The Torch Made it and So Did We

We felt a little sorry for ourselves having to get up at 6:30 and and catch a bus for our "torch duty", but then again, the students and non-foreign teachers from the College were on 5:30am duty! The days and weeks leading up to the Olympic Torch's arrival have been shrouded in mystery and speculation. Our class schedules have changed on an hour's notice, as of yesterday the College was still negotiating its role in the affair with the local government and of course the Torch route was secret. At first it appeared we, the foreigners, were meant to be show pieced by the local government for our loyalty to China and our support of the Torch. We all politely refused that honor, but nevertheless found ourselves on a bus full of foreign teachers and students from the two colleges in Lijiang and the head of the Lijiang Foreign Affairs Department (who knew we had one?). Instead of heading into town as we had expected, we headed north into Jade Dragon Snow Mountain park. We found ourselves lining a corridor full of traditionally dressed minority people (at least 1000) and students in matching t-shirts. Flags were ubiquitous. After our arrival we learned there would be a 3.5 hour wait. We had been told not to bring any bags or food for fear of "issues" so you can imagine how painful a 3.5 hour wait was with a tired, hungry, under-clothed 6 year old. Since we had expected to be in town we wore t-shirts and rain coats, fine for town, not good for the Park which is over 10,000' in elevation.

Eventually of course the excitement began. The buses bearing torch bearers dropped them off at their designated stations and we had a front row seat for the hand off of Torch Bearer #173 and #174. #173 was a big white guy, story unknown! After the brief event complete with drumming from the Tibetans and chanting from the Chinese we waited for another 1.5 hours until the Torch Bearers were reloaded in their buses and taken back down the hill. We made it home by 12:30pm in time for a nap.

In some ways the actual event was anticlimactic, but in other ways it was pretty astounding. The minority costumes were beautiful, the mountain a stunning backdrop, the actual torch hand-off occurred less than 10 feet from us and it is likely some of our pictures will make the local newspaper given the number of times we were photographed and interviewed.

Beijing here we come!