They think it's all over, it is now

Well, that’s it for another four years.

The 2008 Olympic Games have now finished and all eyes turn to London .

It has been an incredibly successful Games for Great Britain and it is going to be tough to match the number of medals achieved in Beijing on home soil in 2012.

But what a great Olympics it has been for athletes from our region as well.

Heather Fell led the way with a brilliant silver medal in the modern pentathlon, but 21-year-old Cassie Patten was not far behind with a bronze in the 10km open water swim and a final appearance in the 800m.

Also reaching Olympic finals were teenage divers Tom Daley and Tonia Couch, who finish seven and eighth respectively in their individual platform competitions.

Plymouth-born Jon Bleby also helped Britain to fifth place in the hockey event, which far exceeded their world ranking. Jon played every minute of every match for the GB team.

And we cannot forget Michaela Breeze’s inspirational performance in the weightlifting, where she bravely battled against a back injury to take 15th spot and the admiration of the entire crowd.

I don’t think the Plymouth region as ever had as much success at an Olympic Games before. Normally we only one or two athletes even qualify. The most I can remember is three in 2000.

Now it is the turn of Torpoint table tennis player David Wetherill and Kelly College swimmers Louise Watkin, Lauren Steadman and Claire Cashmore to show the world what they can do in the Paralympics which start next month in Beijing .

I know tickets are selling well for that event and table tennis is very popular out here, so David should have a big crowd to watch him compete.

Unfortunately, I cannot stay out here for another month to watch them compete also.

My stay in Beijing ends tomorrow and I will soon be back in the nice moderate weathered climate of Plymouth.

I am quite impressed that I have managed nearly three weeks in China without getting run over at a zebra crossing, killed by a crazy taxi driver, starved to death or persuaded to buy a host of electrical or clothing goods that I didn’t really want.

That later proved very difficult yesterday when I visited the famous Silk Market.

These Chinese market stall and shop assistants really know how to getting you to part with you cash. It takes a strong will not to give in.

I managed it reasonably well. I didn’t buy a new digital camera, an Ipod phone, a watch, jewellery, a bag or a camcorder, which seemed the most popular items I was being offered.

It is incredible because even though you don’t want something you nearly end up buying it.

I only walked into one shop just to have a look to see if there was anything I could buy for my nieces and nephew.

Before I knew I was being offered a digital camera. When I said I didn’t want one as I already had one, I was then offered a digital camcorder.

This camcorder was extremely small, but I've never really wanted one and I certainly didn’t need it, yet I got the full works.

The price started off at 2,500 Yuan but I just kept telling the assistant that I wasn’t interest. However, the assistant kept offering more and more free things with it and reducing the price. Within five minutes it was down to 1500 Yuan and two rechargeable batteries, two sets of normal batteries and a SD card had been thrown in. At which point I am thinking maybe this is a good deal. Fortunately, my brain kicked it and I told myself that I would be parting with cash for something I didn’t want – even if it was a good deal. To try and get away I tried the ‘I have got enough money on me at the moment but maybe I’ll come back later’, but the reply was ‘you can pay with Visa’.

I eventually got away and I manage to resist similar offers for expensive goods, but I admit I failed to get away from some even tougher sales assistants and I ended up with some chopsticks and four pairs of Olympic socks, which came with a free hat – all items which I didn’t want or need, but fortunately were only a few quid.

The chopsticks ended up a 100 times cheaper than the first offer I was made – I kid you not! I just jokingly started to barter when she made the first offer. I never thought for a minute she would eventually agree to my low offer. Then when she did I was stuck with some posh chopsticks. I am now going to have to find a recipient for them who doesn’t read this paper.

However, I now realise why the socks were so cheap, and came with a free hat, as who ever had made them could not spell Beijing in English! I am sure the 'e' is an 'a'. I have to admit I didn’t look I just agreed to buy them to get away from her.

If you are in Beijing visiting the markets is an experience you must have, but don’t take much money unless you specifically want something.

Anyway, today is the day when I hopefully get to the Great Wall. I am just hoping it doesn’t rain, because I won’t get another chance to see it.

No time to haggle

What a few days it has been for this region at the Olympics with Heather Fell taking silver in the modern pentathlon yesterday, Cassie Patten collecting bronze in the 10km swim on Wednesday, Tonia Couch finishing an impressive eighth in the diving on Thursday and Tom Daley qualifying for today diving semi-finals.

I spent the whole day watching Heather in the modern pentathlon yesterday – now there is a tough sport to compete in and to watch.


The event started at 8.30am in the morning and finished at 8.15pm and took place at three different venues. The shooting and fencing were staged at one venue, the swimming at another, with show jumping and the running at a third.

There is an average of one-and-a-half hours between each one event, which does not leave a lot of time to get to different venues and eat.

But it was worth the effort to see Heather claim a medal in an exciting end to a thrilling competition.

Heather even managed to attract the support of HRH Princess Anne and the Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Mr Brown turned up to see some of the fencing and his arrival caused a bit of a commotion in China ’s National Fencing Hall.

More eyes were on him at one point than on the fencing.

The Chinese certainly seemed exciting by his arrival, although he was not mobbed as much as Tonia had been the Aquatic Centre the day before, but, there again, he did have a large security force with him!

The run at the end of the pentathlon was thrilling to watch and I love the fact that athletes’ points after the previous four events are converted into time advantages on the run. So the athlete with the most points after four events starts first and then all the rest go off at varying times afterwards.

It means that unlike the heptathlon and decathlon you know exactly who has won the medals at the end.

The most entertaining event to watch of the pentathlon is the show jumping, which is the most unpredictable of the five disciplines.

This is because the athletes don’t know the horse they are going to get. They have a draw for the horses.

Now they are not suppose to be any nags in the Olympics, but most of the athletes were worried they might get one.

The horse Heather was drawn was described as being lazy, but she showed what a good horse women she is by riding an impressive round.

The next competitor to ride the same horse did not have quite as good a ride and there were some comical moments with athletes trying to handle unknown horses.

One horse refused three times to go over a jump, but the rider eventually got him to do it, but when they finished the race the horse got its own back by throwing the competitors off into a giant plant pot.

Today sees Tom Daley will bring to an end the involvement of our local athletes in the Olympic Games when he competes in the men’s platform diving event.

He was our first athlete to compete, when he took part in the synchro, and he will be the last.

Hopefully, tomorrow, after everything is out of the way, I will finally get to visit the Great Wall and maybe the markets.

