The timing was completely unintentional, but I happened to move to China during the same year that Beijing is hosting the Olympics. Those cuddly mascots are plastered on posters, tee-shirts, the sides of buildings, and everything in between. The Olympic Games are given credit for every major accomplishment of modernity and justification for both the opening and closing of the country. Needless to say, this year has been very interesting.
I arrived in Beijing expecting all the colorful festivities of Disney World on Christmas day on whatever anniversary they decide to celebrate that year. While I enjoyed the specially designated lane on the highway for the Olympics, I was not drowning in Beibei, Jingjing, Huanhuan, Yingying, and Nini mascot merchandise like I thought. A month out from the Olympics, Beijing seems to have made massive progress; however, it still might have a little way to go.
1. With the exception of Hohhot, Longji, and the area around Tiger Leaping Gorge in Yunnan, many people in the service and tourism industry speak at least a little English. Unfortunately, Beijing appears to be lagging behind that curve. So much for the English-First campaign whose advertisements appear everywhere.
HOWEVER, I am really practising my Chinese. In addition, I stopped by the Pearl Market to buy a fleece and found most vendors' English could rivial some of my native level Engilsh students. Non-Chinese speaking purse buyers rejoice!
2. Similar to number one, the friendliest, best English speaking taxi drivers huddle around the mega-tourist sites like the Summer Palace to lure in hapless foreign tourists and charge ridiculous non-metered prices or tack on Olympian stadium tours.
HOWEVER, we did have an adorable taxi driver pull out a laminated card from his visor when I told him where we wanted to go. He tried to match the Chinese characters for the major tourist attractions with the English words that correspond. Of course, I was speaking to him in Chinese and the place we wanted to go doesn't seem to exist anymore. The effort was endearing regardless.
3. Beijing built a huge new terminal to handle all the air traffic but built it far away from the other two. Travelers will have to know which terminal that they need, which is probably not going to be the case for many foreigners.
HOWEVER, I managed to correctly "guess" the word for terminal, which is NOT in my Lonely Planet phrasebook based on a conversation that I had with a Shangaiese taxi driver weeks ago. Everyone else is out of luck.
4. The subway closes at 11PM. My friend and I barely made the last train after only dinner and a stroll around a new hip walking atreet. Younger Olympic goes hoping yo celebrate their team's win in shotput or archery might have difficulty getting home if they don't know their hotel's cross streets.
HOWEVER, the subways are excellent. They are modern and are easy to use.
5. In an effort to clear all the air pollution to give Beijing uncharacteristic blue skies, China has been seeding clouds and forcing it to rain...every day. Unfortunately, if they succeed, pasty Westerners are going to be caught off guard when they can't buy suntan lotion though skin whiterning products are always readily available.
HOWEVER, all the rain and landscaping have made Beijing explode with color whne I've never heard Beijing described as beautiful before now.
6. While the subways are great, the bus system needs some work. We never managed to catch a single bus eventhough we tried a couple of times. Sometimes Lonely PLanet was at fault when it didn't specify where to catch the bus. Other times were more frustrating like how the bus station for the Summer Palace is impossible to find.
HOWEVER...well, I can't think of anything positive about this one.
AFter such a tragic year for China, I hope the Olympics are everything that China hopes that they will be. Still, lets hope in the next month that the government makes a few more improvements.
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