beijing 2008

[VV o n g B a]

so now that athens has come and gone, its time to look to the next olympics. how many of u guys are thinking of going to beijing in 2008? post ur questions here if u have any. and any veteran olympic attendees or travel experts are welcomed to chime in w/ past experiences.

judging from this article (http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-08/23/content_367897.htm), it seems as if tickets might be hard to come by. this could just be early hype, but i doubt it. given the population and rising nationalism, i'd be surprised if lots of venues weren't sold out.

how and when do u get tickets?
i looked briefly on google and there are sites to pre-register for tickets here:
http://travel.ec-t.com/CityTravel/olympic_main.aspx
this company does the whole package. they get u plane tickets from whichever airline u want and they'll look for the tickets u say u want on a first come, first served basis.

another ticket seller is here:
http://www.ticketfinder.com/beijing-2008/tickets.html
this one says that real tickets won't be available until august 1, 2007. probably too soon to worry about reserving anything if tickets won't be available for 3 years.

how about lodging?
many hotels won't allow booking more than a year in advance. dunno what beijing's hotel policies are. but i bet if u call and offer enuf money, they'll book u. i stayed 3 nights at a 4 star hotel and went on a 2 day tour of beijing (with *gasp* other asian americans) and surrounding areas for about $120 (meals included). it was all done under the table thru a friend who knew someone who knew a tour guide. i may try to use this same resource again in 2008. so if u guys have contacts in beijing, i suggest u use them.

which days to attend?
if the schedule is similar to athens, the first week will have swimming, archery, badminton, table tennis. the second week will have track and field and finals of the big team competitions like basketball, volleyball and soccer. gymnastics and diving will be split between the 2 weeks. if i go the 1st half, there will probably be smaller crownds and i'll be more likely to see asian nations win golds. if i go the 2nd half, i'll see the heavily attended big games. my wish to see big team sports wins out over my "pan-asian nationalism" so i'll prolly be attending the 2nd half.

[bluemonq]

hmm... maybe this could be my college graduation present? ::hope:: i'd go if it were offered to me. only, man, beijing is gonna be sooooo hot and muggy... and how close are they to at least ameliorating a bit the pollution?

[VV o n g B a]

how close are they to at least ameliorating a bit the pollution?not close. but they say they'll shut the factories down for the games. the problem is that the cars and trucks will still be belching pollution.

[Chester]

I was in Beijing when they announced that the city had won the hosting competition. Totally and utterly insane. It was incredible to see how much it meant to China to be chosen as 2008's Olympic hosts. It would be fantastic to go, but it's rather early to be making concrete plans, I would think. I'll start lobbying in a couple years...

[AngryABCGirl]

I think I'm definitely gonna go, I think I'll be graduating from college that year, maybe one last nice family vacation or else hella partying with friends.

[Emperor_Mike]

Oh, I'd love to go. I watched the Athens 2004 closing ceremony and I'm already excited about Beijing 2008.

[SunWuKong]

i've been considering going, but i'm thinking it would be too crowded. the Olympics is cool to watch on TV, but i don't really care to be actually at the stadium. there would be a lot of people there, but then again, even without the Olympics going on, there're a lot of people in Beijing.

[Mr.Lum]

Not really.

[yoMAMA]

I'm feeling some serious commie pride, motherfuckers!

http://www.3dflags.com/assets/XV21AE/gif/2/c/3dflagsdotcom_chcom_2fawl.gif

:tongue:

Can't wait till 08 in beijing, my hood!

:biggrin:

[deez nuts]

you can't pay me enuff to go there during the olympics and my uncle offered me VIP press passes.

long flight. adjusting to jet lag. crowds of people that don't believe in lines. long flight back. adjust to jet lag again. go back to work. no thanks.

[kimpossible]

you can't pay me enuff to go there during the olympics and my uncle offered me VIP press passes.

long flight. adjusting to jet lag. crowds of people that don't believe in lines. long flight back. adjust to jet lag again. go back to work. no thanks.

should have sold them to the highest bidder and bought your momma somethin' nice.

[Chester]

long flight. adjusting to jet lag. crowds of people that don't believe in lines. During the Olympics, my guess is the ratio of line-believers to line-non-believers will be abnormally high.

[mndeg]

only if china doesn't attack taiwan by then

on Taiwanese news they said they would retake china by 2020

[applehead]

oh, i'm dying to experience the olympics
on a more personal level, just not in china.
i feel like i live in china right now and i'm
not happy.

[lethal]

oh, i'm dying to experience the olympics
on a more personal level, just not in china.
i feel like i live in china right now and i'm
not happy.
Well you can wait for New York 2012 to get that "more personal level" of experience. I think I'll be gone by then though.

[applehead]

I think I'll be gone by then though.

you make it sound so final...

if ny wins the bid. that'll be awesome.
i wanna see the male swimmers up closely. :biggrin:

[Napoleon Chynamite]

I'll go if Meena agrees to go with me.

