Sunday Morning - on to Beijing

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It is 5:30 a.m. and I can't sleep. The wake up call will ring in half an hour. The flight is at 10:00 for Beijing but our seats are not selected and we have luggage to take care of. Some associates and friends will also arrive this morning during breakfast to say goodbye and see us off. I still have to pack my things and figure out how to carry all the books I've acquired. The books can be mailed to NY from Beijing. That is my standard procedure and I have never had a problem. Two people arrived late last night after dinner to see us off.

Yesterday was a quiet but productive day. In the late morning we took care of loose ends like a last minute airline ticket. Three of us headed out to the Tibetan section of town to shop, look at bookstores and then visit our favourite vegetarian restaurant for lunch. Prior to lunch we again visited with the Tibetan Art Historian and received some more books and a CD of art that I had wanted - images of a rare sketchbook done in a Menri/Khyenri style. DP arranged a visit with another colleague from Oxfords working on the Tibetan/Chinese Tea Trade. After that we went to the Jin Jiang Hotel to have tea with Mingyur Rinpoche. He is somebody that I used to know and spend time with back in the 1970s in Seattle Washington. His health has not been so good of late but it was very nice to see him anyway. He was well aware of my time in November spent with Luding Kenchung and the trip to Wutaishan Mountain in China after the Beijing conference of October.

This was just a quick summary of yesterdays events and I will try and add more photos when I am in Beijing. With a little luck we will also see the sun again. Chengdu has a similar climate to Vancouver Canada with many grey misty days and light rain. I think we have had three days of sunshine while in Chengdu.

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