Now I understand how disasters occur.....

Some of you may have known that the 16th Asian Games were hosted by Guangzhou in November! The Asian Games are one step down from the Olympics - but it is still a huge production. 2 weeks of activities where the city almost shuts down - we got the Opening Ceremony day as a holiday. Fireworks and skylights galore.

I took the boys - with another father and their sone - to see the Track and Field events one night. I have to say, it was a lot of fun. The women's 10,000 m final was that night - you can see the action shot in the picture here! Can't you feel the excitement? The gun went off, the ladies started running - and then the boys asked how many laps there were.

25, I said.

"Oh....." they were disappointed. But it was clear that one of the ladies - in the final! - was much worse than the others. By lap 3, she was more than 1/2 lap behind. The boys were fascinated by the main runners "lapping" her - once, twice, three times.

The shot put and hammer throw were going on at the same time as well. We were all fascinated by - how do I put this - how amateur the participants were. At least 33% of the throws ended in foot faults. The hammer throw took place on the right of the picture - you can see the poles and the netting set up so hammers aren't thrown int the track. It's a good thing they were there, too - there were more than a few throws into the net, and sometimes we heard a loud "ping" - when the hammer hit the pole.

But I have to say our experience at the entrance of the stadium was the first time I felt in danger of physical harm. At the entrance on each side of the stadium, all spectators had to go through a metal detector and put any bags on a conveyor - exactly like an airport security check.

On our side of the stadium, there were about 25 or so detectors set up. But there were no lines.

We got there - and there were police standing about 30 feet in front of all the detectors. The policemen formed a human chain - and this chain was at least 300-400 feet long to cover all 25 detectors or so. Every once in a while, the police would open the chain at a position in front of the detector - let a few people in - and then close the human chain.

When we got there, there were people 15-20 deep along all 300 feet. So imagine a rectangle, 300 feet wide by about, oh 20-25 feet deep - and that rectangle was jammed full of people.

What happens when the police opens up the chain? Of course - a mass push to the opening. This was kind of fun when you are in the back - but once you are in the middle of the rectangle - holy hell.

This all occured outside, on blacktop - so even though it was not particulary hot out (maybe 70-75 degrees), just the heat coming from the blacktop was very noticeable. And I am about 6 feet tall. Freddie and Warren were really feeling it being 4 feet tall or so.

And we had to create room for them. They weren't getting much space at all. They were half amused and half confused.

As we got closer to the front, a grim thought hit my mind - what if Freddie or Warren - or I - tripped as we advanced to the front?

I ended letting them be ahead of me allowing me (and my larger-than-your-average-Chinese-person body) to try to force-create room by holding people back.

It was scary. We got through it in about 20-25 minutes, although it seemed a lot longer. Now I understand how people get seriously injured - or even killed - in stampedes. This was the qualification rounds of the Asian Games, for God's sake! What if it was something more important?