I usually like to claim that i do not plan any of my trips, but infact usually the opposite is true. When i came to China this time, i had decided that if i stayed here till april then i'd visit the Shanghai GP, till august then its off to the Litang Horse festival and to top it all, if i stay here till oct/nov my plan is to go to Bayan Olgi, Mongolia for the annual eagle hunting festival. Fingers crossed.. i'll be writing about that trip sometime in the near future.

I had first been to Shanghai in 2004, that time to see the first ever Chinese grandprix. I missed the next one in 2005, the year where some of my friends went on to watch the race from the expensive K and H stands at throw away ticket prices (paying 300RMB for a 2500RMB ticket). I've been kicking myself ever since and i was not going to make the same mistake again this time.

There has been a lot written in the media about the grandprix in China and most of it negative. The sport has very little following among the local population here and year after year the turnout at the races keep steadily decreasing. Why bring a sport to a country where there is very little interest for it. I guess its all about marketing.. multinational corporations want more visibility in china which means more sponsorship deals and more money for Bernie, the teams and the FIA chimps. China inturn wants to project itself as a modern vibrant economy and looks to be on the world stage at every opportunity and they pay a lot of money (reportedly some 50m dollars a year!!) to get the rights to host the races. Which in turn means more money for F1 association. So its a win win for everyone, except perhaps the European race fans who have to deal with their favorite local venues slowly shifting to the east, one by one.