Beijing Summer Olympics 2008 are over, let the party begin!
I have never had so much fun in my life as I have had over the past three weeks in Beijing - great events, great parties, the entire atmosphere of the city was something like I have never experienced before. We don’t often get celebrity sightings in Beijing, but stars of both the athletic and entertainment industry were everywhere. My coolest “brush with greatness” was meeting Vince Vaughn at this little bar last Saturday night - it was late, but he was gracious enough to take the picture with me rather than telling me to get lost, so I have a lot of respect for him for that! I hated to bother him but it was one of those moments where you just have to do it or regret it forever.
It also seems that the coverage of the Olympics has been very positive for Beijing, and my company Beijing Discovery Tours is getting a lot of inquiries for Beijing - Xi’an tours and Beijing tours in general. So although initially the Olympics seems to have hurt our business, it also seems that tourism due to the extra positive exposure from the Olympics will have a positive effect on tourism to Beijing and China in general.
What a great time it was to be in Beijing this summer, definitely worth all of the hassles, increased security checks, etc. I didn’t approve of some of the things that were done (many of the blue-shirted volunteers were actually either police or army members, they were pretty rude when clearing venues after the events) and transportation between venues was horrifically hot, crowded and inefficient, but overall, it was an incredible experience and I am so glad that I was here to be a part of such a huge celebration in my adopted hometown.