Silk Roads: China, The Middle East, and The New World

Being at the Opening of Asian Games was spectacular. Like being in the middle of a giant fairy tale:

More than a billion people around the world - probably none in the U.S. - watched the Asian Games opening ceremony on TV. The sold-out crowd in the stadium was 55,000. The opening ceremony was produced by the same directors who did the opening ceremony at the Sydney Olympics, and on an even grander scale in Qatar with more than 2,000 performers, including Chinese pop star Jackie Cheung, Spanish tenor Jose Carerra. Parade of nations included 10,000 athletes from 45 countries. Volunteer workforce for the Games is 20,000. Technical organizers working with the Qataris have largely been imported from Australia, Canada and the UK and have been working here in Doha on the Games for the past two years. Dignitaries attending the opening ceremonies included heads of state from the Arabian/Persian Gulf nations, as well as Ahmedinejad, the president of Iran, Rogge, the president of the International Olympic committee (Qatar is bidding for the 2016 Games), and Blatter, the president of FIFA (world soccer federation).