The Olympic torch passed through town today. I woke up at around 6, not especially for the torch, but because I've been waking up around early (5-6 a.m.) every morning recently.

The torch started out in the horse racing track. The army has been camped out there since March, but I figure they've temporarily cleared out for the torch and for the horse festival, which has been delayed until tomorrow.

I knew I wouldn't get in there—I left the house around 7, and I would have had to arrive at the track before 7 to get in. So I walked down the #3 road looking for a place where I might take some pictures.

There were a lot of PLA standing guard along the torch route, and a line of them who were blocking my progress down the road. I walked down the river a little bit, looking for a way around, when I noticed people crossing the bridge that I had just been denied access to. So I went back to the bridge, and after waiting for about 20 seconds, the PLA troops let a group of us through. Inspecting us, or controlling the numbers, I'm not sure.

The rest of the morning involved a lot of waiting, a lot of 中国加油！奥运会加油！北京加油！ and the like. I also heard one 云南加油, which elicited some snickering.

After several hours of taking pictures, the torch arrived, and everyone ran up to the roadside. The people that staked out a position next to the guard fence actually got to see more than a few glimpses of the torch walking past. I tried taking pictures from the hip, but I'm still not very good at telling where my camera is aimed without looking through the viewfinder.