I though of doing the post on Jogoya, but I guess nothing would be more engaging at the moment than the Games.
Last night, 4 billion people around the globe and 91,000 spectator's witnessed China's moment of glory. The world was expecting something divine from China and yes, THEY'VE GOT IT. The world is stunned. It was jaw dropping and simply sensational. Never did I watch a show like this before. The effort put in, the synchronicity, the ingenuity of the Chinese people... Remember the movable-type performance which seemed too perfect even if it was done by machines? It really got me there. The thought of people synchronizing the movements never even came across my mind. Needless to say, it left many people awestruck, wondering how much more there is to offer. It was the perfect opening for this 14 day event that is about to carve a whole new episode in China's history.
So, on the macro level, personally, I find the transformation of the Olympic city within 7 years rather impressive. First we have the Bird's Nest Stadium which is the centerpiece, then the National Aquatic Center placed just opposite to outshine each other.
1. The Bird's Nest Stadium
Guess what, this thing costs a freaking 250million pounds. And that's only a fraction out of the total 2billion pounds spent on Olympics venues and infrastructure. We all know the Chinse. When it comes to architecture, nothing will be given more priority than the fengshui. In Chinese mythology, the sun is represented by a circle and the moon a square, which is now reflected by the shape of the BN stadium and the NAC respectively. Also, "The shapes echo the Chinese symbols for male and female, and are built either side of the north-south axis road which runs in a perfect straight line for three miles through Beijing, centered on the Forbidden City." (Source: telegraph.co.uk).
If that is not enough to impress you, let me tell you this. This 91,000 seater has a 4 star hotel with 80 rooms, a gourmet restaurant with views of the athletics track, and a twin-level underground shopping center BENEATH it. Take that. It sure is one delicious bird's nest. =)
2. The National Aquatic Center a.k.a Water Cube
Seriously, I don't really know how to describe this. Can't they make it more Biology-major-people friendly? After several attempts of reading the description, all I can get out of it was the Water Cube is made out of a material called ETFE (ethylene-tetrafluoroethylene), and apparently, it is the only building on Earth now that is fully made out of a membrane structure.
I mean, can you ever imagine an entire building made out of, literally, concrete bubbles? It is indeed, modeled after the arrangement of organic cells in the formation of real soap bubbles. BUT, don't you think you can burst it. Each of the 3000 'bubbles' can withstand a weight of a car!
3. The National Performing Arts Center
Although this is not located in the Olympic City, it is one cool building that joins the list of monoliths built in conjunction with the Games. This is one place that will put Sydney Opera House and Carnegie Hall to challenge. The titanium and glass dome is surrounded fully by a man-made lake, only made accessible through an underwater tunnel. Or maybe you can just swim across.
Its lush interior accommodates three large halls - a 2,416-seat opera house, a 2,017-seat concert hall and a 1,040-seat theater. That's like... um.. around 8 times the size of our MPO hall. It's only 8 months old, but already reeled in phenomena such as Yundi Li, Seiji Ozawa, Lorin Maazel, the NY Philharmonic, the London Philhormonic, and many other big names that would take MPO years to house them. Me being me, out of the 3 destinations that I've listed, this being the top on my list =).
p/s: Lang Lang is finally paying a return visit to M'sia next Jan!
p/p/s: And Sarah Chang this Nov!
Can life get any better? =) *in a state of blissful ecstasy*
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