13 July - Opening Ceremony

After a few hour's sleep, we all heroically went to the opening ceremony at a very large public garden. There were Chinese musical performances in erhu, guqin and a short performance of Chinese opera.  We found that there were many countries who came from all over the world, such as Germany, France, India, Indonesia and America.

Then we went shopping at the gift shop and watched a parade.  The parade was showcasing Chinese culture and achievements from ancient times to the space age.  We wished there was more Jackie Chan lookalikes, but this was the closest we could get to Jackie Chan:

Our guides cut the day short so we could go back to the hotel and sleep before having dinner at the restaurant next door.  And that night we had a great sleep!