The day started with pomp & circumstance at the opening ceremony - huge posters of all the speakers, they all got an orchid boutonniere for their jacket lapels (slight problem - Avi was wearing a polo shirt, no jacket so that looked even sillier on him), and were marched down to their seats to wild applause. Some dignitaries spoke in Chinese, some others in English and the poor translator had to keep it all straight.
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| From China2009 |
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| From China2009 |
So Sylvia and I decided to go to the Pearl Market, and tiptoed out of the room. We were detained immediately by the students who were assigned to us and it took quite an effort to convince them that we are old enough to take a cab and that they should stop worrying. We agreed to a curfew of 1:15pm when we were to get on the bus for the tour of the Lama Temple, and were finally let go. Sylvia is certain we got them into trouble by not sticking to the plan.
The market was fun as always and we bought a few things. Got back to the hotel on time for a quick lunch and a summary of what we missed during the rest of the opening exercises and then went on the tour.
When we got there I realized I had visited the temple already, but it was nice nonetheless. Lots of Buddha statues in various sizes, poses and specialties (health, wisdom, finances etc.) living in pretty temples.
The evening festivities were a very long dinner with live entertainment - singing, dancing, taichi, sword dances etc. Did not make for good dinner conversation as we were very close to the stage... We went out with an Israeli postdoc after that to a nice part of town with bars and shops in a spruced up hutong. Was interesting to hear his perspective of living for 3 years in China.
Today the ladies are going to the wall and the Ming tombs. We'll meet the others at the Opera for dinner and a Chinese Opera performance - will probably be a better variation of last night's entertainment... oh well.
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