(edited on 21 August, more pics)
Some of you might have seen me…
CCTV2 made a small documentary (15 min) about me and my involvement in the Olympics. For 3 days they followed me around, in the office meeting room, in my private office, near the Watercube, in a Swisscham networking event and, yes, in my gym – California Fitness. We had a good time, even with all the hard work, the heath, the hassle.


See the shooting in the gym, pictures provided by the PR company Edelman.
The documentary was shown on CCTV2 and later several times on CCTV4.

See here also pics from the shooting near the Watercube, with the CCTV9 crew!
Last Saturday (16 August) I was invited by CCTV9 to be part of their “17 Days”, a life program taped in their studios next to the Millennium Monument. The topic is of course … Olympics.
Host was Ms. Tian Wei and I joined the other panelist, Mr. Zhu Yinghuang, Editor in Chief Emeritus of China Daily. We had received a long list of tough questions to discuss but at the end little time was left for us to really discuss in depth. See the CCTV building, the make-up room and the studio.

I enjoyed most the overall experience, the preparations (make-up room…), the intensity of the program with all the news flashes. And the people who were all real nice (which is not exactly always the case with FOREIGN journalists!). Mr. Zhu and me were then invited for a Shanghai lunch where we really discussed in depth…

NOTE: THIS IS FOR TESTING ONLY, SEE VERSION 2!
Some of you might have seen me…
CCTV2 made a small documentary (15 min) about me and my involvement in the Olympics. For 3 days they followed me around, in the office meeting room, in my private office, near the Watercube, in a Swisscham networking event and, yes, in my gym – California Fitness. We had a good time, even with all the hard work, the heath, the hassle.

See the shooting in the gym, pictures provided by the PR company Edelman.
The documentary was shown on CCTV2 and later several times on CCTV4.
Last Saturday (16 August) I was invited by CCTV9 to be part of their “17 Days”, a life program taped in their studios next to the Millennium Monument. The topic is of course … Olympics.
Host was Ms. Tian Wei and I joined the other panelist, Mr. Zhu Yinghuang, Editor in Chief Emeritus of China Daily. We had received a long list of tough questions to discuss but at the end little time was left for us to really discuss in depth. See the CCTV building, the make-up room and the studio.
I enjoyed most the overall experience, the preparations (make-up room…), the intensity of the program with all the news flashes. And the people who were all real nice (which is not exactly always the case with FOREIGN journalists!). Mr. Zhu and me were then invited for a Shanghai lunch where we really discussed in depth…
I enjoyed most the overall experience, the prepations (make-up room…), the intensity of the program with all the news flashes. And the people who were all real nice (which is not exactly always the case with FOREIGN journalists!). Mr. Zhu and me were then invited for a Shanghai lunch where we really discussed in depth…

My real first competition to watch was the football game Belgium – Italy, in the Workers’ Stadium next door. Thanks to the BOIC (Belgian Olympic Committee) lots of Belgians got tickets, I was lucky to have one just next to the VIP area.
It was for the football quarterfinals men in the Beijing 2008 Olympics.
Our chances were considered slim, worse even after the referee (unfairly?) gave a red card to a Belgian player and the Belgians had to face the Italians 10 against 11 and scored a penalty.
Well, the Belgians did great, recovered and managed to win 3 to 2. A full moon was there to watch over us.

The many Belgian supporters were of course ecstatic and we all headed to The Tree to celebrate with lots of Belgian beer.
We have so little to celebrate anyway so we have to take this unique opportunity!
The pics show the Belgian flag, the teams, the penalty goal, the supporters, public, Piet Moons and others from the BOIC and our VIP supporter ambassador Bernard Pierre who also joined us all in The Tree.
Yes The Tree is open but, for the silly reasons of the silly police, last order is 9:30pm to close around 10pm.
More about the highly incompetent police later on.
As for the Workers’ Stadium:
– security checks went fairly well considering the crowd of over 50,000
– indications were good and volunteers helpful
– drink and “food” outlets were a shame, impossible to buy anything unless you were ready to wait in line for 30 minutes. A real screw-up (as it is in most venues where overall the food is kinda horrible). Call that planning.
– the Panasonic screen was OK (north side) but the other one (south side) is of poor quality.
– the replay did not work for most of the game and we were left to guess what happened
– the public was cheerful and behaving nicely, a welcome difference with European hooliganism (though they were clearly favoring Italy, too bad guys)
– quality of repairs done at the stadium look questionable, the staircases already start showing damage.
So, next step – Shanghai on the 19th.

After a welcome and torrential rain yesterday we had a very cool evening.
Today Friday, real blue sky with CCTV flying over.

See the rain in Julong, with “green roofs” and my private jungle on my office balcony.
Disappointment yesterday evening. I wanted to take some foreign guests around Sanlitun Bar area and have a drink at The Tree (a very popular Belgian bar with the best pizza in town). It was closed. Under pressure from the paranoid police nearby – they also closed down nearby shops and noodle restaurant. And erected a big iron gate to seal off access to the alley on one side. So, no more shortcut between The Tree and Nearby The Tree.
Sad. In the most important time for Beijing, outlets are forced to close without compensation. “Welcome to Beijing”. Kind of.
Well, could be worse. Kai and the others were open. The DVD shop was closed however.

In the past, one would never see anything like a helicopter in Beijing, certainly not in the city. With the Olympics that all changed.
See here some shots all taken from my office balcony in Julong Garden.

You can see 3 different types, one is army/police, one is CCTV and one is special for the Olympics (BOB logo). If you look well you’ll see the special cameras hanging on the side. See also the pic I took of one of the many scale models in my office. You will notice the similarity!