Academic tourism

I’m off to Hong Kong and Beijing today for 10 days.  I’m going with my daughter Yrsa and Zhiben, my NCTU colleague, and his daughter and parents.  We all want to see the Olympic buildings and eat roasted duck.  Trips to Tianjin and Chengde have been planned, as well as some (light) research for my Yuanmingyuan book.  I’ll be back with updates (god willing and internet connections permitting).

It turns out we’ll be arriving in HK at the same time as the typhoon which recently killed 800 people in the Philippines.  I’ve been looking at flight information all night hoping for a cancellation.  I don’t like it when I’m tossed around by the forces of nature.