Shanghai Times

This year, we decided to go to the part of the Great Wall that was restored. Last year, we had a wonderful time hiking the old, unrestored section. But this year, we wanted to see how the wall looked like 2000 years ago. It was definetly differnent than last year - the dozens of tourists, the stores, and a great big tacky Olympics sign (you'll see in the pictures). The Great Wall is amazing to look at, and it is no suprise to me that is considered a wonder of the world.

Olympic fever has swept Beijing. Olympic memorabilia is everywhere. Construction on stadiums, tourist actractions, and other facilities are being built night and day. The Government has even launched a movement to "train" their citizens in how to be polite (for example, there are now fines for spitting on the ground and littering). All this for preparation for the big games.

Here is a picture of one of the olympic venues. The opening ceremonies will take place in the brand new "birds nest" stadium, surely to be one of the symbols of the 2008 games.