Beijing Olympics 2008

[nlagalle]

Last day of the Games

Well the journey has nearly come to an end! Day 16 and it's a pretty quiet day.

Yesterday I ducked off to the tailor and picked up my suits. Very happy with the results! Took a couple of the journos with me as they wanted to get some too. They promised to have theirs ready by Wedenesday morning.

It's been getting quieter and we've had a few surprise medals, every time we get one it picks everyone back up again. The pole vault gold was a great example of that.

So last night we decided that we were going to get some photos on the running track at the stadium. We did it in 2006 at the MCG and my boss told me I had to get a photo.

So after watching the USA win the relays and the spectators left, you'd see the all the media, Broadcast and volunteers going out onto the track to get their photo taken. It's the sort of pic you don't get to take very often! There is people goofing around going 100m "sprints" and stuff and its all really good fun. Unfortunately after about 20 minutes or so the fun police arrived and told everyone to move on. It was probably fair enough as they needed to pack up the track and start getting ready for the Closing Ceremony. We chided with a couple of the guards and asked if they could pretend to "kick us out". We got some great shots of a photographer being "forcibly removed" from the track! All in good fun though.

This morning i went for a walk up to the superstore (translation - Mad house) people everywhere wanting to buy merchandise). I was after some things for my daughter. finally found a few things and i was out of there..

Back in the office everyone had gathered together for the team photo. We wandered out down in front of the main stadium, photo was complete with Aussie flag and a cricket bat (we'd spent the last 2 weeks playing cricket in the hallway to get some excercise - much to the bewilderment of the Americans!!!). It was a great way to finish off.

So I am sitting here this afternoon, organising our freight out. I was informed last night we cannot ship batteries in the cases. damm. But apaprt from that our gear is scheduled to be picked up on Wednesday.

I don't have a ticket for the closing tonight, my mate has that gig as I did the Opening. So I'll probably sit up on the beer garden and drink some beer!

more to come....

 

[Leumas]

Thanks for sharing the report. It's a great read. Can't wait for the next instalment.

 

[JohnK]

Very interesting trip report. Sounds like you had a great time even though you were working.

 

[nlagalle]

Last day of the Games (cont...)

Ok.. I actually landed back in MEL this afternoon. It's been a hectic few days let me tell you!! (and taken me some time to write this down)

After my last post I was going to be spending the night in the office. However at the last minute a ticket landed in my lap and I was off to the Closing Ceremony!

The Closing is not normally as prim and proper at the opening. There is a lot less time to set up and rehearse, so it tends to have a far more relaxed and party atmosphere. Sydney was a pretty good closing as was Athens. I felt overall the Beijing one was they tried to be relaxed, but still too rigid and structured, which was a real shame.

I felt the London part was a bit ordinary - the acoustics didn't help either. I'm not sure how it sounded on TV, but it was shocking in the stadium.

After the ceremony had finished and the crowd left, there was the arena full of the performers. There were quite a few techs and broadcast people out there too so I was like bugger it, I'm going out too. People were wandering around and before too long there was a large crowd of people in the middle. We were all taking photos with the dancers, some of us were even asked to sign hats etc, and in general having a really good time. To me this summed up the Chinese people, happy friendly people and proud. I'd say this was probably the highlight of the entire trip. Many of the people on the ground said the same thing. The Games are officially over and this was our parting memory. I'd say we were on the arena for a good 30 minutes soaking up the atmosphere.

As we walked out back to the MPC, one of the photographers, who was walking backwards told us to stop and look back. There was the stadium, all lit up. A nice way to say good bye.

For 16 days we'd worked extremely long hours to deliver words, images and video back to Australia. Now it was over for those guys, but not for me! We kicked back with a few drinks at the rooftop bar before they guys went off to hit the town. We started packing some gear instead as we both weren't interested in getting drunk (well not yet) After 5 weeks, the office isn't a pretty site, and that is after we had told everyone to clean up! After a few hours at it we finally called it quits at about 3am. A lot of the gear was sorted and ready to put into the road cases..

(more to come.....)

 

[Flashback]

Certainly a very interesting read nlagalle and looking forward to the final pieces.

 

[nlagalle]

Well I am now back home in Melb and I thought I'd better finish off this TR....

If footballer have Mad Monday after Round 22, our equivalent is Mad Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday! Every photographer and Journo is basically out on the town letting their hair down after 3-4 weeks of constant grind. So come Monday morning the MPC is literally deserted.

