After a long healling sleep and a generous breakfast, it was time for
the sightseeing of the day. The plan for today was to start visiting
the Olympics complex and then come back early to the hotel for the
conference registration.
The Olympics complex can be easily reached by the underground, which
like the ones in Thailand, Singapore or Malaysia, is ultramodern, with
clear indications and unbelievably clean compared to their
counterparts in Europe.
As everything in China, size is important, and when you build a new
area of the city to host some world event like the Olympic Games, the
imortant of size becomes capital. The main avenue of the complex runs
for several km, and it aligns perfectly with the axis formed by the
Forbidden City and Tiananmen Sq.
After the Olimpics complex, and on the way back to the city center,
there was also a stop for lunch in a Asian style fast food place
(noodle soup and gyoza) by the Puppet Theatre and later on a relaxed
coffee in come cafe lost in a neighbourhood of typical 'hutong'
buildings.
On the same street, closer to the city center, the influence of the
customers of one of the main youth hostels could be clearly seen, as
the traditional houses and few shops sudenly transformed in design
clothing, articraft and souvenir shops and internet cafes and pubs
(Nanfuoguxian). Passing by that hostel, we decided to already book a
trip to the Great Wall for the day after the conference finished.
After that, it was time to get back to the hotel, try to sort out some
travel logistics for after the conference and get a light fruit supper
before going to bed. Funny thing about those logistics was that it
seems that in China there's not such a concept as a Travel Agency (of
course, why should they need it?), but it took me some trying and
asking in various places and to several people to realise. The only
way to sort out some travel tickets seems to be either to get them
yourself (by visiting the railway statin, airport, etc. or of course
using the internet), or if you are lodging in a hotel, get someone of
the hotel to do it for you.
the sightseeing of the day. The plan for today was to start visiting
the Olympics complex and then come back early to the hotel for the
conference registration.
The Olympics complex can be easily reached by the underground, which
like the ones in Thailand, Singapore or Malaysia, is ultramodern, with
clear indications and unbelievably clean compared to their
counterparts in Europe.
As everything in China, size is important, and when you build a new
area of the city to host some world event like the Olympic Games, the
imortant of size becomes capital. The main avenue of the complex runs
for several km, and it aligns perfectly with the axis formed by the
Forbidden City and Tiananmen Sq.
After the Olimpics complex, and on the way back to the city center,
there was also a stop for lunch in a Asian style fast food place
(noodle soup and gyoza) by the Puppet Theatre and later on a relaxed
coffee in come cafe lost in a neighbourhood of typical 'hutong'
buildings.
On the same street, closer to the city center, the influence of the
customers of one of the main youth hostels could be clearly seen, as
the traditional houses and few shops sudenly transformed in design
clothing, articraft and souvenir shops and internet cafes and pubs
(Nanfuoguxian). Passing by that hostel, we decided to already book a
trip to the Great Wall for the day after the conference finished.
After that, it was time to get back to the hotel, try to sort out some
travel logistics for after the conference and get a light fruit supper
before going to bed. Funny thing about those logistics was that it
seems that in China there's not such a concept as a Travel Agency (of
course, why should they need it?), but it took me some trying and
asking in various places and to several people to realise. The only
way to sort out some travel tickets seems to be either to get them
yourself (by visiting the railway statin, airport, etc. or of course
using the internet), or if you are lodging in a hotel, get someone of
the hotel to do it for you.
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