Karaoke on Wheels

At the Olympics, you spend half your time on buses. They take you from your hotel to the MPC (main media center) and from the MPC to the venues. There are four main venue locations: Alpensia, where I am staying and where the MPC is located, also has the sliding track, the ski jump, biathlon and cross country. Phoenix has all the snowboard kinda stuff and Gangneung has all the indoor arenas. Then there are two Alpine locations. One for the tech events (slalom, GS) and one for the speed events (downhill and super G). Just about all of these places are an hour away from each other. So buses are your lifeline to all things Olympic. and often your chance to sleep. I have pictures of that too.

At most Olympics you have hundreds of charter buses making continuous loops. Here is no exception, with one striking difference. The Koreans take their buses very seriously. Some are decked out with the comforts of home. The guy who drives the 6 am bus to YongPyong (slalom, GS) has a table near the door where he has coffee brewing to offer his early guests. Those guests are Doug and me and no one else.

But most often, the buses we are on are karaoke buses on loan to the Olympics. There appear to be hundreds of them. Soundboards and CD players and speakers and microphones and video screens. Two of my colleagues, Sam Manchester and Alex Garcia, were treated to the full treatment. (video by Alex Garcia)

Disco lighting and disco balls hanging from the ceiling. One good part of the video screens is that they show the Olympic competitions on your hourlong trips. The bad part, as I have mentioned, is that the bus drivers are usually watching too. One guy, to his credit, pulled over to watch a short track speed skating final with a Korean as the favorite. Thankfully, it was a short race.