London 2012

If there's one thing I'd like to see before the London Games, it would be the improvement of all the Tube trains, to make them wider and better ventilated. I felt like a sardine when riding on Victoria line this evening.

Last 12 hours in Beijing...

I should get some sleep.

Fri 15th Aug: Great skies. It feels like England.

Sat 16th Aug: Why does the air become great just as I'm about to leave?

Narrow victory/defeat

Today I saw a Chinese lady win a Judo final by a heitan (I think), whilst the Chinese sabre team lost its final to Ukraine by 44-45, both by the narrowest possible margins. I had zero clue about either sport, but they made for pretty entertaining viewing. I guess this is the magic of the Olympics.

Weds 13th Aug: Murky again. Why can't Beijing get more than 3 clear days in a row?

Thurs 14th Aug: Raining as I look out of the window. I may not miss Beijing by as much as I thought when I fly on Sunday.

My Olympics experience/gallery

Going to a Olympics event has whetted my appetite for taking up sports, and for sure I'll train a lot more on my rowing.

It was wet, but the venue was fantastic, and a great experience overall. I only wish I brought a pair of binoculars.

Getting a feel for the pre-competition atmosphere. This was taken a day before the opening ceremony.

As could be seen, security was tight...

Off to Shunyi Olympic park tomorrow!

Scene opposite the coach park, where I was waiting with friends to go to Shunyi.

Reports of missile batteries are justified it seems.

Just outside the front entrance, I saw this in one of the nearby bins. Well, I thought it was funny.

And here I am.

We sat next to this cheerleading group, which attracted as much, if not more attention than the rowers.


The action begins...



Cheering for the Chinese fours. 中国加油!

We sat about 300m from the finishing line.

The yellow thing I was sitting on was a rain-cloak handed out by volunteers, which proved to be very useful later on in the day.

The Chinese eights, whose warming-up run was wasted due to the rain.

Waiting for the announcement of the eights' heats, which were postponed in the end. Still, we managed to watch most of the races, so I was pretty satisfied.

Show's over guys, let's go home.

Queuing for the bus.

Sun 10th Aug: Rain, so no prospect of blue skies today either. At least the air smelled fresh.

Mon 11th Aug: Pretty good, I could see clouds' linings and everything. The sun made brief appearances too.

Tues 12th Aug: Brilliant day, probably the best I've had since coming back this summer. If only Beijing could remain like this for the rest of the month...

I thought the opening ceremony was pretty good...

...but women's football is rubbish.

Fri 8th Aug: Foggy, although it wasn't suffocating or anything.

Sat 9th Aug: A bit better, but I guess the media will have more reasons to complain about the air pollution.

Off to Shanghai tomorrow...

Will get back just before the opening ceremony on Friday, but that means I won't be doing the air-monitor for a while.

2nd-4th August: Belissimo, but bloody hot.

P.S. mosquitos should be made extinct.

One thing I hate about Chinese TV...

...are the same adverts that keep repeating right after itself. We don't NEED the same shampoo clip 3 times in a row!

1st August: Beautiful day, I could see clouds! Awfully hot though.

31st July: Not too bad compared to the start of the week, but a bit humid and stuffy. Nice and cool.