Padd Solutions

Converted by Falcon Hive


Last Friday I headed up to the university to meet Beryl and to watch her universities sports day together. It was a pretty neat experience! It was baking hot, and a good day for chilling out in the grandstands.


^ A shot from where I was sitting in the stadium, so you get the idea...

Here are some random shots:

^ 5, 6, 7, 8!

^ Honda... representin'!

^ Olympic flag, PRC flac and the university flag, with one of the university buildings in the background.

^ Beryl hiding from the sun with my baseball cap

^ Still / non-carbonated Red Bull! Tasty stuff. The translation in Chinese is litrally "Red" "Bull".

^ "23!"

^ Coca-Cola gets everywhere

^ I was playing around with using the flash for fill lighting, getting rid of the shadows from the baseball cap. I quite like the result :)

^ Managed to get trackside for some photos :)

^ Number 2... so close, yet so far from number 1.

^ Pepsi representing against the Coca-Cola. There's a sea of umbrellas... not for rain; but to hide from the sun. Chinese people (girls) hate the sun / sun-tans.

^ One of my favourite shots of the day. One of the female 4x100m relay runners

^ Flags! Woo hoo!

^ The finish line

^ Beryl! :)

^ More pretty colours

Some random crowd shots:


^ Seas of Han, most rocking the university's PE uniform...

^ Cowboy hat AND a megaphone. Undeniable coolness.

^ You can see a guy beating on a huge drum and those girls next to the banner were chanting some stuff. It was a good atmosphere!

^ As well as people getting jiggy with the cymbals

^ More umbrellas and caps

^ A couple of judges baking in the sun, working through a lot of water

^ Chinese translation is awesome. I saw this hat in a shop the other day, but didn't have my camera. Thankfuly someone was stupid enough to buy it. "I AM TRUCK CAP."

^ Umbrella - ella - ella

^ I AM TRUCK CAP, YOU ARE BINOCULAR

^ A flag with a star. I thought it was rad.

^ Did I mention they like umbrellas?

^ Beryl still with my cap

^ The pictures don't show it, but it was HOT


^ Beryl on the football pitch thats in the middle of the running track


I had a thing of taking photos of people who were taking photos:

^ Its me! Check me out with the purple / pink / blue.



















^ about £1200 of kit. If you consider how little most Chinese people get paid, thats a lot of moolah.





^ This guy almost looked as cool as me



Then finally, some action shots. :)

^ The day started with a skipping race between the faculty. Funny stuff.

^ Ready......set....

^ The expressions on their faces are priceless

^ "VTEC Just kicked in, yo!"

^ I like the photo-finish-esq nature of this shot

^ A change-over in the womens 4x100 relay

^ Run, run, run!

^ "...Go!"

^ One of the foreign teachers at the university, Chirstina, taking part in a relay

^ 3000km race

^ A few laps later

^ winners of the women's relay

^ dude changing the "laps left" board

^ Little dude ringing the bell for final lap

^ Team uniforms and everything. These guys were serious.

^ The shorts were a bit short for my liking

^ It was quite a good place to take pictures from

^ Lots of people were watching the racing through their tiny camera LCD screens

^ Relay hand-over

^ Mid-corner

^4x400meter relay. These guys SPRINTED the whole 400meters. Some seriously quick Chinamen. This guy number 48 was awesome. He sat off at full chant, mouth-closed, and a totally expressionless face.

^ Mid-corner, still no expression

^ One lap later, he was a bit less composed...

^ ...and ready to collapse

^ Number 2 being watched eagerly by number 1

^ Some minor drama when two of the relay guys were in the wrong lanes

^ People running with their tongue hanging out their mouth

^ Beryl, complete with funky laces


^ and finally, the all-star race. As you can see, the grandstands were packed. :-)

It was a good day! :-)