Mr. Hughes' Blog - Day 3

Katie Melua sang about there being “5 million bicycles in Beijing”. There may well be that number in Beijing, but I think that I can count the number of basic bicycles that I have seen on the fingers of my hands. Yesterday was Monday, and I presume a normal business day. There were quite a few cars, many of which you could buy on forecourts in the UK: a mixture of Japanese, German and American. Buses were a popular option, and many people used scooters or electric bicycles. However, there did not appear to be many people around. Given the fact that there are very many very tall apartment buildings and that you have very wide roads capable of taking lots of vehicles there very few people about. I cannot remember seeing many commercial vehicles at all, apart from a few small lorries involved in local business.

We had a simple lunch bought from a local supermarket: bread, cheese, cucumber, tomatoes, carrots, etc. Before lunch the teams sorted out the robots as far as they were able and practiced their dance routines.

Following lunch we set out for the Expo centre where the Robocup 2008 competition was being held. We found successfully the route of the number 28 bus which quickly took us to the centre. This bus did not have the snowflake symbol indicating air-conditioning, but with open windows and a short ride it was not a problem. We observed that whenever the bus stopped the engine cut out. The more cynical among us (myself included) thought that it was probably due to the age of the buses and that the engines were starting to fail; however a far more likely conclusion is that it is an anti pollution measure. Pollution is a problem with a fairly permanent light haze / smog reducing visibility a little, and I have seen 2 people with anti pollution masks. This is disappointing for an aspiring photographer such as myself. One innovation that is was interested to see was a timed countdown at the traffic lights to indicate how much longer you had to wait before they changed.

The Expo centre is huge with massive halls; I hope that the photographs give some indication of the scale. We registered after lunch having gone through airport type security checks on our belongings as we entered. We then had a good look around the main Hall where all of the competitions were being held. The different competitions include robotic football played at a variety of scales from something the size of a pool table to a tennis court. Particularly endearing are the IBOs (no-one can tell me what this means by the way). These are cute robot dogs which are programmed to play football. They track a small orange ball, move towards it and capture the ball between their front paws, then orient themselves towards the goal and with a flick of their head send the ball towards the goal. Other IBOs are programmed as goal keepers. I am told that these robots can be sent off for aggressive behaviour. Another competition involves robot rescue where a robot has to act autonomously to navigate itself through a ruined building to find and rescue people. There are also competitions involving humanoid robots as well as computer simulations based entirely on screens.

After a good look around we investigated the food hall on the Ground Floor. This is a massive hangar-scaled room with a large eating area. The menu include sit-down and buffet Western and Chinese meals.

Following this we walked across to nearby Cultural Centre. This looks amazing from the outside appearing to be built from a regular pattern of large metal strips beautifully interwoven. A feature of its lake-side aspect is a number of colourful parts of the building which look fantastic. We stepped inside the building and were swallowed up into a blissfully cool and spacious marbled environment. The atrium area was vast and fronted by a spectacular and massive coloured glass façade. We walked up the huge marbled staircase to explore the building and to find out about the iMax cinema found there. We decided to see a film at another time then tried to find the outlet of Starbucks which we knew was there. After a number of forays in the lift and unsuccessful explorations we did find someone who understood a little English and was able to help us find the café. We followed a Chinese attendant across wide stretches of marble before being ushered outside and shown how to get to Starbucks. The air-conditioning was so cold that it was a real shock to be outside again, but we regained similarly icy conditions in Starbucks where we found staff who understood English: a most welcome change. After free samples of cheesecake and frappacinoes (a new experience for me) we each settled for a variety of refreshments. The food and drink were excellent and may very well provide a more palatable alternative for our teams during the competition.

At about 5.00 p.m. we returned to the hotel on the bus. After some time to relax we went to dinner. We had planned a much simpler meal in the main restaurant rather than a formal Chinese meal in a private dining room. However we were directed to the private dining area again, although we were reassured that we were dining from the more simple menu. I don’t know whether our hosts are being extremely polite in doing this, or whether they are just trying to keep those crazy English people (who wash their fingers in our tea) away from the rest of the guests in the hotel. Once again the meal was delicious, and although the food still kept on coming, we managed to get to the end without feeling too overwhelmed. One thing that I did notice is that the hostess seemed keen that we finish each individual dish as it arrived before serving the next one; very different from our convention of having everything on the table at once.

Following the meal the majority of the group went out to investigate the night time city. I didn’t go, but I gather the heat and humidity, both still very high, and the local supermarket defeated their night-time stroll.

John Hughes