I've been in Shunyi (a suburb of Beijing) for a few days now, and its been awesome. We're living a pretty sheltered life in our 5 star hotel with royalty treatment. When the games are done I'd like to have a little more of a cultural experience, but I'm not going to think about that until after the races.
The rowing team is staying 5 minutes away from the course, so the commute has been pretty painless. If we were to stay in the athlete's village, it would've taken us an hour each way by bus. Staying in Shunyi was definitely the way to go. Living in a palace also makes things quite pleasant.
As for the heat, it's not much different than a hot summer in South Western Ontario. There's also a nice breeze by the rowing course that helps a bit. The first day we got here we couldn't see the end of the rowing course because of the pollution haze. However, the strict automobile regulations the Chinese government has enforced seems to be making a difference. It turns out there's beautiful mountains on the other side that we now have no problems seeing!
Yesterday the team had a half day off and we took a bus into Beijing for a few hours. The architecture is unreal. I'm not aloud to post any pictures until after the Olympics, but I would love to show you everything I've seen. The "Bird's Nest" is the largest modern creation I've ever laid eyes on. I can hardly imagine the brain power it took to create such a thing.
We also went to the Silk Market to test our bartering skills. Merchants tugged and grabbed us from all directions trying to get us to come into their shops. There were a lot of designer clothes and purses that I'll be sure to come back for later!
As for the rowing, we're still getting our sea legs back. We haven't quite felt the same as when we left, but this is completely normal and almost always takes a few days. Already we're starting to feel a little better everyday. Our first race isn't until August 10th so we have tons of time to adjust.
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