Sitting in the business class lounge at the Beijing airport. They let me through security. Things have sure changed here. Everything gets easier in China. The only thing that doesn't change is the bad food. You can find it everywhere. I have had some great food here but primarily vegetarian. You know me, I'm not into all that ground up mystery meat or unidentified body parts. I also don't like whole chicken heads floating in my chicken soup. Call me boring, call me unsophisticated but that's the way it is. I knew it was going to be a bumpy ride two [View Full Entry]

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In a little while I will be off to Wutaishan for the night and back tomorrow. I should have lots of pictures although we are only going to the main shrine in the valley and not planning to go up to any of the individual five peaks. More tomorrow.... [View Full Entry]

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I just finished a two hour lecture at the Minzu University with 45 minutes after that for questions. There were about 200 students in attendance. It was also translated into Chinese so I actually only worked for half that time. I came up with an entire new lecture which we can use as the basis for the HAR curriculum. I am dead tired and just got back to the hotel. I haven't eaten since lunch and didn't have any breakfast this morning. I meet with Luding Khenpo for lunch at approximately 11:00 tomorrow morning and after that we leave for Wutaishan, [View Full Entry]

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Today is starting off as a more relaxed day in the morning and then gradually gets busier and busier until I go to the Minzu University and give a lecture tonight at 7:00. The actual lecture duration is two hours but that includes a half hour at the end for questions and then time for Chinese translation. For my part the lecture will be a maximum of 45 minutes and then 15 minutes of answers when the translation time is factored in. After a nice hot cup of coffee in the cafe downstairs I'm confidant I can come up with a [View Full Entry]

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I will be staying in Beijing tomorrow and lecturing at the Minzu University tomorrow night at the invitation of Tsering Tar the Director of Tibetan Studies. The following morning, Tuesday, Luding Khenpo and I leave early for Wutaishan Mountain and return late on Wednesday. Then I have a full day in Beijing on Thursday to see everybody I need to see and hopefully get to the bookstores. Friday I am up early and off to the airport at 6:00 a.m. I am writing this down so that it is clear to me. Beijing can be a very chaotic place. And there [View Full Entry]

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I actually received the photo of the conference participants the day after it was taken but didn't get a chance to photograph it and put it up until now. There is no photo of the participants of the 2nd conference. You will have to use your imagination. I have been all over the place today and even seen fields of produce. An art dealer took me and a friend out of the city to his home to show me some special works of art, old and rare. We then came back after a delicious lunch of fresh noodles with mystery meat, [View Full Entry]

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Friday the 23rd was a busy day beginning with the presentation by the young Luding Khenpo of Ngor Monastery, Manduwala, India. He was brought in as a special quest of the organizers of the conference. The paper was good with lots of interesting information. Immediately after there was a feeding frenzy of activity surrounding Rinpoche as he was deluged with questions, people who wanted his autograph, and the conference participants and conference staff all wanting their pictures taken standing together with him. Again, in the VIP guest room in the back, the room was packed with staff and partic [View Full Entry]

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Now that I have moved from the Ziyu Hotel to the Marriott the internet is now allowing for Google Blog access. Check out the usual Travel Blog for updates: http://jeffwatt.blogspot.com/ [View Full Entry]

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The second conference, October 21st to 23rd, will be held over at the Marriott Hotel about a half hour drive from the current Ziyu hotel. The first conference was Archaeology and Art, the second conference will be on Buddhist Aesthetics. The opening reception is at 8:00 tonight. Many of the organizers of the first conference will be participating in the second but very few of the participants of the first will be attending the second. A difference in structure between the two conferences will be that the second provides several outings and on site tours at the Palace and Capital museums. [View Full Entry]

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Yesterday the closing ceremonies concluded at 7:00 in the evening and we adjourned for a final dinner. The morning is free. If conference participants want to go to the Capital Museum as an organized group then they will meet out front at 8:00 and board the waiting buses. The museum has a good sculpture collection which I have photographed on previous occasions. The images can be seen on the HAR website. I am unable to embed links on this travel blog so the URL is pasted below: http://www.himalayanart.org/search/set.cfm?setID=1263. You can see from the image of the front of the hotel an [View Full Entry]

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