To the site

I might as well start finishing this unending series of stories about my trip to China. So, the last day, after visiting the western end of the Great Wall, we went back to the hotel; the ones who had to leave on that day, such as me, checked out; we had lunch; and boarded the buses to go to Jinta, the place where we had the permits to see the eclipse. We were asked for our papers a couple of times the days before, I guess to write down our names in the list of people who could enter the site. The so-called security. GPS devices were not allowed and we were repeatedly asked the question if we had any GPS gadget. My answer was always the same: the more advanced thing I have on me is my (analog) watch.

The bus ride through almost completely desertic places, specially in the last part, was another show of the condition of the roads (not so bad as one could imagine) and the general driving style. Chaotic.



We were stopped for a long time in a road control before reaching Jinta. There were many buses, full of tourists, and somebody from each had to go to some tables set under some parasols, where policemen checked all the permits. Everything went ok until we reached Jinta, where it looked like, for some reason, they didn't want to let our bus through, when the other bus of our group had just gone by without any problem. After a while, a policewoman arrived with a car, did something and we went on some 500 m, where another control did not want to let us go into the parking zone. Immediately, the same policewoman arrived and they let us through. I asked some of the taiwanese what had happened, specially because of their comments only in mainland China, because I could not understand anything that was said, of course. It looks like the first control found that even if our bus had a permit to go to the site, it didn't have a parking permit. In the second one, they complained that there was a stamp missing in the paper we had been given two minutes before. Oh, well.


As soon as the bus stopped, people started setting up the telescopes and the supports for the cameras

and we prepared ourselves to wait a couple of hours before the eclipse began. Meanwhile, well, time to take pictures, to go up and down —I was not allowed to go to see a small reservoir that was nearby; I think I was to western-looking for my own good— and to hide from the scorching Sun of that afternoon. Fortunately, we had some food and drinks (cans of chinese stout beer?) and between jokes and stories it wasn't too bad.

Anybody out there?

These things happen to me sometimes, but I think never so much as this week. It sounds worse than what it really was, because it's not been bad at all, but since saturday night, when I came back from Jiufen, until yesterday evening, I did not have a conversation longer than 5 or 10 seconds with anybody. That's almost five days. Ordering lunch, using a few more or less mispronounced words, or exchanging a couple of sentences with a rushing-by student, do not count as real talk. I am alone in my office and the routine turns out to be going to work and coming back home, specially when there was not any interesting activiy at the IAA.

That does not mean that I was completely isolated from the rest of the world. The possibilities of computing allow me to be in touch with people far away, but in any case, it's not a feat I should try to exceed. Yeah, you know what happens with records.

Air raid drill

What can I tell today?. Well, this afternoon, between 14:30 and 15:00, there was an air raid drill on this side of Taiwan. At least, in Taipei, because I saw it. It's not really funny, if I think about it, specially coming from a continent with a penchant for dropping all kinds of stuff on the heads of people, but it must be an unpleasant sign of how things are. The funny thing is that when I heard the sirens, I realized that I had misunderstood the mail that I got yesterday or the day before. Is that why nobody came to my office for the weekly meeting?. I wouldn't be surprised, because I am always the last to know.

As soon as the sirens started, they stopped the traffic and told people to get into the nearest buildings. There were policemen riding scooters or bikes, goind around to make sure that there weren't any cars moving or any people walking around (knowing them, that's hard work, as I could observe). I could also see from the windows of my floor, how there wasn't anything moving in Roosevelt Rd, nor in any of the elevated lanes of the freeway that surround us. Even the bridge that crosses the river was completely empty. For half an hour.


It is weird to see such a big city so empty, as in a 70s disaster movie. All in all, disturbing.

Smokers

I saw them the first time I passed through the Hong Kong airport, but I didn't take any picture. Three months later, when I was going to China, I did.

I saw them too in Taipei's airport, and they look even more futuristic. Like something out of a space movie.