I had a quick look in one of the main tourist markets the other day and it was quite frightening, but exciting at the same time.

It was probably as well I didn’t have much money on me or time to really look around.

You just have to walk near a stall and you have assistants saying ‘lady you want nice t-shirt?’, ‘lady, you want nice chopsticks?’, ‘lady you want designer watch?’ and so on - I am not making it up honest!

Nothing is priced up and they ask you what you want to pay, which is a start of a long, negotiating process, which involves the seller and prospective buyer passes a giant calculator between them until they can agree on a figure.

I just looked the other day but I might try my hand at bartering tomorrow.

Rain , rain, rain

The rain arrived in force again in Beijing yesterday.

I didn’t see it, but I was told even the running track in the main stadium was underwater at one point.

I got absolutely soaked on my way to watch Tonia Couch in yesterday morning’s semi-final – the rain even managed to penetrate my supposedly waterproof coat and bag.

I had to buy some new socks and spent quite while trying to dry the rest of my clothes under a hand dryer.

When I was in ‘The Cube’ watching Tonia in the morning you could hear the rain absolutely hammering on the roof of the building.

There does appear to be a cycle over here with the weather. You have about five days with the temperature getting hotter and hotter then a day of torrential rain.

Fortunately the diving event in Beijing is inside so I was spared getting another soaking later.

Tonia did brilliantly to not only make the final but then finish in the top eight.

She was so excited afterwards that she went in search of her parents, who were brimming with pride.

“That’s as good as winning a medal for us,” said dad Chris afterwards. “I was so emotional watching her hold it together like that in front of 15,000 Chinese peope. It was unbelievable.”

However, Tonia almost caused a riot in the arena by going to say hello to her proud parents, who were waiting in the lobby.

Diving is one of the most popular sports in China and soon people starting recognising her and everyone wanted a picture taken with her.

It started with the Chinese, but she later had Mexicans, with hats, and even Australians all wanting to be pictured with her.

It got so bad that eventually security staff appeared on the scene to try and move people on and they politely asked Tonia if she could return to the athletes section.

At least Tonia’s parents did have the chance to say congratulations to their daughter almost immediately afterwards.

The poor Patten family the day before wanted to join their daughter, Cassie, in her celebrations in winning a bronze medal in the open water swim, but they weren’t able to as their tickets only entitled them to access to one side of the rowing lake and not the side where the medal ceremony and all athletes were.

They made the long walk around to try and see her, but the security staff would not let them in, despite their pleading.

When I left the rowing lake two hours after Cassie had finished, her mum, dad and sister were still sat outside the main entrance hoping to meet up and congratulate their daughter.

The only problem here is that the people, although so polite and helpful, will not bend the rules for anything. Once a plan or rule has been made it cannot be changed.

Yesterday I went to get some breakfast in the media canteen and I noticed there were no small cups next to the coffee machine.

They normally do coffee in two sizes, small and large. The large is about a pint – far too much for me. Anyway, I ask if there are any small cups and I am told ‘no small cups’.

I’m thinking I don’t want to pay for a large coffee that I know I will end up throwing half of it away, so I say to the assistant ‘can I have a small coffee in a big cup?’ at which I get the same reply ‘no small cups’.

I try again to explain what I meant, at which point a New Zealander arrives and starts laughing. He says ‘You have no chance there. That will just confuse them totally’.

I eventually decided I would just have a small coffee in a big cup anyway, but when I went to press the machine they had removed the small coffee option from the day before – just because they had no small cups.

So I had to have a large coffee, which I did end up throwing half of it away, and it turned out that the other café upstairs had small cups.

I am still wondering why they couldn’t borrow some small cups from somewhere else. At least they only charged the same price for the large one as the small one.

I have to say, though, that the volunteers and staff are all very nice people – even if they won’t bend a rule or change a plan. At least they are polite about it.

It has, though, become a bit of a game with the foreigners in Beijing at the moment to try and get the staff to not following the book totally, although nobody is having much luck at the moment. People are having fun trying, though!

Success for Cassie

What a good day it was yesterday with Cassie Patten winning a bronze medal in the marathon swim and diver Tonia Couch qualifying for the semi-finals of the women’s platform competition.

It was great to see Cassie win her medal.

And that round bit of metal about three inches in diameter meant everything to her and she struggled to control her emotions afterwards.

She cried all through the medal ceremony and was still shedding tears when she entered a press conference nearly an hour after the race. Every time she looked at the medal around her neck her eyes just filled up.

Her family were just as bad as well, but you can’t blame them as it is not every day you see your daughter or sister win an Olympic medal.

Yesterday was the first time the 10km open water marathon swim has been included in the Olympics, but I think it could prove to be very popular.

What surprised me more than anything was how aggressive the swimmers can be. To try and cut down on the dirty tricks there is a yellow and red card scheme in place.

Swimmers who intentionally hamper or foul another competitor get one warning – a yellow card – and if they do it again they are chucked out of the race.

What was also quite interesting to watch was how the swimmers take on liquid. Like a normal running marathon there are drinks stations around the course. In this case it involves a team official holding out a long pole in the water with the country’s flag on it so that the swimmers know which drink to take. Then you can only watch in amazement as the swimmers quickly turn on their backs have a few sips and then get back to their normal stroke. It makes drinking while running seem easy..

But what totally blew me away is the distance these competitors are swimming.

You are talking over six miles, which is 400 lengths of you every day 25m pool and with no sides to touch.

Yet despite that distance nearly every major championship in recent years has come down to a sprint finish. It is incredible to think that an event that takes two hours to complete nearly always comes down to hundredths of a second.

HRH Princess Anne was at yesterday’s race and she seemed quite interested in the Olympics’ newest water event.

When London hosts the 2012 Games the open water swim is going to be stage in the Serpentine – I wonder how they are going to get all the ducks and geese to stay away.

It is funny I have not yet seen a live duck in Beijing , despite visiting a number of areas with water, but I have seen plenty of cooked ones.

Another thing I have not seen in Beijing is a bike with a light on.

Last night my taxi driving nearly took out three cyclists at different stages of my journey back to my hotel – mind you he also nearly took out two pedestrians on a zebra crossing by doing a you-turn and nearly hit two other cars. Yet I think that is just a normal day driving in Beijing .

The begining of the end

IT IS hard to believe that in a few days the Olympics will be over.

The last events are staged on Sunday, as is the closing ceremony.

