The end games for scales

The Olympics are coming to an end for me.

As I depart to go back to Shanghai before I make my way to Europe for yet another technology conference, I reflect on my time here.

This past week has been amazingly busy for my countrymen/women and me.

Canada managed to make its way on the medal board; at the last count we claimed 13 medals, not bad considering that in the first week we performed poorly.

I managed to catch up several events, including beach volleyball, softball, athletics and cycling.

I explored the city in more depth and managed to make new friends, including a few folks from the IOC.

I had the opportunity to hang out with some people I had not seen for some time and taste new cuisine.

Robert samples grilled snake

Sadly I spent a few days' sick after contracting a bad case of food poisoning, a first for me, sad considering that I have been in China for over a year without any incident! It was just one of those days I guess!

Overall these Olympic have been mostly free of incidents. Despite the various controversies regarding the usual doping cheats getting banned, and some issues around the media's right to document protests.

There was also the news that the opening ceremony's firework were pre-recorded and computer generated, and the ethnic minorities who walked in bright costumes were all Han Chinese. And let's not forget the little girl who melted our hearts singing at the opening ceremony, when she was actually lip-syncing.

Despite all this, we must give credit to China. "Host a great games, build a new city" is one of the many tag lines we see around town.

I leave Beijing having added new pins to my Olympic collections, made new friends, and best of all, having achieved another one of my dreams; to attend an Olympic fencing match.

As many folks have said already - it will be a long time before we get to see Games like this again.

China went all out to host the world for 17 days, they took this opportunity to improve their nation's capital and build a modern acropolis.

I can only hope that when the dust settles, the people of Beijing will be able to find themselves again in their new city and old routine.

Check out my flickr feed to see my Olympic pictures: http://www.flickr.com/raincitystudios