They’re louder than on the telly

Woke up a bit dehydrated but was determined to get out for a walk (note: not cycle) to scope out Albert Park where the F1 was being held. All in all this walk would be over 30km so my legs were a bit deed afterwards and my face a little pink.

On the way to the park I stopped past the set of a popular show here in Australia, The Block. Basically it’s an apartment renovation show where each team has to do up an apartment then sell it at the end to make cash, clearly the shows filming has been wrapped up (even though it’s still on air) as nothing was going on and for sale signs were up. Anyway, I followed the stationary helicopter and tyre screeching noises to the park.

The Block

Got my free ticket into the grounds (only today is free) then wandered the entire track which goes all the way around the lake. I seen David Coulthard driving by in an F1 car, Charley Boorman chatting away (part of a celebrity race), Tony Hawks STAGE (he was there but I just missed him), a tightrope motorbike trapeze show from a crane and lots of cars both on and off the circuit. For being free this was pretty sweet and would enjoy it more if I was really into cars etc, BUT in saying that I may still get a ticket for the main event on Sunday. 🙂

Doing the splits and stuff so she was

Walked home, showered, ate loads of pesto pasta then got my head down as it was an early rise for work tomorrow. 🙂

BONUS CONTENT

I forgot about a skyline picture of Melbourne taken at the recruitment agency and also the Great Wall video I took in Chinaland, I’ve mashed it up a little… ;-0

Working in an office ain’t all bad

Match Day

I had an egg and cheese toastie for breakfast. The block of cheese has been resting in the fridge for a few weeks now so I had to use some of it. I chilled for a bit in the morning and made an early lunch (omelet) before heading to the Workers Stadium.

It’s right beside Sanlitun so wasn’t hard to get there, on my way I realised just how big the Sanlitun area is with it’s own ‘Soho’ area littered with more big brands, restaurants (including Hooters) and huge shiny buildings. Impressive and horrible at the same time.

Sanlitun’s SOHO district

Heading West, across a main road, was the stadium, not hard to spot with all the stalls being setup ready to sell football merchandise. I liked the feeling of walking through it all, with guys trying to sell tickets and the hustle and bustle before a match, felt normal. Not sure what I was expecting…

So after doing a lap of the stadium (I had arrived early) I bought a scarf for 20MB (2pounds), it had to be done and I wanted to blend in more as I was wearing my Scotland top in a predominantly green team colour environment. I headed to the North entrance (where a local supported chatted to me) and eventually met up with Susy, the ring leader and my only contact. We talked and I gave her the money for my ticket and headed into the stadium to hold some seats for the others.

Susy explained that although the seats are allocated everyone just sits where ever the hell they like, so I ventured in, past the security and to the correct section. The match didn’t kick off until another 45mins so the stadium was slowly filling up, wasn’t hard to keep some seats though. Just shy of kick off (I had been sitting in the baking sun waiting for it to hide and provide some shade) Susy arrived with 3 dudes in tow, Max/Brian from America and Vincent from Belgium. She left as the other seats were dotted around the stadium, the guys were a good laugh and we chatted during the match.

After I took this another goal was scored

Ah the game… So it was Beijing Guoan F.C. vs Guangzhou R&F F.C. This is the Super League, so the best in China, but it didn’t really feel like it. Beijing scored fairly early on, which was great, and then one of it’s strikers had a break, one-on-one with the keeper, but got smeshed by the last defender. A red card and penalty later, Beijing were up 2-0. From then on it was a slaughter, with the final score being 6-0, so at least the Beijing fans left happy, Sven-Göran Eriksson on the other hand not so much. There was also a few Mexican waves, which were cool.

Workers Stadium

Once the football was done we left in search of food, meeting up with the rest of the gang, 11 of us in total. The place they had in mind was too busy but one of the girls was local to this area so she took us to another place. BBQ smoke everywhere, people eating outside, a whole lamb swinging away in the Beijing air and inside a huge selection of food to pick and feast on.

We sat down at a table and the local girl went off to order, as usual not long to wait and the food (including beer) started pouring in. Pickled cucumber, all different kinds of noodles, spicy peanuts, tofu dishes, meat from the BBQ, and more – lots of food. (65RMB/6.50pounds per person, SO CHEAP) We stuffed our faces and chatted, so I got to know everyone better.

“Maturing”

Once our bellies were full Susy knew of a place in Sanlitun that had a good selection drink at good prices. I was doubtful as Sanlitun does not shout “Cheap!”, but I trusted her enthusiasm and followed, meeting up with Beth (an Au Pair) and her mate Kat. Susy was right though! Lots of drink to pick from, including beer, at sound prices – I spied a bottle of Punk IPA (35RMB/3.50pounds), ah thank you kindly. 😀 I was preaching about BrewDog previously so was slighty excited about this, so two of the guys got a bottle and I made sure everyone tried it. Haha, BrewDog give me a job.

Aahh good ol’ Punk

A few games of ‘Uno’ later the group started to melt away leaving just me, Susy, Beth and Kat. I had a bottled of Rogue before we left for the subway. Susy was determined to go out so was rounding up some reserve troops, I wasn’t game and didn’t want the expensive taxi ride home. Leaving Susy to it we headed to the subway and home.

Great day. 😀