an olympic story

After we got done freezing to death and enjoying the Forbidden City, we got into our taxi and searched for somewhere to eat. We ran to McDonald's and ate their versions of fast food. It was mostly the same, the burger had a slight difference to it, and the french fries are sticks of mushy grease. However, the ice cream is the exact same. It's nice to savor the familiar sometimes!

We got done eating and squeezed out of the restaurant. (you have to turn and walk sideways down the rows to get out because everything is smaller over there--no space is wasted.) Sometimes the restaurants are three different levels, you order on the first level, walk down the second level to sit down to eat and then the restrooms are on the top level. Interesting.

We piled into our taxi and drove to the Olympic Green. It was amazing to see the places that we have only seen on t.v.! The courtyards, the grounds where a million people walked during the summer days of The Olympics. Truly awesome.





Here's the Bird's Nest Stadium! It's huge! Did you know...
-seats 80,000 people (original design tried for 100,000)
-has a 24-hour rainwater collector that purifies it and then uses it for inside and around the Nest -the design helped in using the famous retractable roof which has since been removed
-all 110,000 tons of steel used for the building were made in China (making it the largest steel structure in the world)
-on May 14, 2008, the grass field of 7,811 square meters was laid in 24 hours
-was built on the axis to ensure health and harmony for Olympic competitions
-cost $423 MILLION dollars


I certainly didn't realize it, but right next door is the Beijing National Aquatics Center, or better known as Michael Phelps' playground! Er, I mean the Water Cube!

It's so neat to research the history behind this structure also! Here's some cool stuff:
-the bubbles on the exterior are exact replicas that of bubbles in an experiment done by the designers (they sliced through bubbles made in soap foam, because they wanted the sporadic look)
-seats 17,000 for different events
-costs money to go inside and tour (and we had more fun to do so we didn't go in)







And then my stomach started to hurt I could hardly walk. I remembered eating those couple french fries and those couple of bites of ice cream. I don't have a gall bladder (so I can't digest fried foods very well) and I am lactose intolerant (I didn't take my enzymes like I should have) That spells trouble.

I needed a bathroom and FAST. I think I scared the taxi driver because the stomach cramps were so painful and I was breathing loudly to help me feel a little better. He knew that I needed to find a bathroom. Close to tears and muttering prayers under my breath I ran inside a KFC...

I DID NOT find this:

I DID find this:

Needless to say I survived having diarrhea in another country with a squatter toilet.