After having a bit of a sleep in, it was back to packing. Everything had to go back in the same cases etc and we couldn't take extras home (we had a carnet on the shipment). our translator ended up with boxes of batteries, notepads pens etc. I don't think she'll be buying stationary for a while!

We were all taken out for lunch at a pretty swish restaurant called "Da Dong". There were quite a few people there with sunglasses on! I think some of them had been home long enough to shower and change!

Everyone else kicked on afterwards, but we were back finishing out packing! It was at this time we finally pulled the pin on our network and the VPN link back to Australia. So officially our office was closed!

At the same time we had all sorts of people coming in to say good bye, from Rate card staff to the cleaners. Pins are the "currency of choice" shall we say. We had brought some pins from Australia to trade and give away. Our "Hero Wall" with all the front pages from home as equally as popular. Within a day of us saying take one if you like, the wall was stripped bare! and there were well over 100 A3 pages on the wall too!

So by about 8pm we had packed everything back into the road cases and all sealed up. The freight carrier would be in at 9.30 tomorrow morning to collect it all.

Another quiet night for me, was a bit tired to hit the town.. Ended up having a few beers in the bar at the hotel.. Unfortunately the rooftop bar has closed...

So I was in the office on Tuesday morning to send off the freight. On my way over to the office, I noticed a big change in the MPC. Literally overnight, the Beijing 2008 logos had disappeared and been replaced with the Paralympics. Unfortunately people tend to forget this event. It doesn't have the same "glam" as the Olympics do, which i think is a real shame. The TV networks aren't really interested in it and it just doesn't rate with the audience. We have someone covering it, who will be arriving a few days after we leave. It is starting to gain a larger following now, so I really hope it keeps up. I've seen them compete before and it is truely amazing. Not only have they overcome a disability, they are competing in sport at the highest level (some of the swimmers are only slightly slower than the able bodied swimmers). My hat goes off to those people.

Anyway our freight left minus some laptop batteries - the Chinese decided that they are "dangerous goods" and must be packed seperately and have documentation etc. As we only had a couple of laptops, I just decided to carry them myself home. As they were leaving the supervisor asked me what i was doing for the last 2 days we were going to be there. I said going shopping for the family at Silk Street Market. He then said that whatever "first price" they gave me, I'd end up getting it for about 10% of that. Good insider tip..

I must say that the Silk Street Market is not the place for the faint hearted! Those of you who have been before will know what I mean! It's chaos in there! We learnt pretty quickly not to point or make eye contact! I was in the mood to bargain and by the end of the afternoon, I had picked up several handbags and purses for the wifey, some watches, sunglasses and shoes, plus a few other bots and pieces. I ended up buying another suitcase to carry everything in. And the freight guy was right.. the 10% was pretty close most of the time! In the end i spend about 5 hours there, and came away with a pretty good loot!

We went out to dinner with the two guys we knew from broadcast to the Daily duck for out last meal there. a good way to go out as they gave us a private room and the food was great as always.. although we were disappointed that the "extremely good Perch" was all gone... Good perch just doesn't cut it!

We wandered back to the hotel for a farewell drink. Hopefully we will see the guys again in 2012. You meet all these people in the space of a few weeks, become really good friends and don't see them for 4 more years, but when you do, it's like you saw them last week. After that we met up with the rest of the team at a bar called Souks. it's in Lucky St, and I remember it as the first place I saw when we turned into the street was a Chinese massage place!!

Anyway to cut a long story short - We ended up at a nightclub and with our own private room singing karaoke. I ended up a wee bit drunk and had to get helped home. It didn't help the next morning we had to catch a bus to the Great Wall! I was not in good shape for that! Needless to say I didn't make it far up the wall before I could go no further and sat down for a sleep! Fortunately i made it back to the bus and then to the hotel as i still had to packup. That took long enough, but i managed to sneak in a another snooze and i managed to feel a bit more human!!

So after farewelling the hotel staff (they were super friendly the whole time we were there), we were off to the airport. I was not going to miss the security screening or the smog, but I know I will miss the place. Will have to visit as a tourist one day!

I had forgotten how big T3 is in Beijing! took ages just to find the checkin desks for QF. I was lucky that the Business/QP queue was virtually empty (Y checkin was huge). so 50kg of luggage later (oh thank you excess baggage letter!!!) I was checked in to 29G on QF192.