What are they?. Smokers' cabins. It's not allowed to smoke in the airport or, at least, in the boarding zones. So, to smoke, you must go into one of these cabins. The first time I saw them, I thought they were mini-bars, because I saw people crowding inside, smoking like there was no tomorrow, while seating in one of the couches or bar-like stools, and watching the flat screens. Umm, maybe the idea of a bar is not that bad.

There are some windows to look outside, but it seemed more to me like a place where the vicious components of society are shown to the rest to make an example. They really looked like caged animals. Maybe we will get there seeing how things are going. And it will be difficult to argue that they did not earn it.

Meeting

So much writing about my trip to China and not even a comment about why I did go there?. 2008 EAYAM. I went really unconvinced and, as I said, to see the eclipse. Once there, the truth is that it was much better than I expected. Maybe it's because I had a different attitude, but it was interesting to follow most of the talks. Of course, some were unbearable and/or boring, but many more were very interesting. Usually, there was an initial extended talk by a "senior", followed by 15-minute talks given by all, or almost all, the participants all along the five days of the meeting. It was probably the first time for some of the people, you could tell, but they must begin somewhere, musn't they?


It was also a chance to see a meeting were I was the only westerner. When moving through the worlds of Astronomy, you get used to see all kinds of odd people, and it is not really surprising to meet stuck-up, anti-social or simply unpleasant or rude people. Most of the asian people in other meetings seem to be in a secondary plane, if they do not have a name. I am sure that there are many misunderstandings between the East and the West, when it is only due to a mix of cultural shyness and limited abilities using English. I could see in this meeting how, in general because not all were like that, people were shy at first, but as they gradually knew each other better, more and more people were getting together and better vibes were spreading around, inside and outside the meeting room (of course, the nights spent drinking beer and playing games helped a lot). In fact, and taking into account the age difference between most of them and me, but then I go back to other times, I don't think I have ever seen a better atmosphere in a meeting like this.

I have been thinking about that for weeks now, and I am beginning to reach the conclusion that it's not that people here are less strange (I mean, scientists), but their kindness is more obvious and things are more pleasant, even in some uncomfortable situations. I don't know, I need more time to observe it before I can make up my mind about it.

Finished

After complaining, or commenting, about the state of my street with the work they were doing there, I did not show how it all finished. They started working again on it about ten days ago, and it seemed that it was more difficult to get in or out of my building every day. After seeing how they finished it, it's not bad at all. Simple and nice. They even put some pots with plants. It was very clean during the first couple of days. Unavoidably, they had to park scooters again. Very annoying.

(Back from the Past) Rice, rice

(from 27/05/2008)
Of course, I studied, in those early times of school and/or high-school, how the dominant type of cereal was different in the main different regions of the world. If it was corn in America, it was wheat or rye in Europe, millet in Africa, and rice in Asia. Oh, rice. Two crops per year and all that allowed a lot of people to be fed and so they explained the great eastern agglomerations (source of many epidemics according to some, maybe the plague, or the flu, blah, blah, blah).

I think I have never eaten so much rice in my life. And I have only been here four weeks. Fortunately, I like it. It's not that I am unfamiliar with eating it as we eat breed in Europe —it's part of the menu in a japanese restaurant in Barcelona that I used to visit, the same menu that includes the fabulous aubergines (who knows if I will find somebody that will teach me how to cook them). But it is everywhere, here. Almost always, just plain rice, from a kind slightly different from ours. If you want it mixed with something else, you probably must go to thai or indian dishes. So, you end up eating loads of rice, all inside their little bowls. It's good to practice with the chopsticks and I think I eat much more rice than I used to eat bread.

There is one thing good about so much rice (I couldn't help it). It must be good for your bowels. It probably cleans everything.

The First Beacon Tower

The same day of the eclipse, in the morning, the day after the talks finished, we visited what was the western end of the Great Wall, or the beginning, depending on your point of view. This place is known as the first beacon tower of the Great Wall. It's located seven or eight km away from the JiaYuGuan fort, which can be distinguished at the horizon if one follows the wall. Beyond the end, there are the cliffs over the Taolai river that constitute a natural wall very difficult to pass.



Here, and I guess in order to impress the tourists, there is a model of how could be the last defense garrison, with hanging bridge included.


