I'm home and it's so nice. China was great. Olympics were great, but it feels so good to sleep in your own bed for the first time in weeks. And I slept nearly 12 hours straight through the night. I can't remember the last time I slept so well. Love it!
The return trip was long long long and I extended it even further by volunteering to get bumped out of San Francisco which gave me more time to drool on my backpack on a quiet bench in the corner of concourse B before my flight. Sleep has got to be one of the most underrated activities ever. The night after my 50km race, my legs were so achy I could hardly sleep at all. On the plane ride home, there were people yakking in the seat behind me. But find me a quiet place and I'm out.
The day before we left Beijing, my family and I hit the Great Wall head-on. We didn't mess around with the over-crowded, touristy hot spot of Badaling. We went for the remote, challenging hike from one end of the wall to the other: 16,000 kilometers. Well, it seemed like we hiked up and over every hill in northern China, but there were a few more sections of wall and a few more towers on the horizon that we didn't get to. The Great Wall at Jingshanling to Simatai. Maybe we only covered 10km but it was really hilly and when you've got a 30 lb toddler on your back, it seems longer than it is. He got down a couple times, but Miles was pretty content to just lounge around in his backpack and offer the occasional word of encouragement "BAH!" It's his multi-purpose 'B' word for just about everything: bus, ball, bird, bike, um-brella, basket, backpack, bus! another bus!
The quickest way to get to Jingshanling from Beijing is by taxi. It's a 2+ hour drive but Liz was able to find someone who lives right near Simatai and knew the shortcuts. He did a great job of getting us there and then drove around to Simatai to meet us four hours later at the end of our hike. As an added bonus, we stopped twice on the way home to visit the taxi drivers uncle and his brother. We were invited in for tea and when Dad asked about the small field of corn out in front of the house, we were sent home with a week's supply of corn. There's only so much corn you can eat the night before a flight back to the States, so we shared with the grandmothers that meet every evening by the front entry of the apartment building with the grandkids.
There are some places that are spoken of in hyperbole: "unforgettable" or "awe-inspiring." Recent visitors to Paris will say, "Oh, you absolutely have to see Notre Dame Cathedral." The Great Wall of China is one of those places. Before my first trip to China in 1995 for the World Racewalk Cup, I remember thinking that my expectations for the Great Wall were too high. "There is no way it will live up to the hype," I thought, "it can't be that impressive." It blew me away. Its scale is just so amazingly huge. As far as you can see, there it is, snaking across mountains and dropping into ravines at impossible angles. Its presence is just overwhelming. I had no idea that it would feel that big in person. It felt bigger than I could have imagined, and then to think that it's been there for hundreds of years and took thousands upon thousands of people to build. It truly is one of the wonders of the world. Wow.
And now I'm back at home in the living room of my little house in San Diego. Makes me grateful that I've been able to see so much of the world. It's such a big place.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Checking out, Going Native
I’ve been stuck in the Olympic system since I arrived in China nearly three weeks ago. Everywhere I turn, I flash my Olympic credential and sashay through all the security checks, jump on a free shuttle bus or have a Team USA representative hand me a bottle of cold water. I’ve gotten so accustomed to being treated like a VIP, it was a shock today when I left the Olympic Village for good. No one offered to carry my luggage for me. I got all sweaty and no one was there to wipe my brow and hand me a cold beverage. I went in to the store and had to buy the food. This could take some getting used to. Paris Hilton never had it this bad.
When I got up this morning, I finished packing and looked around my suite and saw tons of stuff strewn around the common area: clothes, shoes, bags and random packaged food containers, mostly unopened. I had to assume Tyson Gay hadn’t checked out yet; there was so much miscellaneous stuff and everyone else had left. I mentioned it to one of the USATF staff and was told that he had already left. Anything in the room was trash that he didn’t want. So, if anyone wants Tyson’s underwear, I’m starting the bidding at $10. Just kidding. I should be able to get at least $50, right? Do I hear $60?
I was amazed, though, to see in other suites how much stuff people left behind, and we’re talking nice stuff like Closing Ceremonies shirts and shoes, the Nike Team USA t-shirts and pants. I hope that the volunteers who have worked so hard to put on these Games get to take some of the stuff home. With all the security checks on the way in and out, though, they might be asked where all the loot came from. “Really, Tyson gave it to me, I swear!”
On my way out the doors of the Village, there were tons of volunteers swapping gear with athletes and each other. When they saw that I had a few USA t-shirts to trade, they went crazy. I had 15 different people crowded around, passing my shirts back and forth, making offers of this or that shirt, pants or hat. I ended up with a complete volunteer outfit as well as a few shirts from other countries.
Once I was out the exit, I marched up to the apartment where my family is staying. I said I was done with this whole walking thing, but I lied. I enjoy walking to get from place to place. It’s already been four days since my race, so my legs are feeling almost normal again. The only time I really feel the fatigue from the 50km is when I try to jog a few steps or really hurry up a flight of stairs. Give me another week, and I’ll be raring to go.
A couple days ago, I met the family down at the Temple of Heaven. Today our plan was to hit the Forbidden City and tour until we dropped. Well, getting going around here is a bit tricky sometimes. I dallied in my departure from the Village, and then Miles needed a nap, and when we finally had lunch and rode the bus to downtown Beijing, the Forbidden City was only open for another hour, hardly enough time to see it all. We wandered through the hutongs just north of the Forbidden City and into Jingshan Park. Wow!