There was a group of us left as some had gone ahead, but a photographer and managed to get everyone to sign the flag we brought over. As we were saying good bye to our translator, we presented her with the flag as a good bye present. Well that opened the floodgates. Poor girl. She had been working with us for 6 weeks on an experience of a lifetime and she had to say goodbye. If she ever comes to Australia she won't be short of a place to stay!

So after a train ride the the other part of T3 it was time to do all the customs stuff. I swear their metal detector is just set to buzz. I had no metal on me and I still set it off.. Then after a very intense pat down they wanted to take my snow globe off me. I pointed out it fits into the liquids bag no worries at all. anyway she got distracted with someone's handbag, so I just stuffed it into my backpack and walked off. Buggered if they are going to take my daughters snow globe off me!

So after a quick stop in the BGS lounge (aka QP) it was time to board. I swear that flight had more media on it than tourists! Those overhead lockers would have been packed as there were photographers and cameramen with some of their gear.

We are finally on our way home! I settle down and start chatting to the guy next to me who is from the BBC and on his way to Oz for a bit of sightseeing. On the other side is a Cameraman from Sydney and we traded stories about climbing the Great Wall drunk/hung over!

After the supper I ended up falling asleep and ended up sleeping pretty much 9 hours!!! I've never done that before in Y or even J. And even though it was a light sleep I woke up feeling really good. We ended up landing pretty much on time, and I raced through immigration and got my bags pretty much straight away. Quick trip past Quarantine express lane (oh thank you chop sticks!) i was out... I think it took a total of 12 minutes!

Before i knew it i was checked in for the SYD-MEL leg. Just made the bus and I was off to the other side. Out of the 6 of us going to Melbourne, only 3 made the flight.. Another uneventful flight except some woman putting her handbag under seat (which was on my legs). it was a pretty quiet flight. My partner and daughter were picking me up from the airport so i was really looking forward to seeing them again. My daughter is only 5 so she was missing me terribly (but looking forward to getting presents!), so thank god for Skype!

It was a great feeling walking off the aero bridge and seeing them there. I'd seen it so many times in the past where kids had run to meet their dad's, so it was good to be the dad this time. My partner was equally as happy, although didn't come running up to me!!! So it was the best welcome home!

So after waiting at the baggage carousel, about 10 deep it seemed (oh why do QF have to only use 1 between 2 767 flights!!!), managed to get all my bags and off home we were... I wasn't game enough to drive after spending 6 weeks in China and seeing their driving!

So that is the end of the Beijing experience for me. Out of all the away trips I have done, this was definitely the best by far. I can see why people are hooked on doing the Olympics for a living. It's just a great overall buzz and excitement. Hopefully Delhi and London are next for me! But in the meantime I will write up a TR on my adventures on the 2000 Torch Relay around Australia.

 

[QF WP]

nlagalle, I have thoroughly enjoyed reading your TR - quite different to the normal one and given the event, certainly not anyone else can duplicate.

I hope you're around in 2012 and get the job again.

 

[Keith009]

*standing ovation*

Fantastic TR, nlagalle - enjoyed every bit of it.

 

[Flashback]

Quick trip past Quarantine express lane (oh thank you chop sticks!) i was out... I think it took a total of 12 minutes!

A nice trick, and worked wonders for me in PER coming back from NRT. 9 minutes from the time I stepped off the plane, till the time I was out on the curb

Also, a great TR! Was excellent reading!

 

[nlagalle]

Dot, You inspired me to look through my pics and post a couple.

To give you an idea of how many photographers were at the athletics when Bolt ran here is some pics of the photo platform (head on to the finish line) and at the bottom you can see part of the moat:

The pic above is from the top of the head on platform. On the day, some photographers got there at 2pm to secure their spot (it's first come first served except for the agencies).. To the left of the photo is all the tribune seating. THis is where the broadcast and journos work from. It also goes up one level as well.

Ok a bit blurry as it is low light but to the bottom right of the big screen you can see the platform. The moat is below it. the people in front are a mix of broadcast, radio and print journalists

Ok a closer shot. at the bottom of the platform you can see all the remote cameras. These are linked to the photographers main camera and fire the same time as they shoot with their own camera. Allows then to shoot 2 things at once!

More pics on the way....

 

[nlagalle]

There were a stack of interesting buildings around the Olympic area.

Pan Gu Plaza was one:

Great to watch TV on!

And the Ling Long, in the middle of the Olympic Green:

Broadcasters used this to do live crosses from. I also lit up at night too, which was quite spectacular.

On the pool deck in the watercube. On the other side was all media Tribunes and Olympic family seating. You can see the diving pool in the background.