From Hong Kong we flew to Guilin (1 hour flight) and arrived in the evening. Had a spectacular taxi ride to Yangshuo and it seemed our driver had watch formula one racing a bit too much. Arrived at our Paradesa hotel (quite nice) after about 2 hours. And the next morning we rented bicycles and toured through Yangshuo and the Li river. In the afternoon we where picked up go Bamboo rafting on the Li river, and in the evening we visited a spectacular show called Impressions that is hosted with the backdrop of 6 mountains on a lake with about 600 performers. It is created by the same director who did the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympics. Our time here was limited but is was well worth visiting the maginficent scenery.[Photo set here]

Finally not a packed day, went down to Hong Kong and all the way up to Victoria Peak for The view. Took the Star Ferry to get there, and also used the cable tram. The view, of course was breathtaking. Not a completely clear day but it could have been worse with typhoon Nuri approaching. Wandered through the markets and shopping areas of Hong Honk. Had dinner at a Japanese restaurant. It was the final day of the equestrian Olympics here and Ilona couldn't help herself and dashed out to see the final hour when she got a free ticket. I'll switch to a blog every other day now. [Photos here]

We slept in a little today after the long gold medal after party and exhausting previous days. The Olympics are truly "top sport" and not only for the participants. We traveled by metro, taxi and cable car to the Giant Buddha at the Lantou island. Its was pretty warm with a little bit of wind. We had dinner in the famous Aqua spirit restaurant (great website), which was a wonderful experience. The food was great and the view breathtaking. BTW the typhoon warning level has been raised to 1.......[Photoset here]

Today we visited the 10.000 Buddha monastery and did some shopping at a very large mall. Had some great Thai food and prepared for the big night of the equestrian event, the grand prix freestyle. Hans Peter Minderhoud and horse Nadine performed excellent to finish at 5th place. The main competition was between Anky and Isabel. As is the previous test Isabels horse Sachmo was spooked and didn't perform well (~78.000). Anky with Salinero rode solid and finished with (~82.000), well ahead into gold. We suspect there will be a large controversy about Isables high score compared to her moderate performance. Afterwards there was a very crowed but great party at the Holland House in our Regal riverside hotel. It was great to see Anky and Salinero win! [Photoset here]

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Today we traveled to Hong Kong (actually Sha Tin, is close to Hong Kong). The Flight took 3 hours and 30 minutes by taxi from the airport to Sha Tin. Its much warmer and humid here than in Beijing. Its about 31 degrees, its warm but tolerable. We checked in our hotel and took some rest. Then around 18.00 we traveled to the venue which can be seen from far because of the bright stadium lights. The team jumping event started at 19.00. And a bus took us from the taxi stand to the stadium. Security is tight but it goes relatively smooth. Everything is tightly organized here and the staff is very cheerful. Inside the stadium it was packed and warm. We had great seats and could follow the event from very close. The Dutch team finished tied 5th. And in the end there was a jump-off between USA and Canada. After 3 faultless rounds the USA won. A 15 minutes walk along side the waterfront took us back to the hotel at around midnight. [Photo show here]

In the morning we visited the famous Wangfujing shopping street and the Tiananmen square (largest public square in the world) (dutch: plein van de poort van de hemelse vrede). It was very crowded at this immense square and Ilona turned into a willing victim to be taken a picture with. Around 18.00 we went to the Olympics venue for field hockey. There are 2 pitches and unfortunately we had tickets for the wrong field to see the Dutch team. The Dutch men team was playing on the other pitch. It was however, very easy to trade our tickets with some German fans who also wanted to swap to get the right tickets for their team. Many hundred of tickets moved to new hands to watch their home countries team. First we watched Pakistan - South Africa as a warm up. Then it was Holland - Australia (final score 2-2). There was a very nice atmosphere, with the Dutch making lots of noise cheering for the team. Overall Australia was a bit better but we snatched a draw in the last 10 seconds with a penalty corner. After the game we took the taxi to the Holland Heineken House to celebrate 2 gold medals and 1 silver. 4x 100 women relay (gold), double womens rowing (gold), 8 womens rowing (silver). It was sort of amazing Ilona didn't want to leave the party.... and oh Ilona scored some more celebs...[Photos here]