However, for Plymouth the final five days are action packed..

Today, swimmer Cassie Patten and diver Tonia Couch are competing. Tonia could also be in action tomorrow if she qualifies for the semi-final stage in the women’s 10m platform.

Friday, sees modern pentathlete Heather Fell make her Olympic debut, while teenage diving sensation Tom Daley will also begin his individual campaign the same day.

Daley will also compete on Saturday, if he reaches the semi-finals, while hockey player Jon Bleby will be in action on the penultimate day in a fifth and sixth play-off game.

Speaking to the families of the local athletes who are out here they are all enjoying their experience of Beijing .

Most have been taking in the sights as well as the Olympics.

Prior to yesterday, the only place I had been was the Forbidden City, but I had a few hours spare in between interviews yesterday so I decided to visit the Summer Palace that Karen Graddon had been telling me about.

I didn’t quite know what to expect, but it totally surpassed my expectations. It is basically a host of picturesque Chinese palaces set around a giant lake.


There are boats that tour the lake or you can even take a pedalo out or a little motor cruiser.



It is actually somewhere where you really need to spend a full day rather than just a few hours, but I would definitely recommend it if visiting Beijing.



I was going to follow the directions in tourist book I had, which said to take the subway and then a cab, but a helpful guide near my hotel told me the best way was to take a bus.

She told me which bus number it was and I went and waited for it to come.

However, all the other buses I had been on were around the Olympic complex and they were free, but this was going to be a district one.

As soon as I got on the bus I realised I didn’t how much the fare was, what the procedure was for buying a ticket and whether I was going to know when to get off.

There was a ticket women sat half way up the bus, although most people where using some sort of electronic card to pay.

Anyway, I went up to the ticket women and showed her where I wanted to go on the map and held out some money, hoping she would understand – wrong.

Next thing I know she is making an announcement and suddenly an Olympic volunteer comes from the back of the bus to interpret. It appears the ticket women must have asked whole bus over the PA system if any spoke English – no wonder everyone started looking at me. It reminded me of aeroplane films where they ask if there is a doctor on board.

Anyway this young volunteer was really nice and she told me the ticket women would tell me when to get off. She then decided to practice her English on me.

The girl, who was a student of Chinese medicine and was working at the beach volleyball venue, wanted to know why I was going to the Summer Palace on a hot afternoon. She was telling me you should visit later when it is not so hot. I tried to explain the phrase ‘mad dogs and Englishmen’ to her. She claimed she understood, but I’m not sure she did!

Interestingly, she did tell me that trendy Chinese people try to avoid the sun – hence all the umbrellas – as they don’t want their skin to go dark. She said that people want to look more like westerners.

I just cannot get over how helpful everyone is over here – and the staff and volunteers are showing no signs of flagging, unlike all the journalists!

After my coffee stirring incident the previous day, yesterday I had two of the workers in the main media canteen almost fighting to put my bread through the toaster.

I wanted to do it myself, but you don’t get the chance. I only had to make a move towards the toaster and they were on me.

There was the two of them just starring into this toaster watching the bread go around. Three times the bread went in – it is not a very good toaster - and on all three occasions they are bent over watching it, ready to pounce when it dropped down.

The only way I could get them to stop watching it was to ask to take their picture, but within a few seconds they were back getting ready for the bread to drop so that they could put in on a plate. I hate to think what my happen at breakfast today.


Anyway, I have managed to track down another Plymouth link – this time to one of the Olympic venues.

The wrestling events are being staged at the China Agricultural University Gymnasium and it turns out that university has an exchange programme with Plymouth City College and the University of Plymouth .

Chinese students do a year at home before spending a year at City College and then a final year at the University of Plymouth .

City College are expecting 134 students from the China Agricultural University to join this year.

It's a small world

I went to watch Kelly College student Flora Duffy compete in the women’s triathlon yesterday.

The event was staged in the mountains, about an hour outside central Beijing.

It was held just up the road from the Ming Tombs, which is where 13 emperors of the Ming Dynasty are buried.

I have to say the scenery was fantastic and I am sure it made good television viewing.

The problem was, though, that there was absolutely no cover or shade at the venue and unlike Beijing there was no haze, so there were quite a few people, myself include, looking a bit red after a few hours there. I think the altitude level made the sun stronger and even helped penetrate sun block.

It was the first time I had seen a major international triathlon live and I was quite shocked to find out that athletes get ejected if they get lapped at any stage during the event.

The triathlons I had previously seen involved just one lap for swimming, cycling and running.

However, yesterday’s Olympic triathlon involved six cycling laps and four running laps. By all counts having laps is to make it more appealing to television.

But a number of athletes, including Flora, were pulled out of the event after getting lapped.

Flora, representing Bermuda , had finished eighth at the 2006 Commonwealth Games and so she is an established athlete with a world ranking.

I think she had only fallen seven minutes behind the leaders, which in an event that last for two hours is not shockingly bad, but she was not allowed to complete the event.

I know the competitors know the rules before they start, but the policy does seem to go against everything the Olympics stand for.

Nobody said to Paula Radcliffe ‘you have fallen too far behind the leader you have to drop out’ or said the same to Jo Pavey, who was among nearly two-thirds of the field that got lapped in the 10,000m race.

Flora was not having the best of days in terms of performance, but she was proud to be representing her country – one of only six athletes to have qualified for the Olympics from Bermuda – and I believe her and the other slower competitors should have been allowed to finish. As it was she swam 1,500m and cycled 40km for nothing.

Going to watch Flora compete did prove to me what a small world it is as I found out the only journalist from Bermuda covering the Olympics has a son living in Devon, who was on Plymouth Argyle’s centre of excellence books until recently.

Rushing around Beijing carrying a heavy rucksack with a laptop and camera in for nearly two weeks has left me with stiff shoulders, so I thought I would take advantage of a free Chinese massage service on offer to foreign journalists during the Olympics.

I would like to point out straight away, before anyone gets the wrong idea, that the service is just a 15 minute shoulder and neck massage and is done fully clothed sat on a chair.

I thought it would be a relaxing experience – well, I was definitely wrong on that score.

The young girl who performed it assured me it was good to feel pain – I think that’s what she said anyway.

It was when she started her Hong Kong Phooey impression on my shoulders when I really started to wonder what on earth I was doing sat on that chair. Fortunately, the 15 minutes went quicker than I thought. I am still not sure it has helped. Maybe it takes a few days to work.

