what’s going happening there.

McDonald’s old-school fried pie update – another flavor option here: sweet taro.

The mass transit system here is the best transportation bargain I have experienced in the world. You can ride anywhere on the Metro (subway) for two yuan. That’s equivalent to less than thirty cents in US dollars. You can ride the bus (the ones we were on) for one yuan, or about fourteen cents in US dollars.

Seen on the subway. Some things you can't get away from!


We reach a certain point on the subway, then have to take a bus toward the Olympic Park. As we’re boarding the bus, we notice a tank and some other military gear in a field by the bus depot. I thought it was perhaps a park like we would have with some old armament in it, but I would discover more about that later.

We ride the loop around the entire complex for over an hour, only to find out that no one is allowed in except ticket holders on the days of their events. What a disappointment. A huge appeal of the Olympics to me is the gathering of people from all over the world, hanging out and meeting each other. That’s not going to happen at this Olympics on these grounds.

We meet a man from Ft. Worth on the bus and another gentleman from Melbourne, Australia (so far, this is where the community is happening!). They direct us to a place to get off the bus where at least some people are gathering. Michael from Melbourne is here staying with his son, who works at the Australian Embassy here. He invites us to join them at a place called the Goose and Duck to watch the opening ceremonies tomorrow night. Having no other plans, that sounds good to us.

We got off the bus in front of the new natatorium and the Bird’s Nest, the national stadium. We are asked to pose for some more pictures, and immediately start to meet people.







Among the pin traders, we met Shelby, the girl below. She works at NBC and will be here a month and half before she goes home.


Didn't see too many smiling police, as the road sign below says:


We walked for a long time, still hoping to find a way in. The heat is sweltering and the humidity is very high. We didn’t bring water or food, thinking there would be tons of places to get those things. After five hours in this heat, we never found either one.

We finally found a bus out of there and drove about thirty minutes to Tiananmen Square. As we passed the place where we thought we saw the military park, we realized they were setting up security positions. Tanks, surface-t0-air missles, the works - and covering them in camo netting.

We found some water and a bag of potato chips in Tiananmen Square. It helped. We looked around, posed for some more pictures, then grabbed the Metro back to the hostel.



The countdown clock on the China National Museum showing just over three hours to go before the Games begin:


We decided for dinner tonight to try a regional specialty, crispy roast duck, at the Bianfyang restaurant. We took the Metro to that area. Before we even got out of the subway station, an Olympics volunteer (they are everywhere) came up to us and cheerfully asked if she could help us. We told what we were looking for. She didn’t know where it was for sure, but said she would take us there.

Let me pause to say here that the frustration of the incredibly tight security here is balanced out by the unbelievable length to which the volunteers have been trained to help. The volunteer who saw us in the subway, Megan, a medical student, asked other people around about our desired location, walked us six blocks to a mall where the restaurant was supposed to be, took us to floor it was on, walked us into the restaurant, and talked to the seating staff to make sure we were taken care of and that they had an English menu for us. How about that!

We had a great dinner. The crispy roast duck was delicious. It was rich, which made us hope the Yak Attack of a week ago wouldn’t be followed by a Quack Attack tonight! But, everything went fine.



As we walked out of the restaurant, we ran into Megan, the volunteer. She had walked back to the restaurant to give us some information on visiting the Great Wall. We had mentioned it to her as we were walking. Talk about going way over and above the call of duty!

We came back to the room, watched the second episode of Flight of the Conchords, searched eBay for more Olympics tickets, then hit the beds for some sleep.