Several people have asked me about pictures of the food I have eaten here in China. One of the best meals I have had was Peking Duck. It is slices of crispy duck that you place on a thin pancake with slices of cucumber, onion and a sweet sauce. I love the lazy susans they use here so everyone can help themselves.
I have had lots of dumplings... steamed and pan fried.
This is "vegetarian shrimp" with deep fried tea leaves. The shrimp are actually made of yam and taste surprisingly like real shrimp. I really liked the tea leaves too, they were salty and sort of like crispy seaweed.
And of course I have had lots of noodles.
I love how the Coke cans are in Chinese. They have special designs for the Olympics too. I have been drinking more orange juice and tea than Coke though.
I went to visit the Lama Temple which is interesting because it is one that is still in use. Instead of empty rooms, they were filled with artifacts.
The last of the five main halls has an 80 foot Buddha carved from a single piece of sandalwood. It's big enough to be in the Guinness Book of World Records!
Domo and Piglet are shooting for the Guiness record for most traveled stuffed critters.
I was back inside the Bird's Nest to see the athletics competition. Aka Track and Field.
My new favorite thing to do is to walk up to the top seats of each stadium... as far as I can go, and take a picture of the entire venue. Quite a view.
Sometimes it's a little hair raising. I usually don't have a problem with heights but some of these stadiums go wayyyyy up. Look at me gripping the bar for dear life. I just felt as though I might tumble over the edge and roll all the way down to the track.
I got to see the Olympic basketball stadium for the first time when I saw the USA play Australia. It looks like pieces of celery stacked up around the edge.
Piglet and Domo rooting for the redeem team.
Again, another woozy trip to the top of the stadium. Worth the shot though.
Today I went to the Forbidden City. It is ginormous. Building after building.
Domo and Piglet were hardly able to get the whole way through.
There is symbolism in everything at the Forbidden City. The number nine is the luckiest number, so the doors have nine rows and nine columns of bolts.
The more important a building is, the more critters there are on the corners of the roof... the most being nine. The gift shops and restrooms only had three.
Today I went to see the Temple of Heaven. The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests is my favorite historical building so far. It's so perfectly round, I would like to have a cupcake shaped like it.
And did you know Kodak is on Flickr? Our newest digital picture frame can display your images from Flickr so we started a photostream there. Check it out and add us as a contact if you like.
Today I got to do something I have always wanted to do. Visit the Great Wall of China.
We went to the section of the Wall in Mutianyu. You have to take a cable car to the top of the mountain to get to the Great Wall. We kept trying to get in one that Bill Clinton had been in.
I have seen the award ceremony for the Men's Team Gymnastics and the Women's Team Gymnastics. Each time the mascots came out and tumbled around while they were setting up the podiums.
On one hand they could hardly see with their big ol heads and kept bumping into one another. On the other hand they were still able to do flips and handsprings.
Look their little arms can hardle reach the floor with the massive head in the way. That takes talent. I can't wait to see what the mascots do at a swimming award ceremony.
I found the Olympic Super Store... wowee. Mascot goodies galore. I bought a super lot.
I just love the stadiums that were built for the Beijing Olympics. Like my friend Joel, I enjoy massive man-made structures, like Hoover Dam and the Falkirk Wheel. Not only are they unique but they are just ginormous. They all look amazing lit up at night like the Bird's Nest does in this picture.
I was so pleased to get this shot of the Bird's Nest during the day. I have been told you don't see many blue skies in Beijing.
Here is Ling Long Pagoda at night. I stood waiting for a long time for the rainbow combination of colored lights to come up.
Here is a picture from the base, looking up. Again, blue skies.
And my favorite. The Water Cube. Someone on my 1000 Words blog post said they put a moat around it because the bubble are popable. Oooooh. Just like bubble wrap.
Sad thing is, these stadiums are so amazing that now when I go to a "regular" one, even if it is still very nicely designed in it's own right, I am like "Ho hum".
I have a lot more factoids about the stadiums over on my 1000 Words blog post. You can leave me comments there.
Of course I am using all Kodak Digital Cameras here at the Beijing Olympics. A Kodak Zi6 Pocket HD Video Camera, Kodak V705 Dual Lens and a Kodak M1063. And they are all PINK.
I get a lot of looks when I keep pulling them out of my bag.
I've been using these cameras to capture pictures like these at the women's gymnastics competition. I will be uploading some video soon too.
Mixed country team lining up for the vault.
Team France coach giving a few last minutes of advice.
(Jami asked in my comments who was taking pictures of me. Check out my 1000Words post to see my picture taking cohort and see what kind of camera he uses too)
I just can't get enough of the Beijing Olympic Mascots! I swear it's like they knew I was coming when they designed them.
I don't know if I am going to be able to fit them all in my suitcase.
Some Olympic Mascot factoids:
- they are called Fuwa or "friendlies"
- there is a Fish, a Panda, a Tibetan Antelope, a Swallow and the Olympic Flame
- when you put their names together - Bei Jing Huan Ying Ni - they say "Welcome to Beijing"
- they represent five elements of nature - the sea, forest, fire, earth and sky
- each one is a color of an Olympic ring
Today I am leaving for Beijing to blog about the 2008 Olympics for work. I haven't said much about it... a twitter here and there, because it seemed to good to be true. But everything worked out and I leave today.
I am exicited, thrilled and anxious all in one. It will take me a whole day to get there. I plan on blogging when I am there and also for 1000 Words. I will be taking a ton of pictures and sharing my adventures.
