Journal of a Sabbatical

China Trip 2000

the path through the hole in the wall

Quote of the Day: "Welcome to Institute of Botany, China Academy of Sciences" - Mr. Jin, the IBCAS driver on dropping me off at the airport

Today's Reading: The Story of the Stone (aka Dream of the Red Chamber) by Cao Xuequin

[10/10/2000 8:35:07 PM]

Overnight Beijing has gone from hot and humid to freezing cold and windy. Majorly windy. Incense Burner Peak has become visible again but is still a poor excuse for a mountain by Tibet standards.

Despite having slept in until 8:15 this morning, we scored the last two Beijing-style crullers at the local bakery. These have to be tasted to be appreciated. They aren't really crullers, just look like 'em. One of the many famous snack foods of Beijing. Snacking is second only to eating elaborate meals as a pastime here. Street food in Beijing is glorious. My favorites are the aforementioned crullers and corn on the cob on a stick. Delightful. I will miss it.

YY is back from the field (Yunnan). We ran into him in the garden last night when we were walking home. He says collecting in Yunnan was very successful. Three of our guys (but not Zsolt and István) are due back today. A couple of them are leaving tomorrow same as me.

I spent the morning packing up the computers for storage 'til Z&I get back and writing detailed notes on everything I've done. It's almost lunch time now. I can't believe this is my second to last day here. So much work left to do....