Beijing Discovery Tours

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!