The Olympic Park and the famous 水立方

(Editor's note. After class today I wandered over to the market to pick up a few things. When I got there I realized I'd left most of my money at home, and all I had on me was a few small bills - about 60RMB (10 dollars). So all I could buy was 5 beers, 2 racks of (Chinese) Pringles, some juice, and about a kilo of Asian pears (I'm not sure what Asian pears are called in Asia :-S) - I guess about 30 dollars worth of groceries in Canada. Anyways I'm now sitting here writing this blog entry enjoying a refreshing pineapple beer.)

I went to the Olympic Park yesterday after class. I've been excited about visiting the Water Cube ever since I've seen pictures of the new Happy Magic Water Park. The stadium and water cube (水立方) are both super impressive, the Birds Nest stadium is HUGE. They are separated by a gigantic open plaza, probably the second biggest in the world next to Tian'anmen.

(Aside: The Chinese sure love their fences. Entry to the Olympic Plaza was tightly controlled, same as I'd just experienced at Tian'anmen Square. Most of the subway stations are gated, with guards and x-rays for bags. And I found that there were even fenced-off, controlled areas in the pool, but more about that later.)

The only food I could find in the plaza was instant noodles. (Note however that instant noodles in China are a whole different class of food from instant noodles in the West.)

I found out later on that there was a nice restaurant in the Water Cube (and very reasonable too, 20RMB for a meal, about the same as you'd pay anywhere; my noodles were 8RMB).

The water park was a bit disappointing in real life, and pretty empty too, so I decided not to blow 200RMB on the admission price, and instead bought a 50RMB ticket to swim in the pool. How exciting, the very pool where Michael Phelps set all those records!

However ... turns out the open swimming is only in the warm-up pool. The competition pool is reserved for things like, well, competitions. And synchronized swimming classes, which is what was going on when I was there.

Not only that, but the fast lanes were fenced off for important people with photo id badges (behind one of the famous Chinese fences). And I had to share my lane with a bunch of kiddie swimming classes (you can see them in the picture at the far end). Also, I found out after I got changed that swim caps are mandatory. Fortunately a nice man sold me one for only 20RMB. And I found out as I was leaving the pool that you are timed for a max 120 minute swim and you are charged if you go over. You have to watch these Chinese, they're pretty crafty. I wouldn't say I was scammed but they walk a fine line.

So all in all a disappointing experience. However they have some really nice licensed merchendise. I would have bought a water bottle, but I didn't want to drag it all over China for 3 months, so I guess I'll have to stop by the Water Cube gift shop on my way back to Canada in June. And since I'm stopping there anyways maybe I'll hop in the water for another swim ...

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