To increase the tourist attractions, there is a cable that spans both sides of the river, and you can just let yourself drop along it and cross to the other side. A very impressive trip. I guess, because I didn't bother to make the queue and headed to the little fort that lies next to the bridge. Next to the cable, there is a transparent balcony that enhances the effect ot the cliff drop onto the river.

All this is in a place that begins to be really desertic, even if we could see some sheep or maybe goats on the other side —they were too far away to tell. The morning was relatively cool and the sky completely blue except over the high mountains at the back. We were at the end of a plain between mountains and all was dominated by the brown colors of the earth and the river, creating a strangely beautiful setting. I felt a little bit restless; I guess the end of the stay was getting to me. Fortunately, there is always a small beautiful flower to cheer up the day... or more than one.

JiuFen

I had not left Taipei for a few days. Until yesterday. With two japanese postdocs and two korean visitors, we went to Jiu Fen, on the coast just East of Taipei. After having lunch with sushi and wait for the storm of every afternoon to end, we took a train to Ruei Feng, and a bus from there to Jiu Fen (nine portions), which is a village that clings to the wall of a mountain just in front of the sea, not far from KeeLung. The first view we had of the sea, after turning a bend in the road, was spectacular. We were quite high and could see a bay and a harbour down there, and the sea. There was a large temple in front of us, at the feet of a tall mountain, behind which there would be the sea. We could see a series of small pavilions that were in a path that came down from the top to Jiu Fen.


Once in the village, we took a walk through one of the commercial streets, that also winds up the mountain. It was full of little shops and lights, but fairly clean and nice.

We stopped in an ocarina shop. They had all kinds of types, shapes and colors!. When they tried some of them, be it to attract buyers or to test one for somebody who was interested in buying it, the music transformed the shop. Very nice. The truth is that they sold several to our small group.

After that, a stop to eat one of the typical taiwanese desserts;

and then, more walking through the market, to see a famous downhill street; and ended up having a traditional-style tea and some food in front of the magnificient view of the sea and the coast. After spending five days in a room listening to talks, I enjoyed such a relaxing evening.


So much that we almost missed the last bus to go back to the railway station to take the train back to Taipei. We were lucky again, even if we had to wait for almot an hour at the station. We had the ocarinas to spend the time, though. A very nice sound.

School

I have spent this week going to the talks of the interferometry school held by the ASIAA. As a student. Yes, even if I have worked on it and I know something about it, I thought that it would be good to see what they had to tell, because I was sure I had lots to learn.

And I did. At least, I could see how to do the parts of the process I had never practiced before, a fact that always makes me wonder why. Of course, I realized that I knew (or remembered) much more than I thought. After so many years, it's not that surprising.

The talks were held in the IAA building during the first two days, which was very convenient to me; but they moved to the Academia Sinica campus in Nangang for the last tres days. The Academia Sinica is a kind of national research organization and they have a big campus at the far East end of the city. It takes an hour by MRT and bus from my apartment or about 25 minutes taking the shuttle from the NTU campus. Quite a trip, all in all, but I have had the opportunity to see how the MRT looks like in during rush hour: people everywhere.

The Overhanging Great Wall

That's the name given to what we saw the afternoon of the same day that we arrived, on our own —because it was still our free day—, after taking some taxis to get there, and experiencing the creative driving style of the local taxi drivers. And you should have seen the roads!.

What we visited was more similar to the typical postcards of the Great Wall, with the walls and towers climbing up the hills, following the rugged terrain. The name of Overhanging Great Wall really fits what you see, because it really looks like the walls might be floating on thin air. This part guarded the Shiguanxia pass.

There is a part of the wall in a small oasis from where one can start walking and following the walls climb up to two towers, the last of which marks the end of that section of the wall.


There is another stretch of the wall on the other side of the valley. Truly spectacular. At its feet, there are several buildings, the purpose of which we did not manage to discover, because we did not go there. There was a seven-floor pagoda and other temple-like buildings. But it could also be something made for tourists.


As I was saying, we walked up to the highest tower and from there we could see the oasis and behind it the desert plains that extended to the horizon.

