All your doubts about Beijing's readiness for the Olympic Games? These Segway-ridin' police will crush them!
Security forces recently held an "anti-terrorist drill" in Jinan, in Shandong province south of Beijing, to practice riding these truly terrifying electric scooters. The demo also gave cops an opportunity to show off their martial arts skills, flamethrower handling and mob dispersing techniques. Watch out, nightclub owners!
Sound the alarms! The Chinese city of Qingdao has come under algal attack--and the Olympics could be at risk! More than 30 percent of the waters designated for sailing contests off the coast of the city are inundated with thick enteromorpha prolifera. But the Chinese authorities have a way with getting people to "volunteer," and a reported 20,000 citizens have pitched in to clean up the Yellow Sea.
Agricultural run off is often the culprit when it comes to algal blooms, but Chinese officials told the state news agency that isn't the case this time. And they may not be lying! Blooms fueled by nitrates from fertilizers are usually red, and the stuff on the shores of Qingdao is bright green.
As the clean-up continues, the local Olympics Sailing Committee is planning a 30-mile-long fence to help keep the bloom at bay. The group says everything should be sorted by July 15; the games start on August 8.
Beijing has a rich nightlife scene filled with multi-level megaclubs and basement joints pumping techno and drum-and-bass, but local club-owners say that Chinese authorities are cracking down on nightlife in advance of the upcoming Olympics. Beijing police have begun raiding clubs and have warned that some venues near Olympic facilities will have to shut down during the games due to vague "security concerns."
Club culture has exploded in Beijing during the past few years as China's upper classes have grown. Club owners say they have no fears that the attack on nightlife in Beijing will be permanent, so they're looking forward to a return to business as usual following the Olympic games.
We love Chinglish, so it's with a heavy heart that we report China has standardized restaurant menus in Beijing in preparation for the Olympics. That means no matter where you go, you'll know what you're ordering. (And doesn't that take some of the fun out of a trip to Asia?)
There will be no more "husband and wife's lung slice," reports Reuters: The dish is now rendered "beef and ox tripe in chili sauce." And don't even think of ordering "bean curd made by a pock-marked woman"; that's now officially known as "mapo tofu."
Actually, there is one change we can appreciate. We probably would never order the "chicken without sexual life," but we'd definitely go for some "steamed pullet."
Mountaineering types and adventure travel advocates are always hyping their accomplishments--until too many people follow in their footsteps. We can officially call Mt. Everest done-ski now that the Olympic Torch has made it to the summit.
When a team of torch runners can just say, "Let's take this thing up there," you know it's gotten too easy to just cruise up the mountain. Well, maybe easy is a bit of a stretch:
The summit attempt had been repeatedly delayed because of bad weather, and the team had been forced to sit for days at various high camps.
The group of ethnic Tibetan climbers and Chinese journalists must've been a lonely on the climb: China barred access to the summit earlier this year to keep any pro-Tibetan protests from marring the mountain-top torch run.
While most of the world is slowing lifting restrictions on cabin baggage, over in China they're just getting started. Last month the Chinese authorities added matches and lighters to a growing list of banned items. And as of May 1, they've also restricted the amount of cabin baggage you can carry on.
With the Olympics around the corner and plenty of tourists getting ready to make domestic flights across China, it doesn't seem like a great time to start changing the rules. But for the record, the rules now say that you can only take one piece of baggage on board, and it has to weigh less than 5kg (11 pounds); first class passengers get two bags.
This applies to international passengers who get a connecting flight within China, too. If you're Olympics-bound, this might be a good time to repack your bag.
We can't imagine that the latest pre-Olympics news from Beijing will make organizers less stressed. Officials in the capital are promising a smoke-free games, and that means stubbing out cigs in parks, bus and train stations and even some restaurants. It's gonna be quite a project: China is the world's top tobacco producer and consumer.
While Olympic venues will have full-on bans, most of Beijing is easing into the restrictions. One restaurateur says an outright switch to non-smoking would never work:
We're planning to gradually expand our non-smoking area, but it would be difficult to entirely ban smoking from the restaurant in one go. After all, everyone knows the old Chinese saying, "A smoke after a meal makes you feel like an immortal."
There are about 350 million smokers in the country, so it doesn't seem likely that they'll all quit by August. In true Chinese fashion, smoking police will be deployed during the games to make sure no one's breaking the rules.
We don't encourage you to, but if you've gotta light up, don't fret. The current fine for smoking where you shouldn't? $1.50.
After passing through San Francisco, the Olympic Torch didn't find much trouble in Buenos Aires, Dar es Salaam or Muscat. Now in Pakistan, the torch is prepping for a tour of the rest of Asia before heading back to China.
Among the upcoming stops are Kuala Lumpur, Canberra and Nagano, and today's relay through Islamabad was incident-free. But beware, torch watchers: Protesters in Australia are already agitating, so we could be in for more drama.
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