Olympics 2008 - Beijing

[The Passenger]

First off, is there a thread on this?? Searched manually (quick search not working for me still) through the other sports forums but had no luck.

If there is please point me in that direction. Didn't post this in general sports forum cause not enough people use it either.

Anyway,

is anyone here planning on going to the games??

i'm beginning to look at planning but just want to get some sort of idea of the cost. Obviousbly its not going to be cheap but could be well worth it. Would work it in with a bit of a 2/3 week backpacking tour either side of the games as well to get in best value for money.

The costs i've pretty much come up with are:

- flights. probably flying from London as i'm planning on being in the UK this time next year.

- accommodation. looking on hostelworld.com and various other sources there are still beds going for around €10 (AU$16) but i don't think they'd last to the new year.

- visas. do Australians need one. Do Irish people need one (GF is Irish)?? I was under the impression everyone needs visas to go to China. if so how much??

- cost of living. no idea of the cost of living in China but i imagine you could get around fairly cheaply. But then everything would go up about 15-20% during the games. Who here has been to Beijing/China before??

- tickets to the games. Tickets go on general release (as opposed to the June ballot) in October, but i searched high and low and couldn't get a fix on the prices. Did read a report stating that 57% of the tickets were being sold for US$15 or lower. Would have to go to a few of the events but if tickets were sold out wouldn't be a huge deal. Only went to a few events in Sydney and its more the atmosphere than the sport that makes it worthwhile.

and is there anything else i'm missing out on??

 

[Qsaint]

First off, is there a thread on this?? Searched manually (quick search not working for me still) through the other sports forums but had no luck.

If there is please point me in that direction. Didn't post this in general sports forum cause not enough people use it either.

Anyway,

is anyone here planning on going to the games??

i'm beginning to look at planning but just want to get some sort of idea of the cost. Obviousbly its not going to be cheap but could be well worth it. Would work it in with a bit of a 2/3 week backpacking tour either side of the games as well to get in best value for money.

The costs i've pretty much come up with are:

- flights. probably flying from London as i'm planning on being in the UK this time next year.

- accommodation. looking on hostelworld.com and various other sources there are still beds going for around €10 (AU$16) but i don't think they'd last to the new year.

- visas. do Australians need one. Do Irish people need one (GF is Irish)?? I was under the impression everyone needs visas to go to China. if so how much??

- cost of living. no idea of the cost of living in China but i imagine you could get around fairly cheaply. But then everything would go up about 15-20% during the games. Who here has been to Beijing/China before??

- tickets to the games. Tickets go on general release (as opposed to the June ballot) in October, but i searched high and low and couldn't get a fix on the prices. Did read a report stating that 57% of the tickets were being sold for US$15 or lower. Would have to go to a few of the events but if tickets were sold out wouldn't be a huge deal. Only went to a few events in Sydney and its more the atmosphere than the sport that makes it worthwhile.

and is there anything else i'm missing out on??

Where to start, just about everyone needs a visa to get to China, watch out as they only have a limited validity. They take a while to Process as well


Bejing is a shite hole, and I mean a real s**te hole I've spent 6 months in India and numerous other places

Hotels probably won't be that cheap at the time, and may favour package deals. Last time I was there only some hotels took foreigners, and generally Chinese have a bit of undelying racism, (Thye think every white persons a Yank)

If you plan to do the Backpacking thing and move arround a bit you may be locked into package tours. In off peak season we tried to book a train to a with a choice of destinantion and it was a minimum of a ten day wait with scalpers all over th place

Food is much better else where and China is a great place if you forget Beijing. Pollution is also unbelieveable.

Lastly most of the venues are multiple hours away

 

[hong_kong_bond]

I am going to be there for sure - have put in for my tickets and am waiting on a response in the next couple of weeks (priority due to living in HK!)

I thought that the pricing was very good...not sure if that was just for China/HK residents, but I'm pretty sure that the pricing is universal. A large amount of heats / low profile sport tickets are available for under USD 20. Finals of anything, particularly swimming & aths are more expensive, but still quite reasonable, and definitely cheaper than what I recall Sydney being.

As a guide - here's what I've applied for:
- 4 nights of athletics finals (B grade seats) which are about $75 Aussie each
- Quarter finals (2 games) of mens basketball (B grade seats) which are $30 Aussie
- 1 night of track cycling (A grade seats) with 5 gold medals decided - $20 Aussie
- Semi-Finals of Mens 10m Platform Diving (B grade seats)- $30 Aussie (wife's choice!)
- 1 night of Gymnastic Finals (A grade seats)- $60 Aussie (wife's choice!)
- 2 nights of Swimming Finals (B grade seats) - $60 Aussie

You will definitely need a visa to enter China - pretty much everyone in the world needs one...i think it will be cheaper for you to get one on an Australian passport rather than an Irish/EU one... from memory it will be around $50-60 Aussie

As to hostels - I think you have no chance of getting anything as cheap as you mentioned. We stayed at one in central Beijing over Easter this year that cost about $25 AUD for a private double room w/ bathroom per night... we're trying to book the same room again for next year and the price has been hiked up to $160 AUD per night! Basic hotels appear to be starting around the $250 AUD mark, with anything decent being horrendously expensive.

Also, be very careful with hostels in China - many are awful. The majority have shared bathroom facilities, and if you are at all fussy about hygiene you should avoid. If you can afford it, shell out for the private bathroom at every opportunity.

Eating out is quite cheap, particularly if you go for the local fare - even if marked up 20-30% it should be very easy to eat on not much money.

From what I've seen, most of the major events are held in central Beijing and should be quite manageable via the train network and taxis...which were cheap, but am expecting to be ramped up a lot for next year.

Best of luck with your planning, if you've got more questions just post here and I'll see if I can answer them.

 

[The Passenger]

thanks for that guys

tickets are a steal really aren't they. Especially when i've been working in Ireland (euros) and will be working in the UK (pounds) so they're very affordable.

Have been told Beijing is a hole, but should be an experience none the less. Would want to turn it into a bit of a back packing (5-6 weeks) thing so the only 2 weeks i'd spend in Beijing would be for the actual games.

As my old man said, and HKB has said, accommodation does look the tough part. There are still beds avaialble for not much (under 20 euros) but they'd have to be snapped up soon, and its a bit early to be booking accommo when i'm not even sure i'll be going yet.

the clincher for me will be when the airline prices come out. As of yet, no airlines are selling tickets (330 day rule) but they'll be out soon. If i can get to Beijing from London for under 1500 australian i think i'd have to go. anything above that would be taken on its merits.

any more info from anyone would be great.

 

[Qsaint]

thanks for that guys

tickets are a steal really aren't they. Especially when i've been working in Ireland (euros) and will be working in the UK (pounds) so they're very affordable.

Have been told Beijing is a hole, but should be an experience none the less. Would want to turn it into a bit of a back packing (5-6 weeks) thing so the only 2 weeks i'd spend in Beijing would be for the actual games.

As my old man said, and HKB has said, accommodation does look the tough part. There are still beds avaialble for not much (under 20 euros) but they'd have to be snapped up soon, and its a bit early to be booking accommo when i'm not even sure i'll be going yet.

the clincher for me will be when the airline prices come out. As of yet, no airlines are selling tickets (330 day rule) but they'll be out soon. If i can get to Beijing from London for under 1500 australian i think i'd have to go. anything above that would be taken on its merits.

any more info from anyone would be great.

Just make sure you have a way out of Beijing, I would suggest one of the HK airlines, or perhaps go into HK to begin with