Coca Cola and the Danes

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

What’s the connection? None actually. But at The Place (Dongdaqiao Lu) the Coke people set up a special Olympic center to receive the normal crowd. Seems it was very popular as the performances were always solid sold out in advance.

The Danes had another great idea, the renamed The Den: “The Den Mark”. It is officially their meeting place but anybody is welcome. The pub is well known – as a sports bar but also as a pick-up night spot. But right now, the “extra activities” have been shut down by the police. If you want to have the “extra” fun you’ll have to wait the Games are over. Can’t have it all.

New metro stations

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Some time ago I complained about the access for disabled people to the metro near the Swissotel. Well, guess, one day I went back and saw some funny rails, see the pics from Dongsishitiao Line 2.

Turns out, they did install a special rail to transport wheelchairs. The only question is how and when it can be operated. Not exactly “user-friendly” on a normal day but again, I might be wrong.

See also here how the new Line 10 looks like – and the new bomb disposal units, a more war-like model.

19 August: a bad day for Belgium and Brazil

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

I first went to the Belgian embassy where we were able to watch the Belgium – Nigeria football match, thanks to BARCO. Renaat Morel was there to pump up our spirits with Belgian beer.
No luck, Belgium was beaten to pulp by Nigeria, 4 to 1. I even did not watch the sorry end, went home, changed into a Brazilian T-shirt and headed for the match Brazil – Argentina in Gongti.
The crowd was huge, security checks rather smooth, buying a drink was easier. But the instant replay was still broken and the Chinese LED screen sucks.
The crowd (over 50,000) was divided between Brazil and Argentina. Chinese fans enough but not exactly with a Brazilian passion. At least, you feel safe.


Well bad luck again. The Brazilians were up to nothing and lost 3 to zero.
The irony is, now my favorite teams will face each other in Shanghai on Friday 22. With Brazil having scored 2 red cards, maybe Belgium has a tiny chance. But our hope is VERY low.
Went home, viciously attacked a bottle of Scotch and watched HBO.

Ticket scalpers and incompetent police

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

When we went to watch the football game Belgium – Italy in Gongti, we helped to distribute many tickets we had secured from the sports people, and made many people happy. When Sun was handing them out at the entrance, plain-clothes police approached her, asked her what she was doing. She was soon tricked by them, explanations to no avail and she found herself basically locked up in the police station near The Tree in Sanlitun. After patiently trying to explain she really got mad, called some high friends who then forced the police to apologize and let her go. Result, some of the Belgians failed to get their ticket and Sun arrived only during the second half of the game.

The same evening we went back to the police station, for me to take a picture. With their paranoia they also built an iron gate between The Tree and the station. Sun told them again in her very direct way what she thought of their lack of professionalism. And she also called up half of Beijing’s government people to complain. You don’t mess with Sun.
Obviously coordination between the police forces is poor and there is too much incompetence.
We have some good friends in the security forces and they try to do a good job. But there are others who are totally brutal, inept and treat normal Chinese citizens worse than animals. Disgusting really and I despise them, including the totally useless traffic police. They never do anything but make life miserable for taxi drivers and others. They stand in the middle of traffic chaos without even noticing.
Those are the shame of China and as long as the government does not clean up, it will only bring more resentment among Chinese and foreigners alike. They spoil the image of a friendly China.
Ticket scalpers have been very busy doing their work, one day the police completely ignores them and another day they round up everybody without even checking.
A lot is to be said of the disaster ticket sales for the Olympic events. Whole sections of stadiums are empty and authorities sometimes at the last minute bring in buses of “spectators” to fill the seats for TV consumption. And normal people can’t find tickets. In a way, thanks to the scalpers, people find tickets, be it at astronomic prices.
Seems the Beijing Olympics are the worst in this category. Athens tickets were expensive but were available. In the end, Beijing tickets are more expensive – I was offered tickets for Brazil – Argentina on 19 August for 5000 RMB. The ticket I got from the sports people cost me 400 RMB.