A Quick SoCal Trip

In contrast to the Christmas markets of Germany, I flew to LA and Santa Barbara just before Christmas for some, shall we say, "business." (No quotes necessary, actually.)

Santa Barbara is very pretty, with the Santa Ynez mountains in the backdrop and the Pacific Ocean front and center.

There's a bike path that follows the ocean, and the town itself is very bike-friendly.. even to beater beach cruisers.

The old Mission is beautiful, with a sort of park and flower garden out in front of it that people hang out in.

The harbor was packed...

.. and the view from Inspiration Point was a very welcome reward for a good hike.

Niedersachsen Work Trips

The other members of my research group are based in Braunschweig and Hannover, so I end up doing frequent train trips across the country. I haven't seen the two cities extensively, but I have seen a few interesting things while walking around.

Rizzi architecture in Braunschweig

Fachwerk in Bschweig

Cool fountain in Hannover

Scary church door in Hannover

Weird water feature in Han

Liquor in a Hannover hotel's drink vending machine.. my colleagues didn't get what the big excitement was.

Braunschweig pedestrian bridge

Lion in the park in Braunschweig

Cool fountain in Braunschweig... no idea who it is

More Fachwerk building

Land of Yaks

Tibet is a beautiful place, and the blue skies when we arrived at the Lhasa airport were a welcome sight after days of Beijing's "blue" grey skies. (Above, a sign leaving the airport that pictures all the great Communist party leaders, past and current.)

The Potala Palace is Lhasa's most noteworthy building, and while I was initially excited to do a tour inside it, the tour process for our English-speaking group was going to be a massive pain in the butt, so a coworker and I escaped in search of noodles instead. We wandered through some public park areas and through the main streets of downtown, which are quite cheery during the day, despite all the police and military presence.

After a few days of acclimation, we headed to our field station at Nam Co, which is at an elevation of ~4720m (15,000+ feet) (and everything liquid-like in a bottle you bring up from Lhasa WILL explode as soon as you open it). We first headed over a nearby pass, which is often visited by tourists and pilgrims and covered in prayer flages, to the point that they just look like trash.

North of Nam Co, a local pub/restaurant/hang out for workers on nearby construction projects.

Yaks were everywhere, including this prettiest lady of the bunch (disclaimer: possibly not a lady).

Rock cairn by the shore of Nam Co, or Holy Lake

 Bridge out over a glacier-fed stream.. not a problem for our professional drivers and land cruisers.

Tibet.. alas that I only had 2 weeks.

Beijing Blue(s)

A catch-up post from the summer.. I was in Beijing for a few days en route to Tibet, and the skies were varying shades of grey the whole time.

Some highlights: a tourist market with lots of unique things to eat (including freshly deep-fried scorpions)..

Some street posters depicting information about Chinese socialist values..

A nice park near the Forbidden City, with these trees wrapped in plastic wrap (presumably to protect them from something? Or keep them moist??)

 Lotus flowers in the park

 Lotus + pagoda + boats + bridge

Looking into the Forbidden City from the park next to it. Note the illusion of it disappearing into the distance, thanks to the smog.

 And the value of clear translation, from the restroom in said park: