| Photos Universiade village and stadiums |
Today (Monday the 8th of August) I took the metro to the Universiade Village in Longgang district. From one of the Dutch organizers I already heard the area is totally fenced off and has lots of security, but it was even more than I expected. This area of Shenzhen is quite remote and it took about an hour from downtown Shenzhen. The universiade village is huge and the stadiums look beautiful. It was impossible to get closer than a few hundred meters to the stadiums, so I only took photos from the outside. Universiade stadiums How to go to the Universiade Village? Take metro (the Longgang line) to station "Universiade". Then take exit C and walk down. You will see a U-station with some volunteers and then turn left and walk to the Universiade buildings in the distance. It's about 1-2 km walking, but I think there will be buses later. You will not be able to enter the village without special Universiade passes. It takes about 1 hour from downtown Shenzhen to Universiade Village and it costs 6.30 RMB (when using the Shenzhen Tong subway card). For more practical information, see my Ultimate Universiade Guide  Universiade Metro station, Exit C. I think this area in the front will be a bus-stop The Universiade Village  On my way to the Universiade village I saw this police car.  Coca Cola supply truck with the University Village in the back.  Another photo of the universiade village  East Gate 1  Delegations arrive at the Village before going through security. They were arriving in special buses and cars  More delegations arrive. Ratio of volunteers : visitors, about 10:1 !  The first flags start to appear on Monday the 8th of August :)  Road between Village and the Metro station (in the distance) The Universiade Stadiums  Special universiade bikes for rent  Lonely soldier guarding the fences in front of the Universiade main stadium. Dark clouds in the background: it started to rain and thunder soon after this photo was taken.  Fences everywhere, even at the back of the stadiums along this empty road with empty bus station  One of the main entrances for cars  Took a photo through one of the fences to get a better view  Decoration for the universiade  Walked to the top of a small park and reached a unprotected parking space :) In the distance the MMC : Main Media Center  Zoomed in a bit  U stations manned by young volunteers in orange t-shirts everywhere  More security...  Ticket offices open 10:00 to 17:00 but nobody was buying (yet)  And more security, though this one seemed to be empty so perhaps I could have sneeked in :)  And some more metal detectors and luggage scanners. I hope they will not recycle these machines for the metro ....  Bus station at Sports Center East
Verdict
Village looks very big from the outside, stadiums look great. Too bad they put up so many fences and deploy so much police and army. It would give a friendlier impression if there was not so much security. The volunteers are very nice though and there is certainly enough of them. Shenzhen is organizing the Universiade as if it were an Olympic Games. I think no other country would spend so many resources on it! Now let's hope they can sell some tickets so the stadiums are not empty. Judging by the opinions of friends and colleagues, they think these athletes are "not so good" so they don't want to watch it. I for one look forward to go through the metal gate, put my bag into the scanner, pass the fence and go inside the stadium :-)  Security guard asleep on the floor at the intersection between Universiade Village and Stadiums :-)
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| Last Updated ( Monday, 08 August 2011 ) | |||||||||||||||
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