Beijing Impressions, Day 3

Went to see wrestling today; Greco-Roman, I believe. Among others, I spotted fellow Husker Brad Vering. He got knocked out in the quarterfinals, but still, always nice to see a familiar face.

I'm pretty sure that nearly all of the non-natives in the audience were current or former wrestlers themselves. Never seen so much cauliflower ear in my life.

I've also gotten used to the ear-splitting screams and chants whenever a Chinese athlete comes out; it's only natural at events dominated by the home crowd. Still, I got pretty annoyed today when they kept chanting while the athletes were competing, which hadn't really happened before. Couldn't hear yourself think, and for some sports, it seems pretty disrespectful?

Finally had some real Chinese food; fast food, true, but at least it wasn't ramen. The place was called "Harmonious Valley", if I penetrated the Engrish correctly. Most WTF moment: the Thousand Island dressing that accompanied the salad was Kewpie branded.

So there are these Olympic mascots, whose colors match the ring colors. They're everywhere, on everything, merchandised even more heavily than the Olympic logos themselves. Anyway, after staring at them for the upteenth time on my placemat, I finally realized that they've interpreted the colors to represent the five elements of traditional Chinese medicine/feng shui/etc. Pretty clever, actually.

I don't think I've mentioned Charles before; he's my semi-host here in Beijing. He's a friend of my dad's, and he's been giving me pointers on where to go and what to do. In my hunt for gifts for friends back home (besides Olympic merchandising), he pointed me to a place called Silk Road.

Boy, was it a trip. The only way I can describe it is like a bazaar or flea market, except compressed and stacked five stories high. Like a department store, except with stalls, and you get accosted by pushy salespeople every few steps. Never encountered anything quite like it, even in Asia. Anyways, found some great stuff, but some of you readers will be the recipients, so no hints.

Charles also said that the place was a mandatory stop for foreign tourists, and boy, was he kidding. The place was jam-packed, and hardly a Chinese face in sight. Instead, I lost count of the number of athletes and coaches I spotted (they're all wearing credentials). Not to mention, I recognized a ton of people who'd been sitting near me at the various venues. In a city of seventeen million, the odds ought to be astronomical against, but this place was totally a Nexus of All Worlds.

Finally succeeded in snagging some more tickets, so I'll be attending track & field tomorrow night at the Bird's Nest (hooray!). I plan on arriving early and staying late so as to snag lots of photos of it and the Water Cube nearby. During the day, I think I'll hit up the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. God knows I'm going to need all day, the place is simply massive. More to come tomorrow...