Okay, all my pictures are in RAW format, so they’re only likely to get uploaded, well, maybe from Shanghai but more likely from Korea. (Depending on the state of net connections in Shangai.)\ Notes on China: When they build stuff, they build it BIG. The wall, but also everything else we’ve seen so far has been HUGE. Beijing opera is trippy, live, but also quite impressive. That’s all for now. Tomorrow morning, off to Shanghai.

Today, I: Woke late, had a so-so breakfast. Went to the Forbidden City and met my recent student Xue Chen. Had Peking Duck. Still feel tired. Tomorrow, more Beijing. Next day, Great Wall. Wednesday, fly to Shanghai to meet more students I know from their time in Korea. These student, actually: Damn… Flickr won’t load. Well, I’ll add the picture later. Or put a new one in its place. Anyway, things are going well. Off to buy some water, and get some sleep.

I’m in Beijing, in a little PC-bar near the hotel that my traveling companion Randy and I stumbled into last night. I was exhausted and slept the sleep of the dead, let me tell you. I actually am just about to go back for a shower and to call my ex-student to meet for lunch and an afternoon of hanging out. I’ll only be in Beijing for a few days, and then onward to Shanghai (another ex-student is helping us book cheap flights there, which cost about as much as a train ticket). First impressions? Reminds me a lot of …

Well, I just printed my e-tickets, and Randy and I are ready to check in. Of course, there’s other stuff to do once that’s done — travel insurance, for example, and a last phone call to Lime — but basically we’re here and ready to go. The snowstorm isn’t quite as intense here as it was on the way, so I’m hoping the flight goes as planned. In other news, important only to me, I decided to bring Stross’s Accelerando instead of the Borges. It’s all a size thing: same strain for the brain, at half the weight and cubic …