I have arrived in BEIJING!

Our departure from Japan started early as we got up at 4:00am and took a shuttle bus to the Narita Airport for our first flight at 8:30am. It was about an hour drive to the airport. We flew from Narita to Nagoya(1hr) then Nagoya to Beijing.(3hrs) As we were boarding for Beijing I was walking down the boarding tunnel with Ben Rutledge (6'6") and he didn't realize that there were heater hanging from the roof and one second he was beside me....and the next thing he was on the floor in total pain as he smashed his bald head on it! He hit it hard, I thought that someone had kicked the wall it hit so hard. As I looked at it once he recovered, I couldn't help but laugh as he had a huge red mark and skin hanging on the top of his head. The curse of being tall I guess!

As we touched down in Beijing and I peered out the window I realized that the view was extremely hazy, almost a fog. I came later to find out that it was in fact more of a fog rather than a smog/haze. (it was seriously odd at first though) The Beijing Airport is a brand new facility and is extremely large. It was pretty easy for us to navigate though security and such as there were lots of signs and it was also our first look at the army of volunteers that China has assembled for these games. People in blue shirts ready to help....some in good english and others in broken english, but we made it though ok.
Once we came out of the secure area in the main terminal there were a lot of people waiting there to greet us and it sure seemed like a lot of reporters, tv crews and photographers. Andrew Byrnes got a good photo taking a picture of 2 photographers as they took a picture of him. The COC (Canadian Olympic Committee) had representatives there with the organizational things in place in terms of a bus and where we needed to go. The ride to our hotel was only about 30mins.
I couldn't believe how few vehicles there were on the road. They were pretty much barren! I haven't really figured out yet if it is because we are out of the main city or if they have forced that many cars off the roads. Traffic our here in Shunyi where we are located is not going to be a problem.
Upon arriving at our hotel it was obvious that security is a high priority around here. There are arms guards checking your accreditation at the hotel gate just off the street and counting how many people are entering. Walking into the lobby you have to scan your bags and also walk through a vertical scanner and if it beeps they throw the wand over you. It is pretty much like airport security right in the hotel and you have to go through it every time you enter. To be honest, I really do feel safe here.
The hotel itself is less than 2 years old and is pretty much all marble. The rooms are great although the mattress is a bit hard but that's ok. The American and Italian rowing teams are also staying here in our hotel. It is so big that we rarely run into them other than in the main lobby. We all have our separate eating area's and common room's. Tonight we just got a slingbox hooked up to the common room TV so now we can watch regular programming in Canada via the internet. The opening ceremonies will be more interesting on CBC rather than some chinese station.
Staying out here in Shunyi was for sure the best logistical decision of the games so far. We are only 4 mins on the shuttle bus to the course. 4 years ago in Athens we had a 60min ride plus waiting at each end. This is awesome!

Well....it's time for me to go to bed now. We are 12 hours ahead of you over here. (compared to EST) I will give you some more insight into the course and Olympic life tomorrow. I need some rest. I've also really got to get some pictures up asap!! Sorry about that.

Brian