[Video provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The city of Hangzhou in East China's Zhejiang province is welcoming the Asian Games – to be held from Sept 23 to Oct 8.

A group of eight expats, hailing from seven countries – including the US, the UK, Bangladesh, Yemen and Pakistan – visited the venues of the games on March 24-25, to see the city's preparations for the upcoming sporting extravaganza.

Their itinerary included the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center, the comprehensive training hall and the squash stadium. It also included the Grand Canal Asian Games Park, Hangzhou E-sports Center and the China Cartoon & Animation Museum.

The expats – longtime residents of China – said they were blown away by the scale and technologies at the venues.

Angela Lewis, a UK teacher at the Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University in Suzhou, said the Olympic sports center was massive and gleaming and she was impressed by its sheer size.

The Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center is the main site of the 19th Asian Games Hangzhou. It's a stunning butterfly-shaped venue that incorporates a natatorium and a gymnasium to host swimming, diving and basketball events. The stadium can seat 18,000 people and will host indoor games, while the aquatic sports arena can seat over 6,000.

In order to demonstrate the concept of a "Smart Asian Games", the sports venues are equipped with new generation information technologies, such as a 5G network, Internet of Things and artificial intelligence.

Expats learn how robots can help visually-impaired people. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Mohammed Al-Zouba, a photographer from Yemen, was amazed by the facilities.

"They are using AI technology in robots," he said. "There are even robots for people with special needs – like blind people, to guide them where to go and how to find their seats," he added.

Sobraj Al Akand, an online influencer from Bangladesh, said he believes that China will offer its very best services for the upcoming Asian Games.