To the right, we could follow the wall in the direction of the JiaYuGuan fort, which was still visible several km away. To the left, there was that other part of hanging wall, the pagoda and the rugged and very dry mountains. There was not a blade of green to be seen. I imagined what beautiful paths could be there waiting to be followed, as long as you had water and the Sun was not so high, of course. These desertic lands really have a special charm.


The wall was still made from that kind of adobe and it was wide enough for two people, but it followed precisely all the ups and dows of the terrain. You could see how the builders had used all the natural ledges or spurs to save material in building the wall. Very interesting to see close up.

Lots of culture. And a good sunbath. I ended up with a good suntan.

The JiaYuGuan castle

As I wrote the other day, the JiaYuGuan name is not famous because of the modern city, but for the fortress that began to be constructed towards the end of the XIV century, in the Ming dynasty, to control a key pass in the Silk Road and to guard the western end of the Great Wall, which is less than 10 km from there. The fort was built here because there was a small oasis that could provide all the water they needed.

We went there the first day. We just arrived to the hotel, had breakfast, a while to take a shower and change clothes, and back to the bus to go to the castle. The first thing one sees is a wall and a tower behind it.


The wall is part of the Great Wall, which is not made out of bricks and it is not so spectacular as the usual images I have seen, but it's not a small thing either. In any case, the walls are high, built from a kind of adobe and brick, because the weather is so dry here and it rarely rains (coincidentally, we saw some rain later in the week)

There are several buildings attached to the wall that make the fortress, also made from brick and mortar. Some of the taiwanese and chinese were disappointed with it. I don't know what they expected. I guess it must be a very famous place in history (and all the propaganda attached to it). In any case, it was probably a very difficult place to attack at the time.


The castle is located in a plain between two ranges of mountains. The Silk Road crossed just there. In fact, it was the customs house and the defense of the road, because I suppose that everybody had to pass through it. There are several more or less reconstructed buildings inside (there are many more or less new) and the three main towers. It is very impressive, specially if you see the pictures they have there with the snow capped mountains, which are a few km away, at the back.

I liked the brown color that everything had. Even the usually red tiles of roofs were covered by this permanently brown sheet. At the same time, there were a couple of places with trees that left me a nice memory, with the mix of the green color and the nice shade they gave.

There is not that much left from the old times, apart from the general's apartment, but they have some guys dressed up as soldiers, which also practiced for some kind of show, I guess. Towards the West, the wall goes on crossing the desolate desert.


As the first thing we saw, it was an excellent beginning. I know people who saw the eclipsefrom there. The pictures are beautiful.

Nightlife

Not Taipei's, but the animal life in the GongGuan ShiDa campus. I told you before about the croaking of the frogs at night there, but I didn't tell you that sometimes you must watch out and dodge them when they are out on a walk and stop in the middle of the sidewalk. They are very small frogs, that jump wherever they can and you have to be careful not to step on them. Of course, when they start singing, they are very noisy.

I heard them again last night and I saw a few wandering here and there. I was coming back from dinner and some beers in the north side with other postdocs, and from having a funny night. Suddenly, I saw a shadow and something that looked kind of big there on the sidewalk. Something that I could not identify until I arrived next to it. It was a snail. But what a snail,

with shell and body, it was larger than my hand. I have seen quite a range of snails at home, from the tiny ones to some quite large, but now I know where I have seen the biggest one. The truth is that it was very impressive. I left it there moving very slowly, while I went up to pick up my bag and went back home.

Ghost Month

I was told another of the Chinese traditions yesterday. It looks like the seventh month of the moon calendar, which is this month of August, is the month of ghosts and spirits, and by extension of the deceased. According to chinese beliefs, this is the month when ghosts run free across the earth. And on the fifteenth day of the month, when there is the full moon, is the most active day, because is the day that the gates of Heaven, Earth and Hell are open. It is also the day when the deceased visit the living. This should be today or tomorrow.

