Here the “report” on the preparation for the Parade! More to come later – watch this blog!
All foreigners (the ones on the float) were called to assemble at the Great Wall Sheraton at 1:30am. Sun and myself skipped that as the group proceeded to Gongti North Gate at 2:20am – next to where we live. We then went through security, the typical Chinese confusion. We were told no cameras etc. But ordinary pens were confiscated, making some foreigners upset as nobody told us and some of the pens were valuable. No discussion. Ditto for all magazines and newspapers. But, many did bring a camera and took then in, I was very upset as I did not bring mine… I managed to take some pics with my mobile. Not great but better than nothing.
We then got a huge plastic bag with food (don’t ask for details) and water. We then had to wait inside the stadium on the (dirty) chairs. No problem for us – we had brought enough tissue paper. And my iPod to kill the time (I listened to 3 Chinese lessons). Then I discovered Chinese had brought big black markers… Pens and stuff were OK as long you were not a foreigner…
We were there till 5am when we proceeded to our float – all floats were stored inside the Gongti area, then left through the east gate to Gongti Dong Lu, Dongdaqiao Lu, then Jianguomenwai, Jianguomennei and finally Chang’an in front of the International Hotel where all floats were parked next to each other in 3 columns. Ample time to walk around, look at the floats, chat and go the toilets (installed on the walkways).
Valerie had a different schedule: she had to be at Chaoyang Park East Gate by 6am, from there proceeding to the side of Chang’an where the group of foreigners and Chinese walking around our float would join us at a certain point – to form a “matrix” – a big square surrounding the float. It was hilarious (?) to see the Chinese well disciplined and marching in formation – the foreigners could not be more chaotic…
In the morning we had a drizzle, the float was wet. Pollution was pretty bad (AQI of up to 240). Slowly the sky cleared, the clouds disappeared and gave way to the bluest sky I ever saw. And the AQI dropped to 30. (I got a sunburn on my face from the strong sun…)
All floats were parked behind the military vehicles (see them in the distance). Impressive was the see till the very end of Chang’an Avenue with the mountains in the back.
At 10am the Parade started but our float started moving at around 11:20am. The rest is “history”.
Some people were unhappy with the choice of the foreigners who were on the float. I give no comments…
Overall the experience was unique and moving. Our float had a tremendous success with the other participants, we waved to all other participants who were very excited – girls would wave, shout and dance when we passed. Everybody seemed ecstatic to participate, indeed all Chinese felt it was an honor to participate, despite the long training and waiting. It seems over 200,000 participants were involved. As such, big success.
In the pics you see the story; also thanks to Francis for the nice pics. The first pics after Francis’ pics were taken during our rehearsal on 25 September, afternoon, to check our positions on the float. See also the empty streets and the final “repairs” to the float to fix the pigeons.
Returning on our bus was a bit troublesome with the many traffic restrictions. We had to go down at the Sheraton again – no taxis and we waited for 20 min. Finally we were home after 2pm, exhausted, thirsty (I had 3 beers). Valerie, going her way home, even was home before us. But we watched the replay on CCTV and saw ourselves.
We got close to 200 SMS, phone calls and e-mails from people who saw us – even from Seoul (Korea) and Belgium.
And then we all fell asleep…