[applehead]

you can come when ny is hosting. if they end up hosting.
i'll be what...34 years old by then.

[bluemonq]

on Taiwanese news they said they would retake china by 2020
:looks around:
:blinks:
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
:ahem:
:looks around again:
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

i'd like the idea of taiwan being recognized de jure as an independent nation. i'd even be willing to entertain that the government in taiwan is really a government-in-exile. but retaking the mainland in 16 years??? maybe if aliens landed in taiwan and gave them supra-powered nuclear laser beams. no, sharks with said lasers mounted on them. and they'd be mutant land-walking sharks that could follow orders. btw, does anyone else remember that cartoon about some teens who turned into shark-mutants?

[AngryABCGirl]

I wanna go just to party internationally in my old old "motherland." That, and I hella hate watching the Olympics and any sporting/concert event on TV. Nothing like experiencing it in person. During the closing ceremonies all I wanted to do was listening to the beautiful Greek singing and watch the show, not listen to some fucking commentator flash back and forth to interviewing the athletes who looked like they wanted to enjoy the show more than talk to the reports too.

no I am not bitter

[deez nuts]

oh, i'm dying to experience the olympics
on a more personal level, just not in china.
i feel like i live in china right now and i'm
not happy.

korean people aren't really welcomed there anyways.

[applehead]

korean people aren't really welcomed there anyways.

Oh yeah?

[lethal]

you make it sound so final...

I'll be dead by then...likely due to old age.

[deez nuts]

Oh yeah?


yeh

the olympic village will look like Incheon International Airport. koreans with their white bobby socks and black shoes doing the kim chi squat all over the place.

the chinese government no likey.

[Emperor_Mike]

yeh

the olympic village will look like Incheon International Airport. koreans with their white bobby socks and black shoes doing the kim chi squat all over the place.

the chinese government no likey.

Well, that's appalling.

You know, it's a shame that the Vancouver Winter Olympics won't happen first because if it did, at least I'd know how hectic things will be before deciding on Beijing.

[Mr.Lum]

:looks around:
:blinks:
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
:ahem:
:looks around again:
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

i'd like the idea of taiwan being recognized de jure as an independent nation. i'd even be willing to entertain that the government in taiwan is really a government-in-exile. but retaking the mainland in 16 years??? maybe if aliens landed in taiwan and gave them supra-powered nuclear laser beams. no, sharks with said lasers mounted on them. and they'd be mutant land-walking sharks that could follow orders. btw, does anyone else remember that cartoon about some teens who turned into shark-mutants?

Yeah I used to watch that show...

[mndeg]

:looks around:
:blinks:
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
:ahem:
:looks around again:
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

i'd like the idea of taiwan being recognized de jure as an independent nation. i'd even be willing to entertain that the government in taiwan is really a government-in-exile. but retaking the mainland in 16 years??? maybe if aliens landed in taiwan and gave them supra-powered nuclear laser beams. no, sharks with said lasers mounted on them. and they'd be mutant land-walking sharks that could follow orders. btw, does anyone else remember that cartoon about some teens who turned into shark-mutants?
i meant china retake taiwan. I use the term retake loosely because china has only owned taiwan for a short short short amount of time compared to the dutch, spanish, and the japanese.

[applehead]

yeh

the olympic village will look like Incheon International Airport. koreans with their white bobby socks and black shoes doing the kim chi squat all over the place.

the chinese government no likey.

oh okiee. but they likey old chinese men
walking around the neighborhood on a
summer evening in only their boxers.

[deez nuts]

oh okiee. but they likey old chinese men
walking around the neighborhood on a
summer evening in only their boxers.

nuthing like a cool summer breeze that blows through the gossamer covering of a boxer.

[VV o n g B a]

anyone attempt to get tickets for this thing? today was the first day they allowed the open public in the US to purchase tickets. everything that was high on my to-see list was sold out. except flatwater kayaking for $5 each. i tried to buy 4 tickets, then 3. finally i got 2 flatwater kayaking tickets. haha.

still, i have a friend that's gonna be in china in dec who has some connections. still a bit of hope left for the good events.

there's still tickets left... if u've got a hardon for handball or weightlifting. oh yeah.

[yoMAMA]

anyone attempt to get tickets for this thing? today was the first day they allowed the open public in the US to purchase tickets. everything that was high on my to-see list was sold out. except flatwater kayaking for $5 each. i tried to buy 4 tickets, then 3. finally i got 2 flatwater kayaking tickets. haha.

still, i have a friend that's gonna be in china in dec who has some connections. still a bit of hope left for the good events.

there's still tickets left... if u've got a hardon for handball or weightlifting. oh yeah.

I will be there for sure. It's a once in a lifetime event, the coming out party of a great nation.

It will be fun to have a YW beijing olympics get together.

:cool:

[CBC guy]

I will be in China at the time! Hohohohohoo

Beijing will be uber-crowded though.