There is also a hairdressing saloon within the Olympic complex. The prices are very cheat, certainly compared to prices at home, but I am not brave enough to give it a go. My worry is what I might ask for might get mistranslated into something else - like everything else seems to do. Could you imagine what could happen?

They are thousands and thousands of volunteers, like my friendly masseur, working at the Olympics.

The volunteers are brilliant, but they can be just too helpful. They want to help you do everything – even throw your rubbish away. Yesterday I even had one volunteer insist on stirring my coffee after also deciding, without asking, to also help me put milk in – I didn’t dare tell her I wanted sugar as well!

It is over-bearing, but they get a bit offended if you say you don’t want their help.

It does appear to be the culture over here, like for example in the shops where they come up and see if they can help you straight away.

I have to say, though, that the shop assistants seem to know their stuff. I don’t understand the sizes over here but when I have bought two t-shirts in different stores the assistants have guessed my size perfectly.

What is funny is that I appear to be a large over here, whereas in England I more often than not have to buy from the petite range. It is quite nice being classed as ‘tall’ for once in my life.

A weekend to remember

WHAT a weekend for Great Britain out here in Beijing .

I was struggling to keep track of how many medals we won.

You will be pleased to know that Britain ’s success has upset the Aussies.

There was a bit of sledging going on yesterday between an Aussie journalist and a group of Brits.

The Aussie was asking for a steward’s inquiry, as he did not believe Great Britain could be up to third in the official medal table and ahead of Australia .

He resorted to crocking about Australia ’s cricketing success and some Mickey Mouse football friendly victory a few years ago.

I was lucky enough to see two of the gold medals Britain won over the weekend – Rebecca Adlington’s in the 800m freestyle swimming and Zac Purchase and Mark Hunter’s in the rowing.

Adlington’s performance was incredible. She smashed over two seconds of the longest standing world record in swimming to claim her second gold of the Olympics.

Cassie Patten was in that final, but her and the other six finalists were totally overshadowed by Adlington.

An interesting fact that I have found out about Adlington is that she’s scared of deep water. She will only swim in a pool and she prefers to be able to touch the bottom.

However, she cannot do that in this Olympic pool which deeper and wider than any other. It is three metres deep instead of two and has two extra lanes. It has been designed with the help of scientists to produce faster times. There is a big debate going on in Beijing about whether the pool and the new swim suits are responsible for so many world records, which has upset some of the swimmers.

Going to the swimming finals on Saturday was entertaining and I got to see Michael Michael Phelps win one of his record-breaking eight gold medals.

But as pre-final entertainment, ahead of the arrival of the now famous mascots, they had the ‘Water Warrior Drummers’.
I have never seen anything like it before. They were nine young glamorous women dressed in white boots and short while dresses banging drums that were covered in water.


Every time they whacked the drum they got covered head to toe in water. It was a bit like watching synchronized swimming where the women desperately try to smile despite almost chocking on water.



After watching that I then realized why the mascots at the pool are made of rubber rather than cloth, as there was a mad rush to try and mop up all the water left by the drummer before the mascots arrived.

I was hoping one of the mascots would slip, but they didn’t. However, made of rubber it would not be such a problem if they did.

The problem I am having at the moment is trying to forget about the annoying song the mascots come out to. It is your typical cheesy song that children love, but it is annoyingly catchy and you can see everyone humming it and tapping their feet to it.

I had a ticket for the athletics on Saturday evening after the swimming – yes I was in the stadium when Usain Bolt produced his incredible run yet he was so fast and so many people stood up in front of me that I hardly saw any of the race – but to kill a few hours beforehand I visited a shopping mall near the stadium.

In this department store was a fast food court. The only outlet I recognized was a Diary Queen, but I walked around the other food counters out of interest.

With it being near the Olympic complex all the food shops have written their menus in English as well I Chinese..

However, I don’t think this has helped one of the counters. It would probably be better if foreign visitors didn’t know exactly what they were offering.

On the menu – and this is in order and spelt as it was written – was tripe, black tripe, bork throat, duck intestine, chicken gizzard, chicken heart, chicken wings, chicken cartilage, large intestines, small intestines, beef tendon, fish ball, prawn ball, luncheon meet and pork belly. There was then a separate section with gold mushrooms, flat mushrooms, fresh mushrooms and shitake mushrooms, bamboo shoot, black fungus and vegetable ball.

Anyway, as you can imagine there were no western tourists queuing up at this counter and I am going to disappoint you all – well, maybe not the vegetarians – by telling you that I didn’t do a taste test of the top menu. I will leave that to the likes of Alan Wicker and Michael Palin.


I did buy a t-shirt in the mall and it is very confusing how Chinese shops operating.

After deciding I wanted to buy it – after more helpful persuading by another shop assistant, who I’m sure must get commission – I started getting money out only for the assistant to shake his head. He takes the t-shirt away and writes on a piece of paper which he gives me and then points to a women about 20 metres away sat in a box. I take the paper to her and she takes my money and then gives me two other bits of paper back and then sends me back to the shop assistant again. I had to take the paper back to him and he finally gave me the goods. Gosh it was confusing and time consuming, but it turns out this happens in all main shops. At least I will know for next time.

A very scenic Beijing

THE umbrellas were out in force again in Beijing yesterday, however, this time it was to offer shade from the blazing sun.

The rain on Thursday cleared the haze and brought beautiful blue skies over China’s capital city.


You could see for miles and for the first time since arriving here I was able to view the mountain ranges on the outskirts of Beijing that I had heard so much about.

The Bird’s Nest Stadium also looked like the image that is on so many postcards over here – with blue as the backdrop rather than grey.

I had the chance to visit the main stadium last night to watch the athletics.

I got there early so I could walk around the outside of the stadium and take in the sights. I had been in Beijing for nine days but hadn’t had a chance to walk around the Olympic Green.

It is very impressive, especially on a day like yesterday with the glorious sun shining off the canal that runs around the park. I actually saw a large turtle in the water.


As I walked around I was once again stopped by a Chinese family to ask if I would have my picture taken with them.

I had previously had a similar experience in Tian’aman Square and the Patten family had about 100 people wanting to be pictured with them yesterday.

I have come to the conclusion that some locals just want to be photographed with people from different countries, whether they are famous or not.

I did read in a tourist book that in some areas foreign travellers are still something of a sensation and so do become something of an attraction.

