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Published: June 26th 2017
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Geo: 39.9165, 116.391
On Sunday evening we went to the Chinese Restaurant in the hotel. This has great décor and excellent service. The menu is long and varied but , to be expected, it is on the expensive side. We looked through the extensive offerings and chose from the bottom of the price range, We had a delicious meal. We started with Prawn dumplings and spring rolls, then stir fried beef with vegetables and chilli prawns. A special fried rice topped the meal off. The dishes came in reverse order to what we expect in Australia with the rice last. The serves were very generous and we should have only had one main. A Chilean Sauv Blanc accompanied the food and though we paid about $A200 for the meal it was some of the best Chinese food we have ever tasted.
Today we had breakfast about 8-30 and saw our friends, Bill and David as well as many faces from the IAAF we recognised from past Championships. We then lined up for our accreditation, the very important card which is our entry ticket to the stadium and the IAAF Lounge for food and drinks! Fletcher is an Area Delegate to the Congress this
time. This is a very important Congress as the new President will be elected on Wednesday. Two Candidates are standing, Lord Sebastian Coe and Sergei Bubka. They have been campaigning around the world for the past couple of years and we have met both. We have our fingers crossed for Sebastian as only under him will reforms be made and the IAAF cleaned up. Bubka is charming but I doubt he has the will to stop the drug cheating and reorganise the finances. The Oceania President and our friend, Geoff Gardiner is standing as Treasurer so we are on his side too.
We left the hotel about 11am after I signed up for two of the free tours available. Fletcher will be busy during the next few days with meetings but I am going to The Great Wall on Wednesday and then to the Summer Palace and the Hutongs on Thursday. I have been to both but only in winter so it will be interesting to see the difference in summertime. We walked past the Olympic Precinct and saw the Bird's Nest in the distance and then went to the local Shopping Mall. This is similar to most around the world.
In the basement we found a supermarket and bought a couple of bottles of Chilean wine to keep in our room and then found, among many packed eating places, Bella Vista restaurant where we had a nice lunch of Bruschetta and Pizza washed down by some Asahi beer.
The weather was humid and the air very smoggy. We returned to the hotel. There is not a lot to see and do here so a restful afternoon was had. About 5-30 we went down to the lobby where we took up a strategic seat in the Lobby Bar and watched the politicking going on. We said hello to Seb and his wife Carol and he diplomatically did not mention the cricket!! Then we were joined by Geoff and Pauline and we observed Sergei and his cohort pressing the flesh and greeting as many delegates as possible. John Coates also stopped by for a chat. Geoff and Seb were then off putting their views to the voters! About 8-00pm we accompanied Geoff to the nearby hotel where more delegates are staying. Though I told Geoff to turn right he insisted that we go left and around the Convention Centre. Thus ensued Geoff's
Long March which will go down in Oceania History!. When we finally got to the hotel we met Valson from India for whom Fletcher had lectured in Chennai a few years ago. We told him we would be there in January on our cruise around the Indian Ocean so we now have a promise of car and driver to take us around for the day!
After an hour there meeting and greeting, Yvonne, Pauline, Fletcher and I returned to our hotel, this time the short way, and had dinner in Café O2 in the lobby. Lovely food, big servings and reasonable prices. It had been an interesting day!
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