China Part I

On Nov 29th I flew to China for 8 days to give talks at universities and attend an international faculty conference. I first flew from Denver to Shanghai, and after storing our conference booth and supplies at the conference hotel, my colleague Brad and I spent the night in Shanghai and then the next morning flew from Shanghai to Beijing for three days to give some workshops at a couple of universities there. We were able to do a bit of touring at all of the major spots. One day we struck out on our own with a map and visited the "Summer Palace" and 2008 Olympic venue. The next day we arranged a tour via the hotel concierge and were driven around in a van to Tienanmen Square, the Forbidden City, a jade factory, the Great Wall, a silk factory, and a tea house. On the morning of the 4th we flew back to Shanghai for our conference. We didn't have any time for touring in Shanghai, but did go shopping several times in what I call "the thieves quarter". It was a huge underground shopping bazaar where almost everything is a fake brand. Every price was negotiable and no matter how little you pay you still feel like you got ripped off. I had forgotten to pack dress shoes so I bought a nice looking pair for cheap that ended up killing my feet because the nail heads pushed through the inside of the sole (you get what you pay for). They still look nice but I'll be buying some Dr. Scholl's padded insoles. I did find a reputable tailor and had a cashmere overcoat custom-made with a silk lining for $120 (retail in the US for a comparable coat would be at least $500). The trip home took about 20 hours. I took my big camera and have lots of pictures, but thought I'd share them in installments rather than one huge post.

This is our bathroom in our room at the Marriott hotel in Beijing. It wasn't until later we found the electric switch that lowered the hidden blind.

Brad and I frequently share rooms to save money.

It snowed our first day in Beijing, which turned out to be a blessing

This is the American embassy in Beijing. The Embassy District was just down the street from our hotel. I tried to take a closer picture but the guards were very unhappy about that, so I went across the street. The big line are people applying for visas to visit the US.

Funny public bathroom pics.


No sitting down on the job in this bathroom stall...

Track and Field venue (the bird's nest)

Water sports venue (now converted to an indoor water park)

This is where the Olympic athletes stayed across the street. They are now apartments that were completely sold out before the Olympics began.

the Water palace at night