They are thousands of overseas visitors here, yet some Chinese still seem fascinated, in a nice way, with their guests. But, then, most of the visitors are also fascinated and taking pictures of the locals – so it is working both ways. The Olympics is certainly bringing difficult worlds and cultures together.

The main Olympic stadium is amazing. Yet I cannot, for the life of me, work out how they built the outside of it – the nest bit. It is certainly an impressive feat of engineering.

However, the inside is equally jaw-dropping.

I have been lucky enough to have visited three other Olympic Stadiums – Barcelona, Atlanta and Moscow – but I think this one tops the lot. London has got a lot to live up in 2012.

However, one problem Britain should not have is a lack of wind for the sailing, which has been a bit of an issue over here with a number of races delayed.

I think a few of the athletes last night would have liked a bit of a breeze in the stadium, especially for the women’s 10,000m, which was what I was particularly keen to see with Devon’s Jo Pavey competing.

However, despite the hot condition, nearly the entire field of 31 athletes ran either personal bests or season bests. The race was won by Ethiopian Dibaba, who smashed the Olympic record. Pavey eventually finished 12th and was lapped by the first two athletes, but she did set a new PB.

The Olympics are over a third of the way through already, which is hard to believe.

My time in China is certainly going quickly and other than Tian’anmen Square and the Forbidden City I have not had chance to visit any of the other main tourist areas.

Plymouth and Great Britain diving coach Andy Banks was telling me that all the divers had been to visit the Great Wall this week, and that is one of the things I want to do.

There is a free organised trip going for foreign journalists, but it is on the same day as Kelly College’s Flora Duffy competes in the Triathlon. There are private companies also offering tours but they are expensive.

However, I have been told the best way is not to pay over-the-odds for an organised trip and instead make my own way on public transport.

I am reliably informed you can get a normal bus from the centre of Beijing to one part of the wall which is not too far away, and for only a few Yuan.

So I think I might have a go at that – if I can find a spare day. It could be an interesting adventure.

If my diary pieces stop it means I’ve got lost somewhere in China!

Meanwhile, I have found out why taxis are so cheap here. It turns out there are an incredible 67,000 registered cabs on the roads of Beijing – that’s nearly the population of Exeter – and the standard fare is just 10 Yuan (about 75p) for the first 3km and 1 Yuan for every extra km.

However, another mystery I am yet to get to the bottom of is why you don’t see any new bikes on the streets here.

You see loads of new cars, but I have not seen a nice new mountain bike parked up anywhere.

All the bikes look as if they have been around for decades.

I will keep working on trying to solve that mystery. Mind you, if everyone did get new bikes the poor bloke who mends tyres and chains on the end of my street would be out of business.

Chinese cultures living in harmony

I MET up with the Patten family yesterday ahead of Cassie’s big day in the pool today.

And it was really heart-warming to see how proud they are that their daughter is competing in an Olympic Games.

Cassie’s mother, Zandra, was in tears just talking about her daughter’s achievement in making it to Beijing.

However, the Pattens are a bit worried about how they are going to cope with the language and the food in China – just like I was.

They are all vegetarians and know it will be a bit difficult to check if something has got meat in it or not, if they can’t speak or read Chinese.

However, they did say they do like noodles, so they may be surviving on those for 10 days.

Cassie said that when she visited Beijing last year she went to a function and told them that she was a vegetarian and that she did not want meat. They assured her they understood.

Anyway, when her food arrived she screamed as there was a chicken’s head in it. According to her, the caterers at that event thought that would be okay as there was no ‘meat’ with it.

Visiting China is certainly very interesting. The culture is so different. It is not like visiting Europe or North America.

But I have noticed that there are two different cultures at work in China.

There is the traditional and the modern, but they both seem to coincide quite happily.

I visited a shopping centre yesterday and sat having a coffee in a Starbucks on the ground floor.

One side of the coffee shop faced outside into a park area and the other into the mall.

Looking out of the windows I could see people buy designer clothes and high tech electrical goods on my right, but on my left there were people sat and laid out on stone benches or the floor, some playing some sort of game and others drinking something out of jam jars with leaves in it. There were also road sweepers passing travelling on bikes and using witches brooms to clean the pavements.

I have noticed that people over here do like to sit on the floor.

It was quite funny as I went back to the supermarket where I had previously bought the scan disc reader and hairdryer.

This time, though, I made sure I did not make any eye contract with any shop assistants, even when they stood right next to me.

Yet this shop – a Chinese Wal-Mart – had a television section and it was showing Olympic diving.

I went over to see how the Brits were doing, but I was quite amazed to see other people just sat on the floor of the store watching this big television.

Others came and joined as well. You just could not image people going into a supermarket in England and just sitting on the floor watching the TV.

I did watch for a bit, but I didn’t sit down, and I even managed to get out of the store this time without buying anything – I’m learning!

Later in the evening I went to watch former Plymouth hockey player Jon Bleby compete for Great Britain against Holland.

Even thought the game started at 9pm it was still incredibly hot and I don’t know how both teams managed to keep up the pace they did.

It was a bit gutting as GB looked to have held out for at least a draw, thanks to some great defending and goalkeeping by Alistair McGregory, but with less than eight minutes on the clock Holland scored a winner.

Jon’s family, including his parents, who live in Derriford, were in the ground cheering their son on and trying to make themselves heard over masses of orange Dutch fans.

Meanwhile, I have started a new task to try and find as many Plymouth links as possible in Beijing, other than the athletes and their families.

However, so far the only thing I have come up with is a new office/residential complex called Central Park, which has its entrance written in both English and Chinese.

Anyway I will keep searching for some more.

An inspiring performance

I WAS privileged yesterday to be in Beijing’s University of Aeronautics & Astronautics Gymnasium to watch Michaela Breeze produce an inspiring performance in the women’s weightlifting.
She didn’t win a medal, but it was her bravery and determination that impressed me and the audience.
The Ivybridge Community College teacher suffered a back injury going into the competition and aggravated it further on her second lift. She was clearly in a lot of pain and required intensive treatment, which was shown on the stadium’s big screen.
But Michaela refused to quit and ended up seventh in her pool and 15th overall, which would have been a good achievement without injury.
Due to the big screen and the way she almost collapsed after her second lift the crowd were fully aware of her problem and really took her to their hearts. She had the entire audience cheering her on and to see her lift every weight she attempted was really inspiring. For me that is part of what the Olympics is about, representing your country and doing your best.
After witnessing Michaela win over a few thousand fans, I made a quick dash by bus over to the National Aquatic Centre to see city diver Tonia Couch make her Olympic debut. Tonia and her partner Stacie Powell also showed plenty of Olympic spirit.
They smiled all through their event, even though they rather harshly finished last of eight finalists. It did look like they were going to finish fourth but some strange marking in the final round saw them miss out on that position by just seven points. It was incredible to think five pairs were separated by just seven points when you are talking in totals of 300+. But they were delighted with the way they dived, even if they did not get the result they wanted.
Former Plymouth pupil Cassie Patten will be next to experience ‘The Water Cube’ when she takes part in the 800m freestyle, alongside 400m champion Rebecca Adlington tomorrow.
I have been in Beijing a week and have now picked up a couple of words of Chinese. I can now say ‘hello’ and ‘thank you’. But the language issue is still quite a big problem, especially with taxi drivers.
I just cannot understand why no taxi driver appears to have a clue where they are going, even if I give them a map or an address.
No taxi driver has taken me the same route twice from the media centre to my hotel and the cost has varied from 12 Yuan to 25 Yuan.
Three times I have been in taxis where the drivers have got lost totally and had to pull over to either ask for directions or study a map.
On the way to see Tom Daley’s family the other day, the driver tried to read the map while driving, with a magnifying glass as he had poor eyesight.
Yesterday at the media centre I also had a funny experience in the food hall. I walked passed a counter where they were serving Peking duck. Yet they were making little parcels with the duck and putting something else in with it. I asked what were the white strips they were putting in with it.
The two food attendants start disagreeing whether it was garlic or leek. They said garlic at first and then after much debate decided no it was leek .Eventually someone else came over and decided it was onion. I didn’t want it anyway, but it was funny watching them arguing about what it was called in English.

It's not over yet...

SO Tom Daley’s big day did not quite go as well as everyone had hoped.

Tom and his synchro partner, Blake Aldridge, did go into the event knowing that if they performed to their best they could possibly snatch a medal.

But it was always going to be a big ask for them against some top class divers.

I was in the Aquatic Centre yesterday, and I am no diving expert, but I didn’t think Tom and Blake deserved to finish last out of the eight finalists.

But that is the problem with sports like diving and gymnastics: it is very subjective.

The Chinese and the Germans were clearly better than the rest on the day, but I didn’t think there was anything to choose between the other six pairs.

And I was quite surprised when the Russians totally messed up one dive and yet got more points than Tom and Blake, whose dive, to the untrained eye, had looked far better.

Plymouth Swallows’ Robin Leeworthy is out in Beijing working as a judge at the gymnastics.

And it was interesting that she told me that it is not much fun being a judge at an event like the Olympics as there is so much pressure on them and that it is very nerve-wracking deciding the outcomes of the most-sought after medals in sport.

At least Tom has another chance to try and impress the judges when he competes in the individual event in 10 days time.

Although he didn’t win a medal, Tom deserved great praise for the way he handled himself yesterday.

He was under incredible pressure going into the event, with the whole world’s media focussed on him.

The Eggbuckland Community College teenager even found himself on the front cover of a supplement in yesterday’s China Daily newspaper.

And all the world’s journalists were waiting for him to give his views on finishing last in the final.

Tom must have been incredibly disappointed, yet he had to come out and face hundreds and hundreds of reporters all throwing tape recorders in his face.

The athletes have to walk through an airport style bending ticket queue where journalists hog the rails.

Every two steps he took Tom was stopped and asked exactly the same questions as he had been asked just seconds early by other journalists.

That type of experience would be a lot for any disappointed athlete to face, but especially a 14-year-old.

The Chinese winners even got through the press area quicker than he did.

Eventually a Great Britain official decided enough was enough and pulled Tom away and told the journalists no more interviews.
However, at this point Tom saw me and he turned to the official and said “there’s The Herald, I want to speak to them”.

And he used the opportunity to express his thanks to everyone in the city for supporting him.

Yet it was not long before other journalists realised he was doing another interview and quickly hijacked his conversation with The Herald.

It was clear Tom was frustrated by this and especially when some American stupidly asked him if he had any normal 14-year-old friends?

But, credit to him, he was polite all the time and even gave the Yank an answer (which was ‘yeah, of course’).

He was very diplomatic in every interview he did, not criticising or making any excuses.

And I bet all he really wanted to do was get away and meet up with his parents for the first time in two weeks.

People also have to remember that Tom made an Olympic final.
Just because the heats were held earlier in the year at the World Cup, that should not take away the achievement.

Although he and Blake came last yesterday, he did at least make the last eight, which so many other Great Britain’s athletes would love to achieve.

Anyway, on a lighter note, visiting the diving events for the last two days has allowed me to witness at firsthand the Olympic mascots.

Beijing has got five of them and they represent the Olympic rings and the five major continents.

I have seen some funny things since arriving in China’s capital, but the mascots provided me with one of the most surreal moments.

On my first day at the Aquatic Centre I did not know what to expect when there was loud fanfare music and the announcer excitedly shouts out ‘welcome to our mascots’.

And out from one end of the building popped these five rubber inflatable creatures.
They come out jumping and dancing.


I suppose the nearest thing to describe the costume some poor person is having to wear is like those giant sumo costumes that are popular at drunken functions, except in rubber.

But as the announcer is giving all the talk about how there is five of them and their names, it suddenly becomes clear that one of them is deflating.

All of a sudden this mascot – I think representing Asia – is dragged off to the side while someone re-pumps the costume up.

It was also funny seeing them make an exit as these mascots are too big to fit through the door, so some person stands at the entrance and deflates them and quickly shoves them through the exit.

Knowing the Chinese’s love for literal translation I keep thinking that this person’s job title translated into English may be ‘mascot plug puller’.

The big day has arrived

TOM DALEY’S big moment arrived this morning. Hopefully, he will have done himself justice in his first Olympic Games.

Yet whatever happened in today’s synchro 10m final, Daley knows he also has the individual event to look forward to later in the Games.

I saw Tom yesterday at the diving pool. There was a training session going on for all platform divers.

Tom did not dive while I was there, but he carefully studied some of his rivals practising their routines.

I did, however, see fellow city diver Tonia Couch practise.

She dives tomorrow in the women’s synchro with Bristol-born partner Stacie Powell.

Tomorrow morning also sees Ivybridge teacher Michaela Breeze in action. She is competing in the 63kg women’s weightlifting event.

The Games are really in full swing and the whole of Beijing appears to have caught the Olympic bug.

All the locals seem to be wearing clothing with either the Olympic logo or China written on it, and they all seem proud to be hosting the Games.

They appear to really like their sport in China, especially basketball, which was one of the first events to be sold out.

I popped into a McDonald’s on Saturday afternoon on my way back to my hotel (I know I shouldn’t have done, but I was hungry and thirsty and it is so easy when you can just point to what you want rather than spending ages trying to explain to the staff what you are after).

I couldn’t understand at first why there were no seats available upstairs when there were no queues at the tills downstairs.

It wasn’t until I eventually found a seat that I realised everyone was there to watch a big screen television showing women’s basketball. China were taking on Spain and it was an incredible experience.

I caught the final quarter and everyone was cheering when China scored and making painful noises when Spain netted.

Hardly anyone was eating, they were just focussed on this women’s basketball match.
Spain gave China a real fright by closing to within three points with a minute to go, but much to everyone’s relief in the restaurant, many of whom were standing, the home side held on, which was greeted with a cheer and around of applause.

It was something like you would expect at a pub in England when there is an international football match on, albeit minus the swearing and people jumping up and down off their chairs all the time.

But it was still very passionate in its own way and even I ended up supporting China (what could I do? I was the only non-Chinese person there!).

When I walked down the steps afterwards I noticed another customer, who had been watching the game, checking out a massive advert.

It turns out it was advertising all the Olympic events that would be shown on the big screen in that particular restaurant (who needs pubs!).

My other bizarre experience of seeing Chinese television coverage of the Olympics came on a packed tube train. On all the tubes they have little screens. However, on this particular tube, no-one was really paying attention to them as it was so crowded, until suddenly women’s beach volleyball came on.

That suddenly got the attention of three young men in front of me, especially when they kept zooming in on the cheerleaders at the side.

I wonder if London will fit their tube trains with televisions in 2012?

Riding the tube in Beijing is 100 times better than braving a bus. You have to be really desperate to get on a bus around the Olympic complexes.

They don’t seem to have any limits about the number of people they allow onto them. People really cram onto the buses (and I mean cram. Health and safety officers in the UK would have a heart attack). And if that was not bad enough, consider how hot it is in Beijing and how sweaty people are. It is enough to give you nightmares – if not anything else!

Saturday was unbelievably hot. I decided to visit the Forbidden City, before all the Plymouth athletes started competing, and when it was open this time. But the enjoyment of visiting was spoilt by the heat.

You know it is hot when you see locals fainting.

On Saturday I was in contact with a colleague who was telling me about how horrible the weather had been in Plymouth that day.

He said the rain was lashing down and I replied saying I wish we had a bit of that.

Well, they always say you should be careful what you wish for, because, boy, did we have rain in Beijing yesterday, along with thunder and lightening.

The rain was so heavy the roads became flooded. I had to stand waiting for a taxi in half a foot of water.

I was taking a taxi to meet Tom Daley’s family. It was a bit embarrassing walking into their hotel and hearing my trainers squelch as I crossed the lobby.

However, it was nice to catch up with them.

Tom’s grandma made me laugh with her first comment to me, which was ‘how’s the hairdryer?’.

It turns out they had all been reading my diary pieces and were in agreement with me about the over-enthusiastic shop assistants and the dangers of crossing roads here.

Joining the media scrum

THE 2008 Olympic Games are officially underway.

Competition actually began on Wednesday, with group games in the football taking place, but last night’s spectacular opening ceremony marked the formal start of the XXIX Olympiad.

And Beijing basically came to a stop yesterday, particularly in areas around the main stadium.

Anyone attempting to get any where in the city yesterday found it difficult.

It took me over an hour-and-a-half to get from my hotel to the Olympic complex first thing in the morning via public transport – and it is only a distance of about 3km.

And I was told it was impossible to get back the same way, so I joined the long queue outside the media centre for a taxi.

I waited at least half-an-hour for a taxi and I ended up allowing two members of the BBC Sport’s team to share it, as they were desperately trying to find a way to Tain’anmen Square to get some reaction to the start of the Games.

I am not a taxi person, but I could not believe how cheap they are in Beijing.

Considering how desperate everyone was for a taxi yesterday, I was shocked to find that my journey cost just over £1 – cheaper than a cup of coffee I had bought early in the day.

If I had known that before I would not have spent an hour-and-a-half sweating buckets – it was by far the hottest day so far since I have been in Beijing - lugging my heavy laptop on two tubes and a bus in the morning.

I spent the day at the media centre as the Great Britain diving squad were holding their only press conference before competition gets underway this weekend.

All 10 Great Britain divers were present, including Plymouth’s Tom Daley and Tonia Couch.

Daley was the centre of attention, with most of the 100 or so journalists and photographers packed into the conference room all there to get some quotes or pictures from him.

It was incredible the way he handled the situation. Most of the other divers were intimidated by the amount of press, photographers and television cameras from all over the world. But Tom looked perfectly at ease, although Tonia was far more nervous when she was asked a question.

Tonia has not had as much practice as Tom at dealing with situations like that and she looked quite uncomfortable when the spotlight found its way to her. Yet she did seem more relaxed towards the end.

However, what the athletes probably don’t realise is that journalists also find those large press conferences situations quite intimidating. Just like the competitors, they also don’t want to make fools of themselves in front of so many people and live television cameras.

I did, though, take the microphone and asked Tom and Tonia a couple of questions as it was the only chance I was going to get.

I am now beginning to get to grips with Beijing – if not the language or how to cross a road.

You really do take your life into your hands trying to get to the other side of any major roads in the city. I have come to the conclusion that they have a system similar to that in America where cars can turn right even when the traffic lights are on red.

But what makes it worse is that some of the roads are about 10 lanes wide. You can find yourself in the middle and suddenly cars – and bikes - start coming.

As you would expect there are quite a lot of bikes around the city and on the corner of the street where my hotel is there is a man offering a tyre repair services.

This service basically involves him spending the entire day manually pumping up tyres for push and motor bikes with a hand pump.

He always seems to have a customer there whenever I pass, so obviously he provides a popular service, but I can’t imagine how tiring in it doing that in heat and humidity that Beijing is experiencing at the moment.

Lights, camera action in Beijing

THE big day has finally arrived in Beijing, and the people of China’s captain city are excited by start of the 2008 Olympic Games.

