Even IOC President Jacques Rogge praised the athletes' village as the "best ever".

"I've never seen a village like this," said Rogge, who competed in three Olympics in sailing and stays in the village during the Games.

Photos with the smiling faces of volunteers are posted on a wall at the journalists' working area in the Huiyuan media village.

"We hope these smiling faces would make the journalists feel at home at the end of a tiring day," said Qi Lulu, an English major at Beijing Foreign Studies University.

Qi, who will be a sophomore in September, was one of the volunteers who proposed the wall of smiling faces in the media village. A native of Nanjing in east China's Jiangsu Province, Qi said she was often touched by the "magic of a friendly smile" herself.

"When I took a crowded bus to school after work the other day, a smiling lady in her 40s insisted that I take her seat. She said I must have worked hard and need a good rest."

Qi, in her blue and white T-shirt for all volunteers, is not so noticeable in the crowds of her peers at the media village but certainly stands out on a bus. "The lady said she, too, had applied to be a volunteer but somehow failed."

City opens arm

Some 100,000 taxi drivers changed into smart new yellow shirts and striped ties on Saturday, in one of Beijing's latest efforts to spruce up the city's looks for the Olympics.

The uniforms, which cost about 500 yuan (75 U.S. dollars), are believed to be partly subsidized by the government.

In the run-up to the Games, Beijing's taxi drivers have also learned English, been banned from smoking in the cars and kept car seats untainted to make Olympic visitors feel at home.

An additional 7,000 automobiles are serving the Games, including about 900 media buses shuttling between the two media villages, 42 media hotels, more than 30 competition venues in Beijing and the MPC and IBC near the Olympic Village.

"A group of British journalists told me the other night our services were 'very impressive' and better than other Olympic cities they had been to," said Shang Zhiquan, deputy coordination manager for media transport with the Beijing Games organizers.

Each day, Beijing middle school student Xiao Dong practises his urheen, a traditional two-stringed Chinese musical instrument. "I wish to play some Chinese classical music for the Olympic guests," he said.

His home about two kilometers from the Bird's Nest and Water Cube, two centerpiece Olympic competition venues, is one of the 598 Olympic families in Beijing that will provide home stays for Olympic guests.

(Xinhua News Agency August 4, 2008)