When you don't have tickets for the Summer Games...

What do you do when you're in Beijing during the Summer Olympics but you don't have any tickets to watch the games? Be a tourist of course!

Last Saturday we went to Qianmen Dajie which is near the Tiananmen Square.
This was actually taken a week before - when it was still closed from the public. Here it is now a day after it was opened:Yeah, almost all the people had the same idea as ours..to troop to the newly renovated Qianmen street.
At a sweltering 36 degrees last Saturday, we braved the heat, the crowd and the countless street vendors selling tiny flags of different countries. I doubt if they were selling a Philippines flag.

We didn't stay long though and decided to go to Wangfujing to grab dinner and walk the tourist strip to check out the newly renovated shopping mall which housed the huge plasma screen that enabled a huge crowd to gather and watch the opening ceremony last Friday.

We saw this Nike display in the Oriental Plaza where they showcased the different uniforms for different sports.

After getting stuffed at Sizzler's, we made our way outside towards the long strip that made Wangfujing so famous among tourists.
Olympic banners are displayed along the Wangfujing strip.
Tourists flock to the Official souvenir shop for the Beijing 2008 Olympics. I'll prolly return to the store once the games are through as the prices would hopefully be back to normal by then.
Local and foreign tourists can be seen walking around, using cameras of different models and types, taking in the culture and spirit of China.
This is the huge screen along the strip that offered the huge crowd free glimpse of the Opening Ceremony last Friday.
The crowd we saw last Saturday watching from the huge screen could've simple be one tenth of the crowd who watched the Opening Ceremony the day before.
Here's me getting a picture with this poor guy who obviously has been standing at his spot the whole day being gawked at and harassed for pictures. From all the people I saw lining up to take a picture with him, I think I was the only one who thanked him for posing with me. See, he even looked at the camera compared to this guy below:
He was obviously bored and more interested in what's being shown in the big plasma screen.
We also saw the new facade of the Adidas store in Wangfujing. Their display shows the different shoes for the different games in the olympics:
We decided to call it a night and made our way to the back of the Oriental Plaza to catch a cab but didn't miss a chance to get some decent pics of the scene while using the pedestrian overpass
I'm not sure whether it was a stoke of luck or fate that I ended up staying here in Beijing. This city is both scary and mysterious - with all the rich culture and beliefs - but I'm sure glad I get to be a part of China's shining moment of being a host country for the Summer Games - and letting the world know that China can be big in it's own special way.