Bird's Nest

Wednesday night, Cindy and I went to the Olympic stadium to watch a charity soccer game between Birmingham City (English Premier League) and Beijing Guo'an (Chinese league).  We arrived late and left early.  We bought scalped tickets for the lower bowl at upper bowl price.  Olympic stadiums are typically bad soccer venues, and this was no exception....it just isn't designed for soccer.  I would say about two-thirds of the 80,000 seats were full.  Beijing's team plays half their home games here and half in another stadium.  I might try to catch a game in the other stadium sometime.  Here are the photos.

Great Wall Hike Photos

Sunday, Cindy and I hiked a chunk of the great wall.

Here are the photos.

Chinese Cupping

I was having some significant back pain last weekend because I broke the "don't life with your back" rule.  I had a massage Saturday night.  A couple days afterward, I was still having a lot of pain.  So, I thought I'd give Chinese cupping a try.  It's a traditional Chinese medicine practice.  Basically, it felt like a reverse massage.  In a regular massage, your muscles are being pushed down upon.  With Chinese cupping, your muscles are being pulled away from your body.  Overall it was pretty relaxing, but didn't do much for the pain.  I've since found a Chiropractor and have been a couple times.  I got cupped in the afternoon, and this photo was taken in the evening.