Sightseeing and a long trip home

On Thursday, we flew back to Beijing.  Friday provided us with a day full of sightseeing.  We drove by the Olympic venues, we took in the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, some shopping at a Jade museum and the Pearl Market, and an acrobat show.  It was a long day, with lots of walking, but it was great to see the sights and history of China.  Most of us will never be back to China, so we were lucky to experience what we did in China. 

All in all, the trip was non-stop go, go, go, but it was well worth it.  We're all totally exhausted after the long travel, the long days, and the uncomfortable beds, but it was an experience we'll never forget.  We're blessed and lucky to have water skiing provide us such a wonderful opportunity.  Hopefully, this is the first of many trips for Mad-City.


Pics coming soon of the awards ceremony (and the crazy amount of photographers), and opening ceremony (including video of the remote control plane crash).


Here are some pics of the Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, the Olympic venue, and Forbidden City....

Our team at the base of the Great Wall, before our long journey up.

After a LONG hike up to the top of the Great Wall...

Driving by the Olympic venues

The Forbidden City

Tiananmen Square

USA lost :(

Yesterday was a great day all around, except for the fact that in the end we lost by 15 points in the competition.  We skied two competitions yesterday.  Each one is scored and the scores are then added together.  In the morning competition, we started out hot - a 4 tier act in which we built a 4 tier, carried it through the entire 1/2 mile show course, then turned around and came back as 2 3-highs.  We then did a flawless ballet and flawless jump act, complete with double gainers and gainer-flip-gainer.  We ended the morning competition in the lead by 20 points. 

In the afternoon competition, we didn't ski as well as we had hoped.  We made the 4 tier act again, but after that we had falls in every act after that.  I think fatigue and jet lag had finally set in.  We also ended on a downer with the tandem 3 highs going down.  The Chinese team skied very well in the afternoon, with some great barefooting, tandem barefooting, backbreakers, and spectacular strap doubles.....the best I've ever seen.  The deserved to win the competition and in the end they won by 15 points.  The awards ceremony immediately following as unbelievable.  There were probably over 300 photographers there as the two teams came to the podium for awards.  It was like we were famous.  Dan Benz won the best male skier award.  I don't have pictures of the awards ceremony, but people do....I'll get them out when I can.  It's hard to describe but we were celebrities.  This city has never seen show skiing and the people and the media and the photographers were out in full force.  And so many Chinese citizens wanted pictures with us.  It was fun.
Last night we had a banquet dinner with the Chinese team.  They like to toast a lot, and as a result we had a lot of fun.  We hit the town after that, and let's just say we had a good time, but there's a clear culture difference.

Today we head to Beijing and we get to go to the Great Wall and Forbidden City on Friday before heading home on Saturday.  It's been an amazing trip, and after talking to the head of the Chinese Water Ski Federation last night, there's a good chance that Mad-City will be asked back in the future.  They've liked us very much and it's been a great experience.

Matt

Exhausting Day

It's hard to explain today, and quite frankly I'm too exhausted to write the many paragraphs it would take to capture today.  We left the hotel at 8:00 a.m. and didn't return til 10:10 p.m.  The competition venue is amazing.  People and media everywhere, 50 foot sponsor banners lining about 3/4 of a mile of the river, VIP areas, and an athlete dining hall.  We skied 4 different times today, twice at the competition venue for practices and exhibitions for the media, and twice at the opening ceremonies venue, once in a rehearsal, and once under the lights and lasers and neon of the opening ceremonies.  Let's just say the day was long, exhausting, chaotic, and a bit dangerous at times (more to come on the remote control plane crash on our show dock when we get the video downloaded).  It was quite a spectacular event to be a part of, but we're thankful to be done with today and back at the hotel.  Tomorrow we have 2 competitions vs. the Chinese.
Attached are a bunch of pictures of the competition venue and media and practice, then a few of the opening ceremonies venue.  I'd write more details about today, but just can't put 14 hours of stuff into one email.
Matt

Long Day of Travel

Hi again from the other side of the world!  It was yet another LONG day of travel for us.  Left the hotel in Beijing at 8:50, went through a long hassle at the airport with our baggage (a total of $800 in over-sized bag charges that the Chinese picked up), boarded the plane at 10:30, got off the plane in Liuzhou at 2:30, got our baggage and endured a long bus ride to our hotel (making a couple of stops on the way to drop off other passengers).  Finally got to the hotel at about 5:00, quickly dumped our luggage and headed for the ski site.  We originally were supposed to have a practice, but we figured with the late time that we wouldn't.  We were correct.  We did, however, head to the ski site to check it out.  The "competition venue" as they call it is going to be spectacular.  I didn't take pics of it today because lots of set up and construction were going on, but tomorrow and Wednesday it should be a sight to see and I'll send pics.  Along with our waterski competition, there are also F1 speed boat races and jet ski races.  It's a large water sports event and they're expecting big crowds.

Tomorrow the tentative plan is to practice in the morning, then at 2:30 do a co-show type exhibition with the Chinese for the media.  All sorts of media are showing up at 2:30 to publicize the event and we're skiing a co-show with them to showcase it.  Then we have the Opening Ceremonies Banquet which is supposed to be pretty cool.  On Wednesday we have two competitions vs. the Chinese.

A fact about Liuzhou....it's the #5 city in the world for "night viewing"....basically meaning how the city lights up at night.  The top 4 are Las Vegas, Paris, New York, and Shanghai.  We got a taste that tonight.  Our hotel is on a strip of high rise buildings, filled with shops, restaurants, bars, and neon lights and laser lights everywhere.  Think

State St.

with a Times Square flair. 

We arrived in China

Hi Mad-City and Friends,

We've arrived safely in China!!!  It was a long and painful day of travel.  We were on an airplane for 14+ hours - we had an hour delay in Chicago for mechanical issues and a 13 hour flight to Beijing.  The flight was so full that they had to bump 10 people off.  We were packed in like sardines.  Very crowded, very uncomfortable, but it was a smooth flight and we made it safely. 

The blog site is blocked here in China.  So is facebook.  Any updates I send out will be strictly via email.  I've attached some pictures of our arrival in Beijing.  The airport is beautiful.  We met our translator/host, Peter.  Peter will be with us the entire week.  Very nice guy.  It was quite a process getting all of our luggage and ski bags, going through customs, getting currency exchanged, loading a bus and getting to our hotel.  Needless to say, it's 3:00 a.m. here in Beijing, many of us have slept very little, and we are up at 7:30 again to catch a flight from Beijing to Liuzhou.

Enjoy the pictures!!  Everyone is safe and sound in Beijing!!

Departure

Departure went much smoother than expected.  We met at the park 'n ride in Madison and loaded up lots of luggage.  We had a Badger Coach bus waiting for us.  The excitement finally set it when everyone showed up with their matching team apparel.  Here's a few pics at the bus.

We didn't have the entire team there, though.  We had to pick up Dan Benz in Janesville, and Arik Lebda met us at Ohare Airport.  The ride down was fun.  A few cold beverages, some great conversation, and before we knew it we were at the airport.  We were a bit concerned about getting all 18 people and 36 bags through the ticket counter in an orderly fashion, but it went very, very smoothly.  It was quick, efficient, and everyone got through security a-ok.  Here's some pics of the bus ride and the check in process at the airport.

Walking through the airport, we made quite a spectacle.  People stared at us in our matching gear like we are a big deal.  If they only knew :)   Now we're getting our last American meal for a week (unless we hit the many McDonalds and KFC's in China).  Our flight leaves in 2 hours.  Next update will come from the other side of the world.