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Hi All
In the end yesterday I did not go and see the wheelchair tennis as it was to far away from the aquactics centre and I was not going to make it back to the aquactics centre in time to see many British Swimmers in action in the finals! So instead I decided to explore some more of the olympic park! It was very, very hot yesterday (32 C!!) and it was very difficult to find any shade so I spent alot of the morning going into different sponsors bulidings in order to get out of the sun! When I got to the Aquatics centre in the afternoon it looked ever so appealing I wish I would have been allowed to get in!
Apparently I have been on the t.v again!!
Today it looks a little over cast but I think it could be another very hot day as the sun is trying to burn through. I am hoping that sercurity do not try to take my sun cream off me later when I go to the olympic park like they tried to yesterday, but I managed to persuade them not to. As I was appling it at very regular intervals yesterday I got some very strange looks from the chinese. I am working out ways of queuing and not being pushed which is good.
I wanted to go and have a look in the olympic store in the aquatics centre yesterday, but they have no lift and it is upstairs and there are a lot of stairs and after falling down the stairs in the spectator gallery earlier in the week I do not really want to try and get up those stairs as it would be a long way to fall!
There are many things that I am noticing about access in China. The Chinese seem to cater extremely well for people with a visual impairment, which is good for me as whilst I am using crutches I can not use my white cane but due to where the visual impairment markings are and how much there is of it I am finding my way around by feel under foot instead! However, the access for people with physical disabilities is no where near as good and there is a lot tthat could be improved as I keep being directed to use the subways from my accommodation to the olympic park, but as I found when I went to the opening ceremony it is not accessible. It is frustrating that most of the subways are in accessible as I would save a lot of money because on the days when using the subway if you show a valid ticket for the paralympics you can use it for free! But instead because they are not accessible I am having to use taxis, which is very quickly mounting up. I know in comparison to Britain taxis are cheap here as it is about 25 yuan each way from my accommodation to the olympic park, which is about £2.70. It is also a nightmare to get a taxi to and from the olympic park as the taxis have to park along way from the entrances as the police will not let them stop near the entrances even when the taxi driver explains that I have disabilities. The olympic park looks very pretty but many of the surfaces are not very good when using a wheelchair or if you have difficult walking as for example the floor in the entrance to the aquatic centre is shiny, which looks very nice but when it is wet it is very slippery!
My face is beinning to be recognised by many of the volunteers in the olympic park and many of them seem very helpful, and find it as frustrating as I do on an evening when they are being flagged down empty just outside the olympic green but will not stop, so instead I am walking for 30mins in order to get a taxi, so it is taking far longer than it needs to get from the olympic park at the end of the day.
Anyway I am still having fun, I just think that China have a long way to go in helping people with disabilities but hopefully the paralympic games are helping them to learn.
Enough updating for now speak to you all soon.
Zoe
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