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Beijing on Olympic Day Opening

2008.08.09
This is the weather on 8.8.08---the day when Beijing opens to the world for the Olympic Games.

It's still grey. As usual. ;)

And oh, traffic was real smooth. Only few cars around. Seemed like Beijing was a ghost city. ;)

Streets around Beijing are decorated with flags like these. Anywhere....

Three bikers with national Geographic print on their shirts roamed around. The one in red is hot. I swear! :))

2008 Olympic Games slogan: One World. One Dream!

Notice the cranes at the back of the billboards! ')

Even the street cleaners have brand new uniform.

Street volunteers.

Behind those huge Olympic Billboards are ugly sites of unfinished construction. Most of these sites were old, narrow hutongs / villages which were demolished to make way for a new, modern Beijing.

Security guards are EVERYWHERE...

Looks like a real good art, right? ;)

Huge billboards are EVERYWHEREEEEEEEEE, too!

One World, One Dream is translated into many languages.

This is my favorite photo of the day!
I was told to go away after this shot was taken. ;)

Beyond this billboard is a building under construction. Good way to hide it, right? ;)



A newly-built shopping mall.
Three years ago when I arrived in this city, this area, this very same spot was a hutong. There were courtyard ancient houses and old, shabby apartments. Then, they began to demolished those houses slowly.

Earlier this year, the construction began. Finally last week, this malls were opened to the public with expensive and designer clothes the world ever known.

Booths with volunteers who can speak English are EVERYWHERE, too.

I went to this booth to know if they were helpful. They were a BIT helpful. I asked for the location of a bar but didn't receive the exact direction I expected. I knew BETTER than them. ;)

This is the bar district, Sanlitun, during the day.

Before the Opening of the Games, bar owners were told to let their waitresses dress up "morally acceptable."

Then, on another story, there was a rumor that circulated in the expat community for a while that no Africans and Mongolians be allowed in a bar. Turned out it was false alarm. The truth was.... the bar owners were told to be "cautious" about these people.

But, it made headlines.

Even the bars were told to put up flags.

21 Comments
Flowerstone So beautiful! thanks for sharing this post.
Flowerstone · 2008-08-09: 06:35
samuelsonthhc great report.....wonderful colors
samuelsonthhc · 2008-08-09: 09:02
sendao fantastic shots my dear friend!
sendao · 2008-08-09: 09:08
dadlak Many thanks to Alain, our man on the scene! I'll check back every day. I added #12 to my favorites.
dadlak · 2008-08-09: 09:22
leocheung Seems like a different city.
Very good reportage.
Thank you
leocheung · 2008-08-09: 09:42
Daryl thanks for this real "street view" of Beijing. It's an interesting time for China. So many things were NOT celebrated at the opening ceremony, and so many surprising parts of China's wonderful history were on display. Interesting.
Daryl · 2008-08-09: 09:58
astrobrojler Cool #5, great #12!
astrobrojler · 2008-08-09: 10:26
urmysunshine so many many signs! neat set!!~ R
urmysunshine · 2008-08-09: 11:24
giodinu beautiful set
giodinu · 2008-08-09: 12:50
Nayah Wow! i really like 12!
Nayah · 2008-08-09: 12:52
meiling Great reporting, Alain! Many thanks.
meiling · 2008-08-09: 14:20
josanhjx Great report...
josanhjx · 2008-08-09: 16:19
KC727 Yeah!!!!
KC727 · 2008-08-09: 19:20
mowestlan Thank you so much for sharing this "insider" view of the Olympics. It's always interesting to know the behind-the-scenes stuff...your little Canon's doing a great job.
mowestlan · 2008-08-09: 20:52
ambersunsets Thanks for the reportage!
The mall looks very cool!

ambersunsets · 2008-08-09: 21:11
jet28 Fantastic set! Thanks for sharing these with us :-)
jet28 · 2008-08-10: 02:31
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aghadilbar · 2008-08-10: 07:34
miclaud Thanks for this report! I like 12 ;)))
miclaud · 2008-08-10: 08:40
MUMMoira Great report , thanks for sharing.
MUMMoira · 2008-08-10: 15:48
Gripe Great post!!
Thanks for sharing !!
Gripe · 2008-08-14: 09:23
mystic1 Wow wonderful set, I have been missing all your images :(
mystic1 · 2008-08-23: 13:27
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