Out and about near the Olympic Stadium in Beijing
On August 5 in Beijing I went with my family to the China Science Centre. It is located a few blocks from the Olympic Stadium. After we had ended a day of fun there I decided to take a stroll around the Olympic precinct.
As I walked up one of the roads heading toward the main stadium I noticed the police were sealing off the area in preparation for an Opening Ceremony rehearsal. Earlier in the day on the Beijing subway I had noticed people with accreditation passes and also a rehearsal pass.
I now did not know just how far I would get but I walked on anyway. After a few minutes walk I went down a side street where I came across a whole array of military equipment. It looks like the Chinese are prepared for anything.
I now passed along some security checkpoints that take you inside stadiums however I could still continue my walk towards the main stadium. I now went past the Olympic Sports Center Stadium in Beijing where the modern Pentathlon will be held. At the end of the street I came across another interesting site. It was a tank without the full weaponry.
Next I headed right towards the Olympic stadium. I went past a few training fields where I saw some team training for baseball, then another where I saw the Australian hockey team training. I don’t know how they played at the pace they did as it was stinking hot. I wanted to film some of the training however I was told not to.
I then tried to cross the overpass to get a closer look at the stadium. That is where my Olympic stroll ended. I was turned back as it was passholders only. Despite there being a security fence along the road with the footpath I wanted to use the police did not allow the public access.
I had to backtrack on the other side of the road. I noticed a reporter from the Asianews Channel recording a news item, I also saw some FIFA technical committee people shooting some video and taking photos with the locals.
Up on the roof of the main stadium there were quite a few people. I thought they may have been preparing fireworks for the rehearsal however I found out later on the news that they did not have fireworks tonight. Maybe they were doing the real thing as the opening is just days away.
As I headed back to the subway I found that the police had blocked off about four city blocks in the direction I was walking. A bit much if you ask me howeve we are in China.
I am still mainly seeing Chinese on the streets in the Olympic area. A few foreigners can be seen but they are rare. I expect that will change in a few days…
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