Olympic Park

On our first full day in Beijing, we decided to go see the Olympic Park, especially since Stephen's company played a role in designing and constructing the Water Cube, which is the venue for the swimming events. I figured that the Olympic Park construction should be nearing completion, so it would not be difficult to go there and see the new facilities. Boy, was I wrong.

The taxi dropped us quite far from the facilities. We tried to enter the Olympic Park through a gate, but the guard refused to let us in, even after Stephen tried to show him his work id. So we started to walk around the area. We soon discovered that although the gate was well guarded, nothing else was. The fence surrounding all the construction was full of gaps, and lots of Chinese were blithely walking through them into the construction area. So we did, too. So despite the security we soon found ourselves walking through an active and rather dangerous construction site. Most of the workers appeared to be from the countryside and unwilling to tell us to leave. The few security guards we saw seemed to be more interested in preventing people from entering than ejecting people who were already inside.

Here, we're looking at the main stadium, which is meant to look like a bird's nest.

The four gray slab buildings on the left were a bit of a mystery, since the middle two slabs would obviously get virtually no sunlight. When we got closer, they appeared to be housing, perhaps for the athletes?

This is the Water Cube. The exterior appears to be made of a plastic membrane that has been stretched over a network of curved frames. From some angles, it looks flat and rather uninteresting. From others, it looks like a wall of bulging glistening bubbles. Weirdly, it looks better in photos than live.

In the middle of the Olympic Park was this small traditional Chinese complex of buildings. We have no idea what it is.

Construction workers walking into the Water Cube.