Olympic Torch Relay in SF | 三藩市迎奧運聖火

Yesterday (4/09) was really a very exciting day for everyone in San Francisco! The Olympic Torch came and it's the only city in the North America having the torch relay. I was there the entire day witnessing the torch relay face to face the first time, and took some pics.

Here below is a picture story..

right in the morning, there were already thousands of people, mostly Chinese supporters, gathered at McCovey Cove, the location of the opening ceremony. They were having different performances like drum dance, national anthem singing, folk dance, lion dance...

lion dance performance before the stage of the ceremony

supporters are waving their chinese flags, i am sure it is like the only time in perhaps hundreds or thousands of years that you would see soooooo many "five star" flags flying in San Francisco.

looking up the sky, that's what you see...

supporters're doing all they can to promote the event

crowded with almost 100% chinese supporters, the McCovey Cove was actually quite a safe place, but somehow the police probably didn't think the same...

opening ceremony began at 1:20pm, the first torch bearer lin lei received the torch and began the journey.

when you noticed a large group of motorbikes coming out from the pier warehouse, you began to wonder if something's going wrong...

Then, people began to realize that the entire route was changed!  They thought they could cheat us, but they have just underestimated people like me...how would i allow myself to go home empty handed?

ok, so here you're, our torch bearer!

you know i wouldn't let you go...

even though you're surrounded by a large group of people...

you couldn't escape from my camera angle...

these protesters definitely needed a larger banner..

one of the celebrity torch bearer, the former volleyball national team member lang pin 郎平

torch bearers running in pairs..

I just realized my face got all tanned after the chase... and what makes it even worse, i just noticed i didnt take a pic myself during the entire relay...