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StumbleUponBeijing Olympics Plagued with Bugs and Drugs
The press have reported that the British public are losing their taste for the Beijing Olympics. Is it surprising? Many people, especially the young, are put off by China’s record on human rights, its politics, and environmental issues (air pollution in particular). The smog and pollution is apparently so bad in Beijing that many athletes are being advised to stay indoors as much as possible. (It’s that bad despite many of the most polluting factories being temporarily closed and a lot of cars taken off the roads).
We can only hope the 6.0 earthquake which rocked China today, approximately 700 miles SW of Beijing, was not a warning or bad omen. The timing coincided with the parading of the Olympic Torch on its way to Beijing for the Friday opening and was close to the area where a huge quake killed hundreds of thousands of people in Sichuan province in May.
The misuse of drugs and subsequent banning of more than 20 Olympic athletes is spoiling the one-time-wholesome reputation of the games once again. Many people, including athletes themselves, believe that a cloud of suspicion will hang over some of the results and wins. As if all that is not bad enough, thousands of people are reported to be left disappointed and without legitimate seats because they purchased tickets from bogus websites!
News that the Chinese government is spying on the phone and email communications of delegates and visitors staying in the city hasn’t helped freshen the mouth and make the bad taste go away. The best advice offered to those who wish to preserve any sense of privacy has been to use pay-as-you-go phones and discard them once the games are over.
Despite all the problems, and fears of terrorist attacks, the organizers are guaranteeing that the Olympics will be safe and that security is being tightened. Let’s hope the original spirit of the Games will somehow manage to prevail and all the negativity will evaporate once they are underway. In today’s world where we often can’t trust anything to be what it seems, it’s nice to know that a good quality Travel Insurance policy will do what it says and run the extra mile to help if problems arise!
This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 5th, 2008 at 12:13 pm and is filed under Destinations, Travel News .You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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August 5th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
For almost a year we’ve watched as China has struggled to get ready for this massive event. They’ve cleaned up algae from their waters, battled pollution, built massive buildings including the largest airport in the world… And now you can be certain that once these games kick off, the old, heroic storylines will be trotted out to salvage NBC’s and others’ huge investments in the Games (remember Athens and how nothing was going to be ready in time… But then it was and everything was suddenly terrific!)
Except this time the brand damage has already been done and it’s been done in part because the brand itself wasn’t ready for the kind of incredible scrutiny that the magnifying glass of Olympic media coverage brings with it.
August 26th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
I think we can all agree it was a huge success and very enjoyable. The athletes did a great job and we are very proud of our medal winners!