Today we met at 9:30 at the company to drive to the Bird’s Nest, the Olympic stadium of Beijing. As usual, Lili managed to surprise us. Instead of parking somewhere outside the Olympic park and then going to the stadium like a normal visitor, we drove straight into the parking lot of the Bird’s Nest, which is located beneath it. We just showed a small piece of paper we got from a police/security officer at the first gate and everyone let us pass through.
After we parked we took an elevator to get to the 4th floor, where the VIP boxes are located. We entered one of them and saw a wall with monitors showing pictures of security cameras. An employee explained a little bit about the control system, from the room we were standing in it was possible to display information about nearly everything that’s electronically controllable. The cameras, water flow, temperature, elevators and so on. We could also step outside to see the inside of the stadium, 91.000 people fit inside. Here are some pictures of the room and the inside of the Bird’s Nest:
Then we took the stairs to the 5th floor which is the official part of the stadium, everyone (who pays an entry fee of 220 Yuan (35€)) can go there. We took a look at some exhibits from the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games 2008 as well as on the construction of the stadium.
Next we stepped outside to get a look at the exterior of the stadium. We also took a look at the Water Cube, the place where the swimming competition of the Olympic Games took place. Unfortunately it was closed due to construction work, so we just saw the outside.
Then we left the Olympic Park and were picked up by our driver. After a tasty lunch with noodles, beef and rice we met Kenny, the engineer who will take us to Zi Bo on Monday and Tuesday. He speaks English very well and will show us the projects of the company at Zi Bo. Together with him we bought the train tickets to get there.
After the long bus ride back we went to Lotte to buy some snacks and live essentials, such as water and beer. For dinner we had the chicken with rice pot. Since we had a really nice dinner yesterday we decided to stick to the basics this time.
See ya tomorrow
Alex and Luki