The Olympic Village @ Beijing, China

The year was 2008. I was sent to Beijing, China to represent our company to a medical conference that would show the results of a certain major drug test called ONTARGET. Please don't ask me what ONTARGET is. It's a droky side of me, but I actually still remember! HAHAHA this trip was for FREE care of Boehringer Ingelheim. First time to ride first class baby! And the flight attendants all gave me the "are-you-serious, how-old-are-you" look. COOL BEANS!! Pakak na pakak!!! :)) I was only 23 then and it was AN EXPERIENCE I WILL NEVER FORGET!!!

I remember that this year, China was once again the highlight of bad publicity due to their tainted milk products. What was that thing called again? So when I showed the Chinese embassy people my MEDIA ID during my visa application I was denied. But since I really had no choice but to go, I had to appeal and tell them that I won't cover anything about that big, bad issue of theirs but will solely cover the ONTARGET press conference in that medical convention. After that, VISA APPROVED! Yahoo!

Anyway this trip was my very first trip abroad that required me to go ALL BY MYSELF. I was quite nervous because I knew Chinese folks didn't know a single English word and that I might be on the list of people to watch out for since I already told them I was a "media personnel". I knew that if I disappeared, I'd disappear for GOOD! 

Upon arrival, I got the schedule and saw how lenient it was. I only had one major event to cover and that was on my 2nd night there. My arrival in Beijing was perfect since the Olympics just finished and the Olympic Village was literally a stone's throw away from the hotel (The Intercontinental Beijing) we were billeted in. So I decided to walk around and take shots of the place. It was beautiful! And I always thought I was just going to see these things on television. So it was surreal to actually be seeing them! And of course the frustrated photographer in me just had to snap photos. Oh and the photos are hazy since it was right smack in the middle of autumn and there was a heavy fog in the area.

Lone-ly girl on a lonely road

Ugh... COUPLES! KIDDING!! Took this photo because they were so cute! And the white things on the left are actually URINALS! :)

Ice Cube changing color 1

Ice Cube changing color 2 (I remember this was my laptop's desktop background for the LONGEST time!)

Ice Cube changing color 3 (I stood in one place for about 10 minutes taking photos of the Ice Cube changing colors and I remember looking at some Chinese dude who looked at me and thought I was a complete idiot!)

Love those lights on the floor! And the Bird's Nest in all it's hazy glory! :)

The Bird's Nest and the Ice Cube

See how huge this place is! And that's not even HALF of it!

That tower had the Olympic logo at the top

Looking back at these photos made me remember how COLD it was. It was still AUTUMN but the cold was fo shiz! It was an adventure for me because it was my first time to see my breath fog up from the cold. Feel na feel ko ang "winter wonderland" peg even if it was just October then. Even in the mornings, or even when the sun was high up in the sky, the cold was totally unforgiving! Glad I live in a tropical country! :)

The place was HUGE!!!! Went at night and went back in the morning and discovered other places that I didn't get to see when I first went. And the place was abuzz by local tourists still feeling the Olympic high. The place was quite a sight, especially the Bird's Nest and the Ice Cube with its changing colors. I hope y'all get to see the place, too. It's really quite something! :)