Blogs from Changping, Changping, Beijing, China, Asia - page 2

April 14, 2010 Last night was absolutely amazing! I didn’t back to the hotel until late last night and I had reports to write, so I’m just getting to this entry now. The theatre is very close to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City in Central Beijing. Everyone working there was dressed in very old style clothing. The inside of the theatre was decorated with beautiful silks and elaborately carved wood and red lanterns were hung everywhere. There were many displays of figurines dressed in examples of costumes. I’ve included some of pictures of these so you all can get a feel for how opulent and outrageous some of the garments were. We weren’t supposed to take any pictures during the performance, but I took a couple quick shots with my flash off. In addition to ... read more

I’m sorry but the entry for the past two days is going to be very brief. I have a cold and my energy level is very low. April 10, 2010 (Saturday) The dust storms are gone and the day was bright, sunny, and warm. Danbo and I went to Beijing University to meet a professor there who does research in biodegradable polymers. We got a tour of some of the grounds of Beijing University. It was lovely. The flowers were blooming on the trees. There is a small lake with many trails and little bridges. I enjoyed both the tour and visiting with Professor Du. Afterwards we went into work for a little while to check on some reactions and then I came straight back to the hotel and crashed for the night. April 11, 2010 ... read more

April 8, 2010 I was so tired this morning. When 5:30 am rolled around, I wanted to just pull the covers over my head and sleep for another two hours. Unfortunately, I needed to get my walk done. It was a much colder day than yesterday was. But after I got outside and start walking around my little park I wasn’t cold anymore. I saw many of the same people from the day before. They recognized me and we waved hello to each other. There is this one lady who I see every time I walk, riding by me on her bike. No matter how friendly I smile at her, she never smiles back. She just stares and stares at me as she rides past me and then keeps turning her head to look back at ... read more

April 6, 2010 I woke up this morning with a headache, an upset stomach and a slight fever. I think I may have overdone it this weekend. But I had such a great time! I’m glad you all are enjoying the pictures. Speaking of pictures, I took a couple of the rising sun this morning. It was such a beautiful sight. I think that the haze here has the same effect as the haze in LA, providing spectacular sunrises and sunsets. When I got to work we jumped right into the chemistry. We were doing some tricky experiments that required some very careful handling. It became evident within a couple of hours that we were successful and everyone was relaxed and happy the rest of the day. . .working hard, but confident that we were generating ... read more

April 4, 2010 Today we (Danbo, Sun and I) went to The Forbidden City and to Tiananmen Square. As I mentioned in an earlier blog, Wikipedia has an extensive entry on “The Forbidden City”. Here are some fun facts about the Forbidden City: 1. The Forbidden City occupies 720,000 square meters (7,747,200 square feet / 180 acres). The Topkapi Palace in Istanbul measures 700,000 square meters; the Vatican measures 440,000 square meters; and the Kremlin measures 275,000 square meters. 2. There are 9,999 rooms in this series of exquisite palaces inside the City. Nine is a lucky number for the Chinese. (Some books quote 8886 rooms — but this does not include antechambers.) 3. The walls are 32 feet high (10 meters). The surrounding drainage moat is 165 feet wide (50 meters). The main part of ... read more