And the sight seeing began…

After the competition was over we had a few days left to watch some other Paralympic sports and to see a bit more of China.  We had many busy days to fit everything in, and missed out on some of the important landmarks.  But it was a great time and an experience to remember forever.

First we had a chance to unwind at a Family and Friends Reception at the B.C. Canada Pavilion.  We had finished our competition and it was a great way to start relaxing.  There were a couple of Canadian musicians there; this is us with Justin Hines and his wife.  He is very talented and it was awesome to get a chance to listen to his music and talk to him about some of his experiences.

 

 The next day we went with Derek, Joseph and Sarah’s mom, Evelyn to see some 5-a-side soccer.  It was incredible to watch.  The athletes have visual impairments and they are all blindfolded to ensure that they all have no vision during the game.  The ball has a bell in it so that they know where it is.  They follow the voices of the goal keeper who is sighted and a person from their team who stands behind the opposite team’s goal, so that they know where other players are and where the goal is:)

Then, we got to hear the National Anthem at the Water Cube as we watched Stephanie Dixon swim to first place in one of her races.  It was awesome to cheer her on and to see her on top of the podium.

This is the Water Cube and the Bird’s Nest at night.  The venues are absolutely amazing… they put a lot of thought into making them interesting!

The pictures hardly do them justice!

The sights we saw in China are:

The Forbidden City – it’s incredible how intact everything remains.  The history of it is really preserved, and although you can’t walk through most of the buildings… you have to stand outside and look in… you get the idea of how the emperors lived a long, long time ago!

One of the best things about the Paralympic movement is how it affects the cities and countries that it is in – the structures and the people.  For China, I think that it was a real eye-opener – recognizing the abilities of people with disabilities – they really grasped on to it and it was great to see the affect that it had.  People there haven’t seen a lot of people in wheelchairs, and I don’t know if they’d ever seen an electric wheelchair, so it was awesome to watch them as we zoomed down the streets.  The stands were always full and everyone wanted to do whatever they could to make sure that we had a positive experience.  Anyways, the point of all of that was to say that they had made the historic landmarks accessible… or at least parts of them.  The technology was pretty amazing too… this is Monica on this crazy stair climber thing at the Forbidden City.

The most important part of the Forbidden City is the gates… here’s Derek and Sarah posing by the first gate.

Lions are a big part of decoration at all of the places we visited.  Here’s the one in the Forbidden City.

We then attempted to walk to Tiannemen Square, but it was a holiday there… the mid-autumn day… so the entrance was blocked off and it was all very crowded.  We decided to head back for dinner near the apartment that our family was staying at.

We chose a Japanese restaurant which was an incredible experience.  First, it wasn’t accessible… there were 3 stairs to a lobby area and a large flight of stairs to the dining room.  But, that doesn’t really phase people in China.  They thought they would lift Monica and Paul into the lobby area and bring a table for us to eat there.  Fortunately, we saw a ramp at a place nearby and encouraged them instead to bring the ramp over.  Once inside they quickly cleaned up the lobby and brought down a table and chairs from the dining room.  Efficiency!!  Once settled we ordered a number of dishes that we usually have at Japanese restaurants and they started coming quite quickly.  There were about 4 people to attend to us, including one very nice girl named Lucy, who spoke English.  As we began to eat she noticed that Joseph was helping Paul… well that wouldn’t do!  She grabbed some chopsticks and started helping Paul… she was quite good at it, lots of years of chopstick experience I imagine!  We all had a great time and the food was great.

The next day we had a couple of organized tours, taking the bus from the Village to the Temple of Heaven in the morning.  The bus stopped and we got out, assuming that we were near the Temple.  Then, Paul asks if we meet back there at 11 (when the bus was scheduled to leave, and the woman says that it will be only 40 minutes.  Then we are led by another man and a translator, who tell us that we are at a sort of community centre/rehab centre where people with disabilities come during the day.  We are led into a room with a number of people with developmental disabilities who work on handicrafts.  They give us a beautiful bracelet and a Paralympic mascot that they have made.  Then they sing us a song.  It was very moving and fun to see them all there.

We then saw the physical therapy room, the life skills class, and the equipment loan centre.  Once we got back outside there were a number of people doing some physical activity, playing with traditional Chinese yo-yos and paddles.  It was such an incredible experience, especially knowing that all of this existed because of the Paralympic movement and that they were moving towards integration with a community centre that all people could share.  It was an unexpected detour and a fascinating one.

Off to the Temple of Heaven we went… it’s the place where a lot of sacrifices took place.  It was great because we had a fully guided tour, although we had to split into 2 groups for accessibility reasons.  This is the non-accessible group on the Echo Stone.

 And the temple

We were reunited at the end!  Phew!

Next stop, after a quick lunch back at the Village, was the Summer Palace, where the emperor’s would spend half of the year… to enjoy the natural scenery.  By this time it was really hot and we were quite tired, but it was a beautiful place… with a lake and a pond and a very long painted hallway (evidently it’s in the Guiness Book of World Records)!

 

The next day we decided to sleep in a bit and then head to the Silk Market, so Paul could try his hand at bartering with the vendors.  This was a definite priority and we were both excited about it!  We grabbed a taxi… the accessible taxis there were just big enough… why waste space!  At the Market we had a great time looking at everything that we could possibly need or want.  Some of our teammates had gone already, so we had some idea about what to expect, but nothing can compare to the actual experience!  There are rows upon rows and floors upon floors of little cubicles selling everything from clothes and shoes to electronics and glasses, not to mention jewellery and souvenirs.  It’s impossible to get to everything!  Paul proved great at bartering, although it took him some time to warm up and often took 20-30 minutes to get the deal he wanted.  Sarah would tell him what she wanted, then walk away to let him work his magic.  Here’s a picture of Paul with the shoe vendor… they really loved us down there!

And, on the day of the closing ceremonies… our last full day… we went for a Chinese lunch with mom, Joseph and Derek.  Fortunately, it included beer since the food was outrageously spicy!  Everyone there always seemed to want Derek to have a drink… of course, we limited him to iced tea and Coke, but sometimes this took longer to get with the language barrier, so a cheer’s with a beer seemed the way to go.

Then there was the Closing Ceremonies which I will describe in the next blog, with a more detailed description of the Opening as well.  Sad that it’s over but ready to be home and back to real life!