Yesterday the city was a mass of activity, with thousands of staff and volunteers undertaking final preparations.

Gardeners were tidying the flower beds around key locations, workmen could be seen putting finishes touches to new structures, tables of volunteers could be found at subway stations to assist overseas visitors, and security was visibly strong.

After walking miles and getting a bit lost on my first day, yesterday I decided to try out the subway.

It was not easy to find, but my sign language skills have improved a lot in the last 24 hours and I managed to get some rough directions from one of the receptionists.

I did quiet well, as not only did I get directions to the subway, I also managed to buy a scan card reader for my computer and get the hotel cleaner to show me how to get the shower in my room to work properly. Trying to buy the scan card reader, which would enable me to send some pictures home, was probably the toughest task.
After finding myself in a supermarket/department store, I went in search of electrical goods. The first ones I came to were hairdryers.
There wasn’t one in my hotel room so I thought I would just look at how much they cost.
However, before I even had chance to see the price two shop assistants pounced, eager to help me. They picked up the cheapest and smallest one for me – I can’t think how they knew I would be interested in a travel one – and started nodding ‘yes’ and handing it to me.

It was only about £4 so I agreed, but they wanted to take me to the cash till straight away, without what I had come in for. Eventually, I persuaded them I wanted the camera section, which they led me to.
Yet, trying to explain that I wanted a scan reader with a USB socket was not the easiest task. We were both about to give up, when there was breakthrough and I managed to get what I wanted – and a hairdryer too.

The subway was easy to understand. The authorities have made a big effort to make sure all non-Chinese speaking visitors can follow the system.

Not only are volunteer staff on hand to help you, but the self-service ticket machines can be read in a variety of languages.
Also on the tubes, red, green and amber lights mark the stations. Red means the station has already gone, green signals which ones are coming up, while the next station flashes amber.

I thought I would check out Tian’anmen Square and the Forbidden City before it got too busy.


The Forbidden City was also forbidden for me, as it was closing time when I arrived, but I was able to enjoy the rest of the area.


Olympic fever was everywhere around Tian’anmen Square. Athletes and journalists could be seen wandering around as well as loads of native Chinese, who seemed to be really enjoying the build-up to the Games.

Everyone was keen to take photographs of the clock in the square that has been counting down to the start of the Olympics for years.

The strangest experience of my day came near the Imperial Ancestral Temple.

I was stood there taking a photograph when a Chinese lady came up to me pointing to her camera and then at her husband and young daughter.

I thought she wanted me to take their picture, so I smiled and nodded and walked towards them.

However, when I got there she pointed at me to stand with her daughter and husband.
I tried to explain that I thought she wanted me to take the picture and that I was not anyone famous, but she kept pointing so I stood for a picture (what could I do?). I can only think she thought I was a competitor.

The people in Beijing really do seem to have caught the Olympic bug. Everyone seems excited and everyone is so keen to help their overseas visitors.
I just wish I spoke Chinese.

.

Lost in translation – and busy Beijing

I HAVE finally arrived in hazy Beijing.
It was touch-and-go whether I would get here at all as I was frantically waiting for the right paperwork to arrive to get me into China.
But just hours before I was due to fly out I managed to get my hands on the all-important accreditation and visa documents I needed to board my plane.
However, it did mean a mad dash across London to pick it up.
My journey actually started at 3am on Tuesday with a taxi from home to a dark and wet Bretonside Bus Station to catch the 3.35am National Express shuttle to Heathrow.
Four-and-a-half-hours later I was at Heathrow, where I dropped my suitcase off at left luggage and got on two tubes and a bus to Wandsworth to collect my accreditation from the British Olympic Association.
Back at Heathrow I boarded a flight to Amsterdam, where I picked up a connection to Beijing.
On the plane to Beijing there were a number of athletes, officials and supporters from a host of countries. I think I ended up next to a Kazakhstan boxer, definitely a heavyweight, who did not speak much English.
It was an uncomfortable journey to China. The flight was nearly 10 hours and I struggled to get any sleep.
The food was not too impressive either, although there was plenty of it.
I did get confused when at 6.30am Beijing time and 12.30am Holland time they came around to offer a choice of either noodles or ice-cream. At the time I could not work out whether it was breakfast or supper, but it seemed like two strange items to choose from. Anyway, if you are interested, I went for the ice-cream.
The plane eventually touched down in Beijing at 10am local time on Wednesday – a full 24 hours, taking into account the time zones, after I had left Plymouth.
As soon as the plane landed in Beijing the famous haze was obvious, although it doesn’t cause any breathing problems. It is the heat and humidity that’s the killer.
But what I was pleasantly surprised about was how easy and organised it was getting through immigration and customs. Everyone at the airport was extremely welcoming.
However, I did have an hour to wait for my bus to take me down to Beijing and then on to my hotel. I thought I would use the time to get something to eat.
I noticed a KFC and headed off in search of some chips to keep me going. The menu was in both Chinese and English, but the items on sale were not quite the same as we are used to – they didn’t seem to have any chips for one.
Yet, one of the items on the menu was a cold fish finger, which I decided to pass on. The image of an uncooked Captain Birdseye special did nothing for me. In the end I settled for a coffee and a muffin at the coffee shop next door.
I finally got to my hotel at about 2pm.
The hotel is pretty basic but clean and okay. None of the staff, though, appear to speak English, which is proving a bit difficult.
I managed, with a lot of hand signals, to get the receptionists to give me a map of Beijing and circle the hotel on it, which did prove valuable when I decided to take a ‘little’ walk looking for the main media centre later on. My next task is to try to ask the receptionists how to get the shower to work properly.

I did find the media centre and the famous Bird’s Nest Stadium, after what seemed like miles, but the problem was finding my way back to my hotel. As it took me longer than I thought it had become dark and I am still wondering how on earth I managed to get back.
I don’t speak Chinese and nobody I met on the street spoke English, but they were all very helpful and after showing my map to about 20 people I finally located where I was staying. It was totally pitch black by then.
Today my plan is try and get to a press conference the Great Britain diving team are holding and to try and not get myself run over crossing any of the roads.
Cars don’t seem to stop at zebra crossings in Beijing. They have employed people for the Olympics to stand at the edge of crossings with flags, which they wave when people can cross. But even though they are waving and the green light says cross, cars are still coming.
You do take your life in your hands crossing roads in Beijing – and they are big roads.