A Blue Sky Day

When I arrived yesterday, the air was thick and dark — so this morning when I opened my curtains, I was pleasantly surprised to find a bright and sunny day.

view from shangri-la:

I had a very nice breakfast buffet in the hotel restaurant, then set forth by taxi for IBM’s China Research Lab, where I had a full day of meetings scheduled.

The trip took 30 minutes; the roads were thick with bicycles

698 commute scene:

and even UFOs

701 ufo:

but eventually, I made it to the lab

702 at crl:

where I spent the rest of the day inside, learning many things and meeting many people.

Eventually, I taxied back to the hotel, where I met a tableful of my Academy colleagues who were ready for dinner, as was I. We went to a nearby local restaurant, where English was not on the menu. But we coped, assisted by a local college student who spoke some English, and by the takeout restaurant menu I’d brought from home. The food wasn’t exactly like what I would have gotten at home — it was better — but having the menu did help.

And now it’s time to call it a night; tomorrow, the TC meeting begins in earnest. It’s a shame to spoil such a nice trip with so much work!

The little green cup

I’m in Beijing for a meeting of the Technology Council of the IBM Academy of Technology. I had an uneventful, if occasionally very bumpy, flight from SFO-PEK; though I kept my windows closed for most of the flight, I did get a couple of pictures en route. While over Siberia, I got a shot of what seems to be a frozen river:

Siberian River: Siberia looks cold to me! After that, things got boring again outside the window until we were roughly here:

China airmap: when I looked out the window and saw something I couldn’t identify:

China from 38,000 feet: I don't know what these are. Farms? Whatever they are, they're enormous! Since we were at about 38,000 feet, the picture covers many square miles — I guess it’s something agricultural, but I have no idea what.

Getting through Immigration and Customs at Beijing Airport took all of 60 seconds. In contrast, I spent an hour in line last year at Narita.

Beijing Airport is also a pretty welcoming place — this was the first thing I saw after leaving customs:

PEK airport scene: though I decided not to indulge.

The trip from the airport to the hotel (Shangri-La Beijing) was easy (the hotel limo helped, I’m sure), and check-in was instantaneous — I was met as soon as I entered the hotel by someone who greeted me by name and took me to my room. I did have to sign the registration slip, but not until I was in the room. I could get used to this….

I arrived on Sunday; the hotel had a special Easter brunch. I wonder what Chairman Mao would have thought.