Yesterday the Olympic security checkpoint people discovered Ilona's banner flag with "Ilona groet Kai". They looked if any of the words on the flag where on the forbidden word list. And after showing her name was in the passport they trusted the message :-). The Chinese are obviously proud in organizing the Olympics and the amount of volunteers through out the city and venues is amazing. Went to the Ming graves and the great wall (one of the 7 world wonders and visible from space). This piece of the wall is 625 km! All very impressive to say the least. The weather was once again very nice because of the small breeze clearing the clouds and preventing smog from developing. In the evening we were invited for dinner by our 2 of friendly colleages from Beijing to some excellent food and great company! Thanks again for this.[Day 4 pictures]

Today was Judo and Volleyball on  the agenda. After taking the taxi from our apartment to the Judo venue the matches started at 12.00. Dennis van der Geest lost due to getting injured very quickly after the beginning of his first match. It looked painful, he did make it to the end of the match but was really unable to compete. It was the Judo heavy weights so it was fun to watch. Between  Judo and Volleybal we wandered through Beijing exploring the city some more, there is really no end in sight. Saw the main athletics stadium (The birdsnest) and the swimming arena, but geting close to both was difficult as security was tight. Volleyball started at 20.00-24.00. First match China - USA was a thrilling match in 5 sets which the USA managed to win. The house was packed,  and Chinese cheer with great passion. After that is was Cuba-Japan, Cuba won in 3 sets. Home again well after midnight.[Photo set]

Had a great day today. Wandered long hours through Beijing, the Forbidden City, a Hutong tour (with a twist). Used the excellent Subway system and taxi are nice and very reasonable to travel around too. The distances here are enormous, walking is simply no option. Tasted some great food and then went on to the Tennis arena's. At the start (16.00) it rained and the play was delayed until 20.00. They we saw Federer vs Blake (Was Blake so good or did Federer have an of day?), Venus Williams vs Li Na (Li was simply very good!), Nadal vs Melzer (Nadal played solid). Djokovic vs Monfils (Djokovic won a very close and tough match). The tennis ended at 01.30 AM but only because the rain started again! The weather was very nice (22 C) so it was good to play for the players we guess. The tennis venue was excellent and spacious. Got back too our apartment around 3.00 AM....... and took 900+ pictures that day...first time I managed to fill all my CF cards....[Photos of the day]

Arrived in Beijing around 14.00 after a flawless but exhausting trip. Took some rest in our apartment and went out for dinner in the neighborhood. Then took the Subway (excellent!) to the Holland Heineken House and took a look there, pretty amazing such a big party place to celebrate the competitors and medalists. Took some picture of Ilona with Debora Gravenstein (Silver medalist Judo) and TV host Umberto Tan. See photo show [here]

• 14 August: Tennis 16.00 - 22.00h : (Singles en Doubles quarterfinals)
• 15 August: Judo 12.00 - 16.30h Men's 100+kg & Womens 78+ kg Preliminairies
• 15 August: Volleyball 20.00-23.30h Women's, USA-China & Japan - Cuba
• 17 August: Hockey 18.30 -22.30h Men's, Pakistan - South Africa, Netherlands - Australia (Pool B)

• 18 August: Equestrian 19.15 -23.00h Team Jumping Final
• 19 August: Equestrian: 19.15- 23.00h Individual Dressage Final Grand Prix Freestyle
• 20 August: Equestrian: Individual Jumping Final

• Official Beijing Olympics site
• Official Beijing Olympics venues
• Official Beijing Olympics sports event schedule
• WikiPedia 2008 Olympics site
• IOC 2008 Beijing Olympics site
• Weather at the Olympic sites
• Mascots for the 2008 Olympics

From 12-08 until 31-08 we will be visiting China and the Olympics. First 5 days Beijing then Hong Kong and some trips inland. I'll be posting updates on our ventures here if possible.

[Click here for the BLOG]