Saturday, August 09, 2008

Beijing 2008 - The Summer Olympiad: Arriving at the Olympic Park

09AUG08 The Olympic village - Choayang District

This was the picture when I stepped out of the subway in the city; people needing tickets for events. I guess I've arrived at the XXIX Olympiad.






You can see more pictures here:
Bird's Nest
The Cube
An Overview of the Games
Women's Field hockey

Beijing 2008 - The Summer Olympiad: Arriving in Beijing Capital, PROC (PEK) from Newark Liberty, Newark NJ (EWR)

09AUG08 Beijing Capital International, Beijing People's Republic of China (PEK)

We touched down smoothly at the end of the runway. I noticed a few airplanes on the left, one of them a Northwest Airlines Boeing 747-200. I did not think they flew those anymore, so I was wondering what it was doing there. Next to it was Air Force One, a Boeing 747 as well as a Boeing 757-200 in U.S. Government colors as well as a C147. So the President of the U.S. is in town.

We exited the runway and then made our way to the gate. It was not that I got my first look at the new terminal. It is quite cool indeed. Hard to see with the skies the way it was murky.

Here are some other items that were on the tarmac:
















We pulled up to our gate and then I disembarked and headed for Immigration. As I left the plane, I was handed a pamphlet labeled "Information for U.S. Citizens Abroad in China." It was specifically done for the Olympics and the Paralympics. It talked about registering with the U.S. Consulate, etc. I briefly read it and continued on. I cleared Immigration with ease and the same thing for customs.

I headed outside and noticed that they had a train, so I asked some questions and found it eventually. Sadly, I had walked outside the airport so I had to go through security checks to get back in. No issues there.

I paid the 25 Yuan fare and with my trusty map that was given to me on arrival and the hotel information, figured out how to make it to the hotel. I would need to change at the first stop and then take the Metro for 2 Yaun for about four stops.

I had just missed a train, but the wait for the next one was about 10 minutes or so. Once it arrived, we all boarded and took the 20 minutes ride to the next stop.

Here are some pictures of the city on my way to the city.






Inside the train.





The highways are empty.

A lone rider on this big street.

Another lone rider on the street; this is unusual as usually there are a lot of other bicycle riders.

It was easy to switch trains arriving at my destination without issues.