Tradition says that you must make offerings to the ghosts/spirits/deceased to pacify them, to flatter them or to soften their suffering, etc, and so you don't call on bad luck. The offerings are varied: put some food in front of your house, with incense sticks, so that the ghosts can feed on them; burn paper money (a kind of paper I would say they manufacture for these occasions), or even to build replicas of all kind of objects (I saw burning something resembling a sail ship). I also read that there can be one seat at the table at home for dinner with food for the deceased. I was told that it was tomorrow, but I already saw many tables in front of houses or shops today, or in front of a karaoke or at the entrance to a parking lot, with all kinds of food: fruit, rice, lunchboxes, dorito bags, cookie boxes, sweets, beer cans. Everything you can imagine. And I saw people burning paper money in the portable brasiers that are often around. There is a strong smell of smoke and incense in some places. Very curious. I was also told that there can be replicas of cell phones or similar things. Maybe the dead use them?


The food can be eaten afterwards, but as they believe that all things have a spirit inside, the ghosts will eat the spirit of food. Everything is very animistic, which I think is an important part of the popular beliefs.

Of course, as it always happens when somebody tells me one of this stories and there are more than one taiwanese around, the sentence "that's not exactly like you say" usually pops up. So, I am sure that there are many mistakes in what I wrote. There is not anything simple here.

Jia Yu Guan

When I woke in the train, the day was breaking. Looking out the window, the change in landscape was very clear: a flat land and apparently very dry. The Sun was still surrounded by the morning mist and we could not see what was in the horizon.


We arrived to Jia Yu Guan an hour later. From what the guide told us, it is a relatively new city. Founded in the 50s around a steel mill and populated by people that moved from the crowed regions of the East. There was not much more here before that. Well, that's not completely true. This region was famous for the castle that guarded the western end of the Great Wall, which we visited shortly after arriving (but that is something for the future). It's a city located near a small oasis, I believe, but the water comes from the Snow mountains (Qilian), which lie some tens of kilometers from there.

As usual for a new city, JiaYuGuan has a square grid of wide avenues, big squares, many communist style buildings, very similar and ugly, more or less horrible factories, modern sculpture strewn on parks and squares, not much traffic, and a population of about 200000 people. It is fairly extended, too. You'd better have a bike, or take a taxi, which are very very cheap for our standards, and that's taking into account how cheap are taxis in Taipei, or you will never get anywhere walking. There is some commercial activiy in the central part, not too much, but there are quite a few shops, and some "night market", miserable compared to the exhuberance of the ones in Taiwan. Traffic is also chaotic, but since the city is small and there are not so many cars as in Lanzhou it doesn't seem so.


Our hotel was in the southern side, a little to the outer parts, but not too far from the commercial center, near the city hall building. There were some sports facilities nearby, such as a football stadium and some artificial and quite big lakes. The walk we had there one evening was very nice.




Of course, the Olympics paraphernalia was everywhere.


I also saw very poor and unkempt neighboords, probably near the dirtiest factories. The differences in wealth, in the building quality, the maintenance of everything, are something that really jumps out at you in what I saw of China.

In short, a place where you probably would not like to spend too much time, but we found out several places where to have dinner or something to drink, and get away from the hotel, which was getting boring amazingly fast.

And suddenly...

... the paper is accepted. Finally. I still don't believe it.

Another talk

Maybe it's because of the heat, but I don't think it's worse than a month ago, or maybe the month of August induces a slower rhythm in life. There are no classes, there are very few people on campus and it seems as if things do not follow the step of the rest of the year (at least, what I have seen so far).

But I have not really stopped. I gave another talk yesterday. It was supposed to be informal, but I am not sure if ended up being more formal than I wanted. Well, it was a good try for me, and that's what counts. I don't know how many talks I have given since I arrived here (three or four). And I still have two left in a month. A difference in style.

To the train!

And then we went to the railroad station. There seemed to be a big mess of people in the entrance, just where we had to put our luggage through the scanners, but when we stepped into the waiting hall, that seemed closer to a madhouse. Not too terrible though. The good part came when our train was announced.

