MIDI Music Festival.

The MIDI festival itself wasn't terribly special, as I was hoping to discover some unknown talents and failed to find any. What was notable, however, was how we got in...

Having to take the taxi to Haidian Park, we had the good intentions of paying our way in like every other lemming, which meant queuing in line and waiting patiently at the box office. We were quite disappointed when we were turned away with an explanation that they had sold out concert tickets. Sold out? How on god's green Earth could an outdoor event held in one of Beijing's LARGEST parks, which by the way is the go-to place for people in the Haidian district in an event of an emergency such as a natural disaster, turn away people? We didn't want to take NO for an answer, so we walked around the entire park which was fortified by temporary retaining walls used in construction sites for a mole hole. As we had anticipated, there were security guards stationed at various points all around, so we had to be a bit more discreet about our intentions.

After sizing up our challenge, Barry and I found a section of the wall that gave way ever so slightly from the bottom. It was only wide enough to stick a leg in, so we took a corner of the sheet metal fence and bent it around like dog-earing a page in a book and gave each other a high-five when we got to the other side successfully. Our jubilation was short-lived, however, when we discovered a secondary barrier around the park. Sneaking around in the bushes, we made a dash for the supporting log beams leaning against the fence once we got close enough. This sudden commotion caught the eye of a security guard manning his post nearby, but we pulled a ninja, scaled the log, and jumped safely onto some soft green grass on the other side. Barry should be commended for his stealthy ninja-ness as it isn't as easy for a tricenarian to scale fences as it is for those who are younger. Way to go, Barry!

Where there's a will, there's a way. =)

MIDI Music Festival 2007