Beijing Discovery Tours

I was fortunate enough to attend some of the Paralympic Games events here in Beijing this past couple of weeks - Wheelchair Rugby and Wheelchair Basketball.  Since we saw Wheelchair Rugby first, the basketball seemed pretty tame by comparison, but that Wheelchair Rugby was exciting! The crowds here in Beijing were great, the venue at the Beijing University of Science and Technology was very nice and the sport itself was amazing to watch. I got to watch the gold medal game, which the USA won against Australia, but the most incredible player on the court was #3 Ryley Batt for Australia, that guy was unstoppable. If you ever have the chance, be sure to check out Wheelchair Rugby (or Quad Rugby as it used to be called); it will change the way that you think about people in wheelchairs.

Now that all of the Olympics and Paralympic Games are over, it will be interesting to see how Beijing transforms these fantastic Olympic venues for use by the general public. I for one will miss the huge Olympic flame that burned over the Bird’s Nest during both the Olympic and Paralympic Games, it really was inspiring to see it, and to hear the sound of it burning whenever I was in the Olympic Park. These Games have been a time in my life that I will never forget.

Obviously I haven’t been keeping up with this blog lately, not that anyone noticed or cared, but it has been an interesting past month. The Beijing Summer Olympics 2008 were enormously successful, and I am not sure that I have ever had so much fun in my life! Personally I was able to attend 9 events, including basketball, field hockey, baseball, boxing, diving, and beach volleyball (that was probably the most fun event of them all, the gold medal game between the USA and Brazil). I was fortunate enough to meet the head baseball coach of my alma mater, Oklahoma State University, and watched the last half of the USA vs. Japan (USA won in extra innings) with Coach Frank Anderson, who is not only a great baseball coach but a great human being.

I met the movie actor Vince Vaughn in a nearly-deserted bar in Sanlitun, and he was gracious enough to take a picture with me even though it was very late.

All in all, it was an incredible experience and I feel very fortunate that I was able to experience such an incredible Olympic Games in my adopted hometown of Beijing. Not only was it a great Olympic Games for me on a personal level, it also seems that such positive exposure around the world has increased interest in people coming to China, and we are getting many inquiries about tours of Beijing and tours of China. It is great to see that Beijing presented such a positive image for the world, and that we will be able to show many more people what an amazing city Beijing truly is.

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.

I have to admit that I was completely cynical about the Beijing Summer Olympics 2008 before they began. All of the extra security measures, rumors, demolition of historic landmarks, etc. took a toll on my feelings towards the Olympics here, and in fact, I haven’t paid much attention to any of the Olympics at all since they were in Atlanta in 1996, and that was just because my parents went. But having now attended 4 events, and having seen the fantastic Olympic Park around the main venues, I have to admit that I am impressed. Attendance has been poor at every event that I have seen, even last night’s men’s diving, and I suspect that that is because scalpers have bought up too many tickets and are unwilling to sell them at reasonable prices, even if it means that they have to eat those tickets. Face values of tickets were relatively cheap, so it must be more profitable for them to refuse to sell at lower prices than to sell a few at outrageous prices, hence the number of empty seats at most of the events. It’s a shame though, because it not only looks bad for China on tv, but so many people are also missing out on the world’s premiere sporting events. I wouldn’t have thought it possible before, but these Olympics have actually been a lot of fun! Gotta run and see if I can pick up some fairly cheap tickets for any of tonight’s events - probably not possible but a person has got to try!

I have many horror stories to write about my bad experiences with the U.S. airlines, but with the Olympics on here in Beijing there are too many fun things to do rather than complain about poor quality U.S. businesses. I can pass along this link, with the story showing how even though fuel prices are decreasing these days, the U.S. airlines are still piling on the charges for even poorer service. One of the comments posted to the article tells a story about how the airline Nazis wouldn’t allow him/her to pack one bag inside of another bag, even though it fit perfectly and caused no problems. Way to go U.S. airlines, USA! USA! http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/travel/2008-08-11-rising-airline-fees_N.htm

Citysearch has once again charged my credit card for their fraudulent “clicks” on my ads that I could never even find on their Citysearch index - 200 or so clicks in 4 days with no clicks any other day…..looks like I will have to use my lawyer status when I go home in December to file a lawsuit against these jerks.

I was lucky enough to go watch the USA basketball team play Australia in Shanghai a couple of days ago, and I flew down there and back on China Eastern Airlines. Because it was just a 24-hour trip, I only took a few things and did not want to check any bags, but I still took a can of mousse (completely necessary because I desperately need a haircut.) Unfortunately it was a big can, and it was confiscated by airport security, and they just threw it in the trash can. The only reason that this is notable is that the Chinese airport security people were very friendly throughout my journey both going to Shanghai and coming back to Beijing, such a huge difference from what I see in the U.S. every time I go back. Even though both Beijing and Shanghai airports are under the highest levels of security due to the Olympics beginning tomorrow, airport security people here still manage to smile and be friendly. Also, the friend that I was traveling with managed to change his ticket even to another airline to get on the same return flight as me, and it was absolutely no problem. He didn’t even have to pay a change fee! The U.S.A. could stand to learn a thing or two from how the airlines and airports operate here in China (although our basketball team looks like it will do very well in these Olympics.)

Another article showing the decline of the U.S. as a foreign tourist destination and discussing the huge economic impact that it has had on the U.S. economy: http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0729/p01s04-ussc.html

Last Sunday the Chinese government began restrictions intended to curb pollution for the Olympics period, including only allowing private cars to be driven every other day, based on an odd-even license plate number restriction, and shutting down most manufacturing and construction in Beijing and its surrounding areas. I’ve been reading how pleased the government is with its efforts and how the blue skies have been proof of its success. My question is, as I sit here in my 13th floor apartment building just 2 subway stops east of Guo Mao and the Central Business District of Beijing’s downtown area - where are these blue skies and how do you find them? From my observations, there has been even more pollution this week than before, although the previous week’s air was likely cleaned up by the nice rains that we had back then, plus I got out of the city on a trip to the Juyongguan Great Wall with a tour group of law students. I’m certainly not complaining about the restrictions though - taxi rides take half the time with no traffic jams, maybe they can implement this odd/even thing forever? - but it seems that it is going to take more to actually clear the air before the Olympics begin in less than 2 weeks.

It seems that Beijing taxi drivers take a lot of criticism, some of it undoubtedly deserved, but 99.9% of all of the hundreds of taxi rides that I have had in traveling in Beijing over the past 8 years have been fine, and some of them even exceptional. Yesterday was one of those taxi rides - I took a short ride with a Beijing taxi driver from my home to Chaoyang Lu. The driver had the option of taking a longer route, but he chose the shortest way, and the final fare was 11 yuan. Seeing that I had only 100 yuan bills and a ten yuan bill, he happily accepted ten and told me not to worry about the other 1 yuan. I have had taxi rides where the driver will continue to inch forward until he gets the meter to record one additional yuan (those are the taxi drivers that give all of the rest a bad name), so it was great to have this friendly taxi driver accept a kuai less for the ride. I was happy to see that he also picked up 3 passengers right as I got out of his taxi. So here’s to the friendly taxi drivers of Beijing - they are out there, so don’t let the few bad ones give them all a bad reputation!