Eric's Beijing Diary

John sent me a message this morning that he was going to head out to Shunyi and try to get tickets for the boat races. I have never seen boat races, except on TV, so I decided it was worth a try. We took the subway to the stop near the Olympic Green and caught a bus to Shunyi. There were three of us, and none of us had tickets. A middle European tourist came along and sold us one, so John told me to go ahead and go in. Andy managed to buy one a short time later, and John met someone who gave him one for free. John's pretty good at that.

It was a beautiful day. Blue sky. But the sun was very direct, and it was a hot day. Made me glad that the softball game had been at night. The VIP section on the other side of the "river" was covered, and those guys had the sun behind them. The medals ceremony took place over there, and you would have needed a pretty powerful set of binoculars to see what was happening. I know the Brits and Germans each won a gold, because the because the band played "My Country 'Tis of Thee," and "Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken"

The competition in the event is very intense. But I think this is one event I would rather watch on TV.