was a huge hassle trying to arrange a train back to Beijing - a sign that
despite the modern trains, the booking system is still a bit archaic. You
can't buy round trip tickets - you can only buy tickets in the originating
city. So we could only buy our return tickets upon arriving at Qinhuangdao.
The tickets we wanted were sold out by the time we arrived, except for
standing room only tix for a 4 hour ride back at 1AM. So we ended up having
to find a hotel after booking the next train available with seats, an 11:15
train.
We missed the first goal of the game because we were booking the hotel and
train. Japan scored a goal 15 mins in. There's a long time rivalry between
JPN and CHN and the stadium was packed. Security presence was very visible
and had to breakup some altercations between JPN and CHN spectators. The
Japanese team had possession of the ball more often and seemed to be on the
offensive a lot more than China. They had better ball control and seemed
less fatigued, with more speed throughout the game. There were some close
shots on goal by China, and the crowd was crazy. However, Japan scored
another goal late in the second half which ended China's quest for a medal.
Our hotel was actually very nice, and we had a good night's rest. The hotel
breakfast was pretty lavish in comparison to what we normally eat. The
train ride back was uneventful and we got back to Beijing at 1:15. From
there, it was on to the first day of rowing finals in Shunyi.
Getting to Shunyi was also a hassle and expensive. We took the subway from
the train station, and the the airport express subway out to the airport.
From there we took a taxi to the rowing park. It took us almost 2 hours to
get there, but we made it on time to watch the first medal race. OW will
give more commentary on the actual races later.
At this moment, we are in a taxi on our way to the rowing park again for
Day 2 of the Rowing finals. We negotiated a fixed price with a taxi driver
directly from Beijing, so it's a much faster and direct ride.
A bit of drizzle today, but hopefully no rain delay.
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