On August 21st, I thought I would skip a talent show (that I was suppose to attend – but what the heck) and trekked out by myself via subway to the Olympic Green in Beijing to check out where the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games were held. Our group was leaving Beijing in two days and the XXIX Olympiad area had not been and was not going to be an itinerary. That didn’t sit well with me. I might never go back to Beijing. How can I be in Beijing for ~ 2 ½ weeks and not see the Bird’s Nest? So I took my final Chinese speaking, writing, & listening exam that morning and headed for the subway outside PKU w/ camera in hand for my adventure.
But before I left, I took a few hundred kuai with me. I knew I would want to tour the Bird’s Nest but I also wanted to head downtown for lunch first at an Indian buffet. Indian is my favorite food, bar none, and I was dying to eat some since I left the States. I knew it would be expensive. Anything non-Chinese is expensive. Basically double the price for anything not Chinese when buying/ordering. It took me a little time to find the restaurant but I eventually found it. It was called The Raj. It was good but I would not say great. Did I overpay? Most definitely but I left stuffed. At the restaurant, I thought I would order a pi jiu (beer). Now a ~ 22 oz Yanjing bottle of beer near my hotel would be $3.5 kuai (about 50 cents). On the menu, it said $28 (just a little under $5). I thought, holy shit that’s expensive! But I thought, what the heck, just order one. You should have seen the look on my face when the lady came back w/ a 12 oz can! For 28 kuai? I could have had ~ 6 bottles for that much.
I took the subway to the Beijing National Stadium complex (aka Bird’s Nest & Water Cube). The Bird’s Nest is also known as the National Stadium. I loved it. Every Olympics in the future will be compared to this one probably in my lifetime so I was excited to finally see it. The Nest is so cool and just so different. The architecture is so different from any sports structure I had seen before and I have seen a lot. There’s a huge pedestrian walkway once you exit the subway to the Olympic Green. To my left was the Water Cube & to my right was the Bird’s Nest. I read on the net that the Nest draws 20-30K visitors a day at 50 kuai apiece. That’s at least $150K USD a day at the minimum.
I paid my ticket and entered the stadium. Basically you can walk around at your own leisure and direction for the most part. You could not enter the stadium floor/field unless you paid extra for a Segway cart. I did not do that. I think it was like $150 kuai which I thought was not worth it. But it was just so cool being inside the stadium where the Olympics were held and seeing the membrane, the flag poles, the Presidential seating area, the track, etc. I thought the walkways/concourses and stairs were so cool/so different than other venues. Hopefully the pics show this.
It was kind of disappointing not to see the cauldron lit. I was not sure it should be lit or not but I think it should be; all the time.
It was very hot. When walking around outside the stadium, I thought I would enter this huge tent to buy a bottle of water. The tent was huge with about 30 food vendors on both sides and a dining/seating area in the middle. I did not order anything as I was still stuffed from the buffet. One thing I did notice was one vendor selling cat's ears. No joke.
Well it was getting to be late in the afternoon and I needed to head back to the hotel for a banquet to celebrate our training/teaching in Beijing and receive our 'Teaching English as a Foreign Language in China' certificates. We received our certificates, had a meal, some drinks, and then called it a day.
The stadium is just huge. All the walking and stairs but I agree you had to see it. China is so big. You might never had another chance. Don't like the menu with cat's ears but know they eat all parts of all animals that have their backs facing the sun. Quite a difference in the beer price. It is amazing that that many visitors visit the Birds Nest per day.
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