20 June 2007 Wednesday

...We flew for about 2 hours and landed at the Nanjing airport. We were met by Liu Lujun whom we had met in Shanxi province in 1987. He remembered my family and told me to give them his best regards. On the bus drive to the hotel, we talked a great deal about our time in Shanxi. I had our picture taken when we got to the hotel.

• aerial view of Nanjing, from Google Earth
• view of hotel and Purple Mountain, from Google Earth
• bus ride to hotel
• Liu LuJun and me at hotel

We immediately went to the Icebreaker where I saw many old friends. Johnny Waters was there and told me he had brought my Chinese knife to give back to me, but that it had been confiscated along with many other things from his carry-on luggage.

• Czechs and Russians at my table
• Ice-breaker room

After the ice breaker, four of my new Czech friends and I went to the "Club" building and had a couple of Heinekens. I went back to my room about 11pm and went to bed. Nanjing was very humid and warm and cloudy. The hotel is operated by the government and is for formal government functions and dignitaries. The entire hotel was reserved specially for our conference. I understand the Kissinger was staying at one of the other buildings on the grounds.

• my room, another view, bathroom
• lounge at hotel
• front entrance, another view
• "The Club" building where they had swimming pool, billiards, etc.

21 June 2007 Thursday

I woke up at 6 but tried to sleep later. I took a shower and went to breakfast in the hotel breakfast room. I had a Chinese breakfast, although they also had Western food. I also had preserved egg which I hadn't had in a while.

At 8:30 I went to Building #5 for the opening ceremony.

• opening ceremony, another view

After a coffee break. I introduced myself to the President of the Permanent Committee, Henk Pagnier. He had received our letters for the proposal to host the next congress. He said that the Australians and Russians had also sent proposals and that Australia had been promised the next conference during the 2003 meeting in Utrecht. Still, they were happy to get our proposal and asked me to give a presentation Friday evening. I have my PowerPoint on my thumb drive for the talk, fortunately.

At lunch, the people at the desk called the other hotel for me and found that my proposal package had been sent there. I'll have to catch a shuttle to that hotel to get the package. I also changed money because I used my available Yuan to pay for my airline ticket.

After lunch I went back to the talks. I left the talks after about 2 hours and found an internet computer (10 Yuan per hour) and sent several journal e-mails. The laundry that I had sent out was already back in my room when I got back.

• magpie-like bird, another view, same bird in grass, bird in tree, same bird through window, another view
• sparrow-like bird, same bird on concrete, closer view, side view
• rock in landscaping, contemplative site in woods, one of the many resort buildings, sweeping road
• fountain near The Club
• pond and gazebo behind hotel, rock structure, another view of pond, pond at dam
• rock structure at hotel
• Prof. Cai, lion and me, Prof. Cai and lion, Dan with Prof. Cai

I went to the dinner at the hotel and then took about 12 German friends to the bar at the Club. I ordered for them, had one beer and then left. I went to bed about 10:30.

22 June 2007 Friday, Mary's Birthday

Happy Birthday Mary!

I woke up at 6 but got up at 7, took a shower and then had breakfast. I took my two paleontology posters to "The Club" building and mounted them on the poster boards near the paleontology session. I attended talks in three sessions and answered questions about my posters. I had lunch, a large buffet including boiled tendon and amaranth dish, and some octopus and broccoli, along with the usual. I took my posters down after the last coffee break and took them to my room by 4 pm.

I gave a bag of Pentremites fossils to Wang Jun to give to the Nanjing paleontology museum. His wife works there.

At 6 pm, we boarded a bus to go downtown for the Congress Banquet. We had many courses and entertainers danced, sang and played instruments. I got up to take a picture, but my napkin was partly under a bowl of soup. The entire bowl of soup ended up on my lap. I had "Sticky Buns" for dessert.

• aerial view of Nanjing, from Google Earth
• Confucian temple and canal, from Google Earth
• on way to restaurant
• banquet room
• musician playing the guzheng, dancer, flutist, pipa player, aanother dancer
• new use for Chinese ornament

After the banquet, we walked around the Confucian temple (Fuzi Miao) and lots of small shops.

• walk to Confucian temple, more walking, crowded street, still more walking, more street
• bridge over canal, canal at night, another view, yet another view, canal lights, more canal lights
• shopping alley around temple
• one of the temple buildings, another view, temple sign

At 10 we boarded the bus and arrived back at the hotel by 10:30 or 11. I went to bed at 11:30.

23 June 2007 Saturday

I got up at 7, took a shower and had breakfast at the hotel. I turned in my laundry in the morning. I went to some morning talks and at coffee break, I hung up my last two posters. I also changed money in preparation for the Yunnan field trip. I will have to pay for the airline tickets associated with the field trip.

I went to the talks and had lunch and dinner in the hotel banquet room. I gave my proposal presentation to the Permanent Committee, along with the Russians and the Australians. The Australians got it. They want us to present it again at the next congress, but want us to make sure that we add field trips involving the Permian age rocks. The Congress had already been promised to the Australians at the last congress if they made a proposal this time. However, they said they liked our proposal.

I went to bed early.

24 June 2007 Sunday

I got up at 7, took a shower and had breakfast. I re-hung my posters and went to the morning talks. I took the posters down at noon and went to lunch. I finished packing and checked out of the hotel by 1:30 pm. We ate again at 5 and got our guidebooks for the next field trip. At 6, we boarded our bus and went to the airport.

• ride to airport?, another view, yet another view, government building

We flew to Chengdu and got to our hotel by 10:30. We had a beer and went to bed.

Next, Yunnan Province, or Parent Page