Before the Bird's Nest

Before the Bird's Nest

 

 

 

 

(I wrote this the day after the Ceremonies, but didn’t get a chance to post until today). China put on one of the greatest shows on Earth last night. I wouldn’t know, actually I have yet to see the Opening Ceremonies. I had quite an experience last night. My friends and I were determined to see the fireworks. We figure the country invented the stuff, so the Ceremonies should be a dazzling pyrotechnic spectacle. And that it was. 

We took a cab from Beijing Language and Culture University to the Bird’s Nest. Our friends had reserved a table at a restaurant near the Nest. We all split up and it ended up being myself and a Brit with a cab following us with three people (one of whom is a fellow Boulderite, Theron Haan. We studied in Nanjing together). By the time we got to the Nest at 6:30, it was a complete madhouse. We had somehow jumped off of our taxi in mid-traffic, after throwing 15 kuai to the driver and duck-and-rolling out of the cab into a nearby bush. From there it became a rendezvous operation to meet up with the rest of the group. It is pretty accurate to compare last night’s adventure to a warzone or refugee camp. We knew where our friends were- sort of- but getting there was nearly impossible. We went through checkpoint after checkpoint of guards, in the opposite direction of the stadium. Since we didn’t have tickets we couldn’t actually get close to anything. In a summarized list, this is what we experienced:

 

1.)    Being kicked off a bridge

2.)    Jumping a fence and running across a highway

3.)    Being caught in the midst of a taping for a Chinese news show with a throng of college students chanting Go China (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEi2DrORbx4)

4.)    A labyrinthine journey through twisting alleyways

5.)    Sweet talking my way past a guard by saying we lived in a nearby apartment

6.)    Calling the restaurant to locate my friend and having a local 60 or so year old woman take me by the hand and weave use through the crowds to get the restaurant, walking over a kilometer with us. What a nice lady. 

 

Theron Doin' His Tai Chi to manage stress

 There were a few burst of fireworks that got our hopes up, but then around 12:30 AM the real show started. And what a show it was. Including over 3 minutes of non-stop explosions, at one point in the shape of the Olympic rings. A small child (watch the video) kept saying “So pretty! So pretty!” I have to agree with him and shared in his excitement. After the Nest’s works ended it seemed the rest of the city got a show too. I could hear explosions in front and behind me, and saw the reflections of the fireworks off the glass of the skyscrapers. What a show.

(I just put up a youtube video of the action, but I can’t access youtube after I posted it. Censorship is still pretty serious. I’ll write another post on what I can and can’t access later. When I can sneak through the filters I’ll post the videos. This sort of stuff is pretty common here…)

 

Yes, I got through, here are some videos:

The Fireworks:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVuFQfuyMig

Getting Kicked off the Bridge:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69aUz3IHO8c

 

The walk back was terrible as no cab was empty. Took us an hour to get home- but it was so worth it.

 

Here’s a look at the night in pictures:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2028828&l=e2a96&id=14500792

Here are some other amazing pictures another Boulderite sent me: http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/08/2008_olympics_opening_ceremony.html

 

  

 

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