Two queues were made to go through the ticket controllers and then I could finally savour the queueing style of China, which is, let's say, rather relaxed. If you don't jump the line is just because you did not really try. No shame at all, with all the calm you can imagine. There was a guy with a megaphone trying to establish some kind of order, shouting himsel hoarse, that for a moment looked as if he was about to jump onto somebody. And with good reason. But once we were past the gates, oh it got even better. It looked as one of those old movies about Asia where people are fleeing from the imminent invasion of some army. People everywhere, running, pushing, with bags here and there. A real assault of the platforms. We had a reseved place, bunks; I don't know if people ran to get a seat or if it's just their style.

A curious thing, in order to check the tickets, you get a card instead of your ticket when you go up to your car. When you must stop, they do the inverse change. The inspector had a big binder where she kept her "card collection". The bunk cars do not have compartments. This may provide even less privacy, but I think it's healthier than those were personal aromas tend to accumulate.

I got the bottom bed. Setting up our bags was also another story by itself, because you can imagine that there were many restless people inside the car. But we managed to get them right fairly well. I fell asleep very fast. I had woken up that day at 3:30 and was really tired. And I could sleep a lot, much more than when I used the spanish trains. Of course, there was that fraction of people that are always going up and down the aisle. And they are always the same. Ah, mankind!.

Lanzhou

Well, when I finished my post the other day, we were driving along the highway (it's not that I want to extend it too much). Suddenly, we could see between the barren hills the towers of some buildings and, almost immediately, we had in front of us an apparently very large city, and at its feet the Yellow river (Huang He): Lanzhou. I was told later that it has 3 million inhabitants.


And it really looks like it. In a few minutes, we went from the quiet and almost lonely driving of the highway to chaos. Cars, buses, motorcycles everywhere; bikes too; pedestrians crossing wherever they fancied (in part, because pedestrian crossings are few too), a concert of honks. I wasn't really surprised, but it was too sudden. Somebody told me that it was like that, or worse, all over China and most of Asia. Taiwan is a paradise in comparison. So, I spent a very good time laughing at what I was seeing and missing the precise and acid comments that would have been made if I had been with my brothers.

We arrived to the hotel that was our meeting point, we got the ticket for the night train, we left our luggage in a room, I was very positively impressed, and we left in order to have some of the typical and famous "beef noodles".

They were a little spicy and the soup was hot. But apart from the sweat I broke, adding the heat to the mix, they were really good. We could also see right there how fast they were made too.

An interesting detail was to see the cultural mix, I don't know if racial, of the city. The muslim comuntity was very visible.

We had some time to kill, so we took another taxi, another example of crazy driving, and went to see the Huang He. Wide as so many rivers, and with its particular brown color.

We ended up going upriver in two motorboats —we could see some nice buildings along the banks of the river, some mosques among them&mdash, but went back on a raft made from wood and inflated lamb skins, as in the old times. Very quiet and relaxing.


The truth is that the evening was perfect, specially if we were far from the deafening roar of the city traffic, with a very nice temperature and a fresh breeze. We even had a couple of beers next to the river. A very good beginning.

Good-byes

Time really goes by fast. It was a little over three months ago when I arrived here. In the process of being introduced to life in Taiwan, I had the invaluable help of Chian Chou, the student that was at my same office. Then, it seemed so far away that he was leaving to start his doctorate in Hawaii in August. Until July, when he finished his contract, he helped me a lot on how things work at ShiDa, he taught me many characters in order to be able to order some food, and he explained to me many things about Taiwan and the Chinese culture. He is also a very cool guy and we spent many funny times (and he is the only one I have ridden in a scooter with).

He was very few times in the office last month, and I already missed him. Now, it is difficult to talk to anybody while I am at work, because most of the students are in a different building.

And, so, August is here, we had a general farewell party yesterday, and I said good-bye to him today, because he has his flight to Honolulu next Monday. I wished him luck, because he has a long and difficult road ahead of him, but I am convinced that he will make it. It's hard to believe, after only two or three months, but it feels bad to say good-bye. He's striving for something better though, which is always a reason to be glad about.