View of Forbidden City from Jingshan Park
In the middle of Jingshan Park is a large hill, topped by a temple and crowded with tourists, that looks out over the entire city down onto the golden-tiled roofs of the Forbidden City and out over the glistening skyscrapers of modern Beijing. It’s quite a contrast to simply turn your head and watch 600 years of history spin past. There are places in Beijing where time has stopped; there are no cars, no high-rises, only one-story buildings and cobbled streets. But most of the city is teeming with traffic, neon signs, and fancy shops or apartment buildings that reach for the sky. To see it all laid out below from atop Jingshan Park is a marvel.
Descending the backside of the hill brought us through a wooded pathway and onto what would normally be a quiet, secluded path adjoining a small, open pavilion. But through the trees we could hear a riotous banging of bamboo sticks, crazy percussive sounds and odd singing. When we finally got down the trail to the pavilion, it was filled with a group of musicians practicing on their ‘bamboo clackers.’ Liz tried to get a better translation of what the instruments were called but that’s as good as we got – bamboo clackers that sound like horses galloping over cobblestones or large wooden knockers on thick, oak doors. And it was crazy, banging, music. I’ll try to post a sound bite from what I recorded.
Liz and Miles trying out the bamboo clackers
The rest of the afternoon and evening was much less dramatic, with the exception of the weird crazy food stands that we found east of Tianenmen. In the heart of a very modern shopping district, they were selling all sorta of mouth-watering treats on skewers like silk worm cocoons, river snakes, scorpions, sea horses and tripe. Hmm, can't get enough of those crunchy snake heads!
Snakes, squid, and cuttle fish ready for frying
When I got up this morning, I finished packing and looked around my suite and saw tons of stuff strewn around the common area: clothes, shoes, bags and random packaged food containers, mostly unopened. I had to assume Tyson Gay hadn’t checked out yet; there was so much miscellaneous stuff and everyone else had left. I mentioned it to one of the USATF staff and was told that he had already left. Anything in the room was trash that he didn’t want. So, if anyone wants Tyson’s underwear, I’m starting the bidding at $10. Just kidding. I should be able to get at least $50, right? Do I hear $60?
I was amazed, though, to see in other suites how much stuff people left behind, and we’re talking nice stuff like Closing Ceremonies shirts and shoes, the Nike Team USA t-shirts and pants. I hope that the volunteers who have worked so hard to put on these Games get to take some of the stuff home. With all the security checks on the way in and out, though, they might be asked where all the loot came from. “Really, Tyson gave it to me, I swear!”
On my way out the doors of the Village, there were tons of volunteers swapping gear with athletes and each other. When they saw that I had a few USA t-shirts to trade, they went crazy. I had 15 different people crowded around, passing my shirts back and forth, making offers of this or that shirt, pants or hat. I ended up with a complete volunteer outfit as well as a few shirts from other countries.
Once I was out the exit, I marched up to the apartment where my family is staying. I said I was done with this whole walking thing, but I lied. I enjoy walking to get from place to place. It’s already been four days since my race, so my legs are feeling almost normal again. The only time I really feel the fatigue from the 50km is when I try to jog a few steps or really hurry up a flight of stairs. Give me another week, and I’ll be raring to go.
A couple days ago, I met the family down at the Temple of Heaven. Today our plan was to hit the Forbidden City and tour until we dropped. Well, getting going around here is a bit tricky sometimes. I dallied in my departure from the Village, and then Miles needed a nap, and when we finally had lunch and rode the bus to downtown Beijing, the Forbidden City was only open for another hour, hardly enough time to see it all. We wandered through the hutongs just north of the Forbidden City and into Jingshan Park. Wow!
View of Forbidden City from Jingshan ParkIn the middle of Jingshan Park is a large hill, topped by a temple and crowded with tourists, that looks out over the entire city down onto the golden-tiled roofs of the Forbidden City and out over the glistening skyscrapers of modern Beijing. It’s quite a contrast to simply turn your head and watch 600 years of history spin past. There are places in Beijing where time has stopped; there are no cars, no high-rises, only one-story buildings and cobbled streets. But most of the city is teeming with traffic, neon signs, and fancy shops or apartment buildings that reach for the sky. To see it all laid out below from atop Jingshan Park is a marvel.
Descending the backside of the hill brought us through a wooded pathway and onto what would normally be a quiet, secluded path adjoining a small, open pavilion. But through the trees we could hear a riotous banging of bamboo sticks, crazy percussive sounds and odd singing. When we finally got down the trail to the pavilion, it was filled with a group of musicians practicing on their ‘bamboo clackers.’ Liz tried to get a better translation of what the instruments were called but that’s as good as we got – bamboo clackers that sound like horses galloping over cobblestones or large wooden knockers on thick, oak doors. And it was crazy, banging, music. I’ll try to post a sound bite from what I recorded.
Liz and Miles trying out the bamboo clackersThe rest of the afternoon and evening was much less dramatic, with the exception of the weird crazy food stands that we found east of Tianenmen. In the heart of a very modern shopping district, they were selling all sorta of mouth-watering treats on skewers like silk worm cocoons, river snakes, scorpions, sea horses and tripe. Hmm, can't get enough of those crunchy snake heads!
Snakes, squid, and cuttle fish ready for frying
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