... and a bit unexpected. I have to buy myself a new camera because mine in fried :( Not exactly the best way to start a trip, but at least it happened in Beijing and not in the middle of nowhere. The chip seems busted. Ah well. It lasted a good 4 years. Probably time for an upgrade anyway.
Yesterday I made enough paraformaldehyde to fix a horse. That probably doesn't mean much to a whole lot of you, but it excites me in a weird way. We're pretty much ready to go now. Traps, lots of food (for us and rodents), DEPC water, PFA, tubes and tubes and tubes... After the prep work, I caught the train downtown and walked for about 2 hours to get down to the Forbidden City to meet Shaoyuan (he took his wife to catch the train to her hometown). If it's true that the best way to learn a city is to get lost in it, then I must know Beijing pretty well by now. I had no idea how EVERYTHING on the map is very very very tiny compared to real life. And to you Texans out there - you aint got nuthin on China. Nothing is bigger in Texas compared to this place.
I was doing fine on time until I got to Tianmen Square. The Chinese flag in the square is lowered every day at sunset and is cause for a huge spectacle. They shut down all foot traffic past the flag as a crowd of several thousand forms. I had to take the underground passages to get around everyone. But not until after I snapped a fantastic shot of a guy posing in front of the police formation. That's one thing I love about Asia. People here will pose for a picture in front of just about anything. As a result, I've started a bit of a collection of my own pictures of people having their pictures taken in front of random things :) So after a bit of a walk around, Shaoyuan took me to some famous restaurant where we had the most AMAZING duck I've ever eaten in my life. That line ought to make Darren jealous since duck is one of our favorites. It was so juicy, and the skin was the most perfect brown crispy deliciousness. And we had a beer with dinner which only the tiniest sip made Shaoyuan turn the brightest shade of red. Ahhh, the glories of alcohol dehydrogenase :) That's it for now. I'm going to help get things ready to leave tomorrow and then we're going back down to see the inside of the Forbidden City and visit Chairman Mao's pickled bits. Later...
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2 comments:
Actually, the flushing is caused by a reduction of acetaldehyde dehydrogenase--the second, less glorified enzyme in alcohol metabolism. Acetaldehyde is way more toxic than ethanol. Our European-descented Caucasianess makes us efficient alcohol consumers. Drink 'em under the table, girl! But beware...only half of individuals of Pacific Rim descent have this atypical allele. As you've experienced first hand ;)
I wish i was there, sorry could have warned you about the maps.
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