First contact

It's true, I was at Hong Kong airport, but that is not really China yet, and at Chengdu, but airports don't show how is the exterior. So, my first contact with China was when we stepped out of the Lanzhou airport, which is about 60 or 80 km away from the city, in the proverbial middle of nowhere. The first feeling I had, already walking through the corridors of the airpot, was of dry weather. Humidity was no more. Moreover, there was a wonderful Sun in an absolutely blue sky that increased the feeling.

The next step was to take a taxi. As expected, with an 80s look and without any air conditioning. What hit me was the landscape I saw next. So much, that I felt really homesick for a while. The thing is that, apart from the distance and the colors of the earth, the surroundings, the landscape reminded me a lot about the dry lands near Tauste (my father's adoptive hometown) or the Monegros. Obviously, the buildings are very different (the roofs are really curious), but many had some kind of inner court and some building next to it where I am sure they keep a tractor or other tools. There are corn and sunflower fields and places were they were reforesting the trees.


We were rolling along some kind of highway built to service the airport. Very little traffic, but there were warnings about rear collisions. The air was dry and very hot sometimes, but not too much; I've felt much worse. For a while, I was seeing one thing, but remembering another, and I was watching everything with a smile on my face. Very familiar things on the other side of the world.

The Experiment

As I told you, I didn't bring my laptop in my trip to China. The reason was that I did not want to make it cross some borders that I did not trust, specially since it wasn't really necessary. I think I did the right thing. I had to open my bag a couple of times and I don't want to think what would have happened the first time if I had had my laptop there.

At the meeting, I also decided that I would not check my e-mail. If I had bad news, I probably could not do anything and good news can wait. In fact, I only touched a computer once, when I wanted to make sure I was giving the correct answer to a question. And I did not suffer at all. While many people were glued to their laptop during the talks, worrying about one thing or the other, saying that they were working, I was able to fully concentrate on the subject at hand; or to look around or to doodle in the meeting booklet if I started to feel bored, which did not happen often. I felt free from the self-imposed slavery of having to take care of that gadget.

And, as not having my laptop with me forced me to have my talk finished before leaving, I did not even had to worry about it. A pleasure. For almost nine days!.

Back

I am back. Last night, just after midnight, I arrived to my apartment. Very tired after the combination of train and planes, and more and more police controls. But there were not any major problems.

It have had some very intense days. The part of China that I have seen is, as I imagined, a different world. And people too. The meeting was much more interesting and attractive than I had expected and I was able to meet a group of young people very different culturally from me. This did not stop us from spending several very funny days (and nights), full of little and big anecdotes. We may never see each other again, but I am sure we will remember it with affection. And I, someone, with more than that. All topped by the the majestic and wonderful show of the total solar eclipse in the middle of the Gobi desert. If there are any things I will never forget, that will be one of them.

But I will tell you about that little by little. It's difficult for me to begin anywhere now. The return to "real life" is turning out to be not so easy. Not surprising.

Baseball

Some have asked me what are the more popular sports in Taiwan. Well, it could be ping-pong, or badminton, or basketball, or who knows what, but the main sport is baseball.


I think they are devout followers, and there are always many people playing baseball in the TaiDa and ShiDa campuses. You can hear people talk about baseball and it is very funny to see taiwanese and japanese (boys and girls) discuss about it. There is a taiwanese league, and there are taiwanese players in Japan and even in the US. Two, I think. So, it's very usual to see games of the taiwanese, japanese or american leagues on TV. I think that one of the owners of the NY Yankees is taiwanese, and they also have a taiwanese pitcher there, so there are always Yankees' games on TV. Strange obsessions.

Shoes

It was my second day in Taipei when I visited the first aparments in my search for a place to live. The first thing that surprised me, and not pleasantly, were the corridors packed with shoes. Not only those that people could have just worn, but all the shoes you might have.

That was an extreme case, but it is very usual to find something like this in my apartment's staircase


I read somewhere that taiwanese may have very dirty buildings on the outside, but they really want them very clean in the inside. That's why they leave shoes (an umbrellas) in the corridors. It's not a bad idea, taking into account how much it rains here.

I don't do it yet in my apartment, but I have a large shoe cabinet on the wall opposite to the main door. The thing is, I don't have enough shoes.