Cameron Parsons
Cameron,
I thought the games were very well presented. The organisation that must have gone into the two ceromonies was sensational and it looked good on television here.
I was in China around 18 months ago and I could see the start of the beautification of the city, the approached from the airport etc.
I'm guessing that they must have planted thousands of mature trees over the last twelve months or so.
The things that I could remember as an eyesore appeared to be removed or covereds up. Whilst I was there, every building had a construction crane on it and it was obvious that these had all been removed.
The Beijing city area was going through a major clean up, with a lot of the old houses streets etc being torn down whilst I was there - guess that this area is all the gardens and new street now..
The television coverage focused on a lot of the history/heritage buildings. I watched a tour one early morning that took the viewer through the Emperors summer palace and lakes gardens, it was a blatant tourism promotion.
It was very well done on their part to promote China to the world. I did hear $46 billion was the cost. Mmmm how much is that a head..
Bernie