China

Did you know that Facebook cannot be accessed in China? The pages just do not work here. If you ever travel there, Kunming airport is not intuitive and finding someone who speaks English is not a good possibility around 5am. Upon arrival at the hotel in Beijing, however, there were already a group of familiar faces in the lobby from Colombia, Brazil, India, USA, etc. As we awaited the delegates from other countries to arrive, we rode out to the great wall of China (about 1&1/2 hrs away). I will not be posting pics from the days of workshop meetings, discussions and presentations. Somehow, I do not imagine them as interesting for you! 

 

These are some pics from the Great Wall. Many of the bricks have scrawled Chinese graffiti, but I sighted one with “Nepal” written on it. There is a pic with Nora, a leprosy researcher from Columbia and then a group shot with other researchers that also had arrived at the time. Strangely, I also met some people from Louisiana touring the wall. This is only the second time that I have accidentally met Louisianans on this side of the planet. The accent is unmistakable. J Of course, one of the leprosy group said that my accent appeared suddenly stronger when I spoke with the Louisianans. One guy and his wife was from Alexandria, while the other was from Denham Springs (his street name was even familiar). The wife had taught at Central for years.  Imagine that!