Days 1-4, Aug 4 to 8

FRI AUG 8 (Day 4)
Woke up at just after 7am by my friend on her way to volunteer for the Red Cross. Then I decided to get up and do some reading. I had a small portion of red bean soup + egg for breakfast and then showered and changed to go out. I subway'd it to for 40min or so to get to the former city core. Once I was out of the subway, it only took me about 30min to find the entrance to the Forbidden City (if you have Google Earth, go look it up!). I went to the East entrance where there would be less people, however it wasn't open for tourists, ugh =S Therefore I had to walk back to the South entrance to get in. The Forbidden City is much larger than I anticipated; it is approximately 1,000,000 square metres! It took a few hours to walk around that place and I still didn't see all the buildings! They should do golf cart tours =P Afterwards I hung out with the Red Cross people until I started to feel sick so it gave them someone to tend to. I used some of their supply of medicines and took a taxi home where I ate another minimal meal. Then at 800pm (on Aug 8/2008) it was time for the Opening Ceremonies. I watched it from the house and it was simply spectacular! China did an amazing performance which definitely took away the negative attention - at least for now. It lasted nearly 4 hours and I was exhausted and fell asleep shortly afterward.

THURS AUG 7 (Day 3)
Slept in till 1015 today. Went to the gym they have here and couldn't get the running machine to work even though it is in english =S Had some breakfast (chocolate baked bun + juice) and showered etc. Spent some time online/uploading pictures and went out just after 12. Got to the Muxidi station and walked to the Capital Museum. I arrived there around 2pm. The ticket cost 15Y. Only half of the exhibits had english translations so the self-touring went by pretty quickly even though this was a brand new centre consisting of 6 entire floors of exhibits/history. Some special Olympic guy showed up too so they closed down the entrance for like 10min to usher him inside. I looked at some Beijing history and chinese artifacts as well as watching a video presentation and then left just before closing at 5. I walked back to the subway station and took the rush-hour ride for 45min to get back home. I was pretty tired so I took a powernap. Then I had some fresh watermelon and watched tv for an hour or so. Just relaxed the night away and now blogging and sleeping around midnight.

WED AUG 6 (Day 2)
Woke up at 930am. Cooked myself some dumplings and juice. I got my stuff and went out with Mrs.Zhang. I had to go to the police station because I am considered an "alien" here and had to get my ID registered. Then proceeded to get myself a temporary residence card. Afterwards we went to the Bank of China and exchanged some cash ($1 CAD = 6.41 Yuan). Then took the bus and purchased a bus pass for myself to make transit convenient. And stopped to pick up some groceries at a small local market on the way back. We had lunch and I spent some time on the internet. After relaxing for a few, I left on the subway and went to Wangfuling station. I met my friend there and we went out touring the city. We went shopping and sightseeing through the dt area (comparible to Robson St.) and checked out the official Olympic store and some other brand name shops along the route. After returning home briefly, we took the subway and taxi (which are really cheap here) to the "Olympic Green" area which is under intense security even before the games. The entire area is enclosed by 3m (9ft) fencing which must be a couple miles around. It won't open until the Opening Ceremonies. However there were many people there taking pictures through the fence and from the best angles you could get. I ended up taking close to 150 of the two buildings (Birds Nest / Water Cube) from various angles in its various colors. We were there so late we had to take taxi home bcuz subway had closed and got back around 1am.

MON/TUES AUG 4/5 (Day 1)
I woke up 5am, showered, ate, and left house w/parents 6am-ish. We arrived at the Campbell River store in South Surrey around 645 and I took the Quick Shuttle at 7am. It took an hour to get across the border and then we stopped in downtown Seattle around 10am and I arrived at SeaTac at 1045. The lineup for Northwest had extended to across the walkway and it took about 40min to get through the self check-in process. Once I got through security it was around 12 noon and my flight didn't leave until 230. I wrote some postcards, relaxed, and got 25 nuggets for the price of 20 at Wendy's. When I went to board my flight at 2pm, they knew my name because they had been waiting for me - I was the 2nd to last person to board =S We took off from SeaTac at 230pm and 9.5 hours later (25.5 hours with time change), I arrived at Narita Airport located in Tokyo, Japan. Again I did some postcards, went browsing and boarded my flight at 6pm local time. The flight seemed very short as it was only 3 hours and I slept through most of it including my dinner. I arrived in Beijing, China just after 9pm and picked up my luggage as well as a SIM card from China mobile. I was then picked up by my friend and her mom and came back to the apartment. It is located in the Chaoyang district (NE section of the city along the "3rd ring" if you know Beijing). I unpacked and we talked for a while and then I went to sleep just after 1am Aug 7th China time .. 10am Aug 6th BC time.