moondog

It doesn't matter whether or not they're interested; the fact is that these Olympics have transformed Beijing into a "real" city, complete with dozens of 5-star hotels and nice restaurants. The last 5 years have sucked, for sure, but all of that construction has finally narrowed the gap between us and Shanghai.

anacapamalibu

When you have 1.5 trillion in foreign currency reserve you can host the Olympics and show "big face"*. Just like a factory owner that parks his 500 series black AMG Mercedes in front...but look around the side and you will see the line of bicycles. Is that real?

*Lu Xun (1881-1936),
"From a foreigner's point of view it is difficult to understand the principles of face."

moondog

Trust me, there are times duriig which I wish I was still based in Shanghai (or in a dream world, HK). But, I'm here.... and it's not that bad.

Whoever has the means, stop on by and I'll show you.

Jamoldo

I have to agree with Moondog here and I lived in Beijing as a poor student (by foreign standards). You can get most things in Beijing (materially) though it may be a bit expensive at times, you can certainly get a good meal and drink.

Sure its not HK but it's certainly no longer a major "hardship" posting for expats, I would think.

In the end, China is still a developing country and we must remember this.

iahphx

Thanks for the perspective, jiejie. I've had good luck in the past (in Europe and North America) picking up tickets during the Olympics at face value. But Beijing is obviously a different animal. I do think the ticket situation will be OK for foreigners, but I suppose there's no way to know for sure in advance. I think I have tickets for 7 major events already, so if I get nothing else (and I'm sure I could get into prelims in lesser sports), I'll still be happy.

hobarthoney

There is talk that the torch relay may be stop because of the counting protests. Looks like this is the start of a long hard road for the Beijing organizers.

anacapamalibu

Now that Celine Dion got tanked on her Beijing concert and her Olympic theme song is pretty much history.

The BOC might have to use this one:

"It's my party, and I'll cry if I want to... You would cry too if it happened to you,"

iahphx

With the Games suddenly "controversial," it looks like even fewer foreigners will be making it to Beijing. Heck, I've even had friends who know I'm going ask me "how I could go now." FWIW, I don't think boycotting the Games is a good strategy. It will only unleash an anti-Western nationalistic response from the Chinese people (who probably have no comprehension of why their occupation of Tibet could be wrong!), and sow mutual mistrust. As a smart analyst said, I'd rather see Bush GO to the Games and speak about Tibet while he was there.

Hopefully, the situation quiets down. I scoffed when some folks said getting a visa for the Games could be hard, but maybe I was wrong to scoff.

Jamoldo

There is already plenty of this on a daily basis for a number of reasons.

Although the games may help I am skeptical of what it would accomplish in the long run besides exposing more foreigners to China on a pretty superficial basis (though that's far better than nothing). The Chinese traditionally do not trust foreigners (IME neither do the Japanese or Koreans FWIW). Unfortunately, it goes both ways in that no one (foreign) really trusts them (The Chinese) either. Trust and friendship in China takes a while to cultivate, much longer than in the west, but once it's been done you're friends for life and people will go out of their way to do all kinds of things for you (of course the same is expected of you).

crnk

HAHAHA. I think the visa was one of the biggest worries I had for going, but it was probably the easiest step I've done...It consists of a form, $130 payment, and 2 trips to the PRC embassy/consulate. We even used a Kowloon, HK SAR address as our resident contact for the mainland visa, and there was no issue.

jpiyush

Really it boosted the infrastructure of the city and helped it become a worldclass one.
Also hoping to earn lots of foreign money with pouring tourists for the megaevent.

Ryu2

Anyone resident in China heard anything about the beginning of Phase 3 ticket sales (ie, "sales to the general public")? I checked the official site, http://www.tickets.beijing2008.cn/ and there's nothing about it on either the Chinese or English pages... except a sidebar saying "Apr 2008"

No instructions on precisely HOW to purchase tickets in this Phase, or any announcement that it's actually started, as of today, well past the middle of April...

jiejie

Ryu, BOCOG has just announced that Phase 3 sales in China will begin May 5 and go through June 9. It will be a first-come, first-serve in a limited number of Bank of China outlets, and online via the website. The website has not yet been updated, but the story is here:

Only certain sports, and certain sessions of those sports, will be available. Tickets are limited to 3 per each of 2 sessions, total of 6 tickets maximum. Individuals only/no group sales.

bearbrick

why is there such a dilema in attending the games.....i can understand the cost dilema - prices wil go up for sure ...and not getting a great hotel .....or difficulty in getting tickets for the swimming and gymnastics but a moral dilemma.........???? ...no one had problems going to the sydney games ..and all that it implies.

go go go beijing !!!:-::-::-:

Josanna

Sorry, missed this and kind of late. Yes, I did have to prepay for my stay. About $7K. All charged to my Hilton AMEX though. HOWEVER, no luck getting a response back on to when I will get my HH points. Was thinking about using an award and stay free in Hawaii for a week on my way to China, but might do Thailand (not on award because it's so cheap) for free instead.

Checked today and the website is open for the new Doubletree that opens June 15th. It was for April earlier but I guess they missed that.

Turns out you can get the BAR now for 4,000 yuan instead of 4,500 I paid last month in advance! I emailed today asking for a refund based on the best rate guarantee.

I am Diamond....maybe that's some leverage to honor their guarantee although it's high demand season!

And yes, I DID try a Diamond force.... I think they laughed at me after we hung up. ha