Subscribe to Print Edition | Thu., August 07, 2008 Av 6, 5768 | | Israel Time: 11:32 (EST+7) web haaretz.com   Back to Homepage Rosner's Domain Diplomacy Defense Jewish World Opinion National Print Edition Car Rental Books Haaretz Magazine Business Real Estate Easy Start Travel Week's End Anglo File

Bigger, better, and more bureaucratic By Uzi Dann Tags: Olympics, China BEIJING - They say size isn't everything. This may be so, but size can certainly be quite impressive. It begins at the airport. At first one hardly notices the sheer length of the hallways leading through the terminal - after all, El Al is always thrown into some corner far from the action. But after a few minutes, a sense of proportion begins to set in. The hallways are each the width of a basketball court, every entryway or door rises to monstrous proportions. Advertisement This is five or six times as big as Heathrow, the largest airport in Europe - or so the locals tell me with ill-concealed pride. After passport control, standing between the delegations of Kiribati and Algeria, it's time for baggage collection. This airport is simply too large to travel on foot, so there is a train to take visitors on the 10-minute journey to retrieve their luggage. And this being China in 2008, it's a fast train. Outside, the sheer proportion of things continues to amaze - the roads, the number of cars on the streets, the buildings of the Olympic compound. The Games are just as big at the level of human resources. A vast army of volunteers leap on every accredited Westerner assuring him or her in broken, congenial English that they are here to help. At every corner they stand smiling, ready to assist those bearing the ultimate door-opener in Beijing, the yellow press card. But this is China, after all, and that means bureaucracy. And like any bureaucracy, this one sometimes makes the visitor yearn to bang his head repeatedly against the wall. The wi-fi internet connection in the press center, for example, costs a fortune, and yesterday it ran out after officials handed out the last of the access codes for its use. That's right, wireless internet - available at any self-respecting Tel Aviv cafe - has run dry, just like a bottle of soy sauce. Thankfully for me, a standard connection is available to those who didn't get a code and are left holding the proverbial cable. All it costs is $500 and a stack of bureaucratic forms. But it is the press center itself which may be the most impressive display in the Olympic compound. A small city spread across several floors, it is an enterprise that makes the media center for the World Cup or Euro soccer championship look something like Kfar Sava beside New York. On the other hand, these are the Olympics we're talking about. Perhaps it's always like this? "This is the biggest press center I've seen in my life," says a Swiss journalist who has competed, as it were, in six Olympiads. "Everything is really big here, no?" he asks me, not waiting for a response. "Big?" I ask him. Huge. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Party for a killer Arabic TV station hosts birthday party for convicted child killer Samir Kuntar. Hamas to blame Noam Shalit says his son Gilad is holding Gaza hostage, and not the other way around.   1.   Biggest three-dimensional Gulag on Earth 11:11  |  Albert Edelson 07/08/08

Read & React Israel to free more than 150 Palestinian prisoners as gesture to Abbas Responses: 66 Rights groups slam 'disgraceful' minor charge over shooting of bound Palestinian Responses: 51 Israel to Hezbollah: We won't tolerate arms smuggling Responses: 37 Al-Jazeera apologizes for 'unethical' coverage of Kuntar release Responses: 21 Meron Benvenisti: If Sharon could just see Gaza now Responses: 6 More Headlines 08:26 Israel warns Hezbollah: We won't tolerate arms smuggling 11:24 Al-Jazeera apologizes for 'unethical' coverage of Kuntar release 08:03 Israel to free more than 150 Palestinian prisoners as gesture to Abbas 10:00 ANALYSIS / If Israelis bought Hezbollah swap scheme, why not one with Hamas? 11:05 Rights groups slam 'disgraceful' minor charge over shooting of bound Palestinian 11:23 Israeli Olympic swimmer to race in Beijing, despite father's tragic death 10:34 Hamas transforms former Gaza settlement into movie lot 08:49 Poll: Secular candidate would crush Haredi MK in Jerusalem mayoral elections 10:02 Special feature / The land of unchecked settler harassment 10:35 For Diaspora Jews, volunteering in Israel brings out Jewish identity 05:33 Babysitter prevents kidnap of Jerusalem children by their father 05:55 Is it really financially worthwhile to go green? 08:50 Tax Authority stumbles onto diamond-smuggling ring after questioning tax evader 06:10 Study: 62 percent of high school teachers have been abused by pupils Previous Editions Select Day 06 aug 05 aug 04 aug 03 aug 01 aug 31 jul 30 jul 29 jul 28 jul 27 jul 25 jul 24 jul

Special Offers Advertisement Fattal Hotel Chain Perfectly located hotels on best resorts of Israel. Isaac Maimon at Dreamshoppe Special summer sale. Make an offer now. You will be surprised. MBA in Israel in English APPLY NOW! Limited spaces available Israel's Premier Real Estate Website www. israel-property.com Yossi Avrahami Presents: New Luxurious Projects in North Tel Aviv & Eilat Your vacation starts here Israel Travel Center Guaranteed Lowest Rates Hebrew Summer courses From $39.95 ISRAEL BONDS Build Israel Israel bonds - a multi-purpose way to celebrate Israel's 60th Eldan Rent a Car Israel's leading car rental company offers you a 20% discount on all online reservations Junkyard Junk a car - get free towing nationwide and a tax-deductible receipt

Home | TV | Print Edition | Diplomacy | Opinion | Arts & Leisure | Sports | Jewish World | Underground | Site rules |

Real Estate in Israel | Travel to Israel with Haaretz | Hotels Israel | Restaurants Israel | Tourist attractions Israel | Shops Israel

birthright Israel | Search engine marketing

Haaretz.com, the online edition of Haaretz Newspaper in Israel, offers real-time breaking news, opinions and analysis from Israel and the Middle East. Haaretz.com provides extensive and in-depth coverage of Israel, the Jewish World and the Middle East, including defense, diplomacy, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the peace process, Israeli politics, Jerusalem affairs, international relations, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the Israeli business world and Jewish life in Israel and the Diaspora.

© Copyright  Haaretz. All rights reserved