Beijing, China. What's Happening to Me: The Twenty-Fourth Day

It was an early start today - I got up this morning at 550 and had a breakfast of yogurt from a jug, PB&H, and some other stuff to fill me up. At 655, I left to meet Mr. Pan and Wendy at the lab. As I was walking in to the building, I ran into Wendy with a large cart of toilet paper and other miscellaneous items that needed to be taken out to the research station. We unloaded these on the steps, I took the cart back to the lab, and Wendy went to go get a key. I filled up my water bottles in the lab and then we went down and got into Mr. Pan's car (loaded up the supplies) and left. The station was about 80 km away yet it took about 1 hour and 40 minutes to get there because the traffic was bad...surprise, surprise. The drivers here are not the best - they have no patience for lines and so they always try to pass (on the left, right, or wherever there is an empty space) and end up causing blockages. It seems to be the main reason for the traffic snarls. Another reason for the snail's pace is that I think the max speed for any car is about 50 km per hour (which is like 30 mph). We never got over that speed, even on the clear sections of the road.

We did finally arrive, and I was shown around. The air quality this morning was not improved so I wore my mask pretty much the entire time. At the station, they have fields and labs along with tissue culturing rooms. These were very cool. They took cuttings of cotton, inserted the vector into it, then allowed it to grow. Cells were taken from that growth and put on a different medium which caused a seedling to grow. These seedlings are then grafted to small normal cotton plants to ensure that the seedling survives. They put down a sheet of plastic on the field to prevent moisture loss. It is a good idea, but I have no idea how they pick the plastic up once used. They might not even pick it up. I also saw the entomology labs - they smelled horrible even through my mask.

After the morning tour, we ate lunch at the cafeteria that was on the station. I had a pork meat dish, eggplant and rice. The rice was much better there than back at the dorm. Wendy picked up the tobacco seeds and we walked to the bus stop. The bus picked us up, max speed of 50, and we rode this to the train station - high speed rails this time. We bought our tickets and then walked out of the station. Wendy said that there were antiques in one of the buildings and that we had an hour to spare. It ended up being all jewelry and none of it really antique by my definition, but it was still interesting to see. After that we walked back under the rails through a tunnel and got to the station with about ten minutes to spare. I sat down. Wendy ousted someone out of his seat and we were off! High speed rail is the way to travel - crazy fast. It took only 20 minutes to get back to the subway station where we boarded the subway train. I saw an IKEA store here as well and then blue sky. The air has been clearing all day. Right now, it is only a few points above that of Texas. It should stay clear for a few more days as well so I should have a few good days to run and get in hard workouts for swimming. I am heading to swim now, hopefully I will put in about 4000 meters at the least.

Swimming today I decided to do the 13X300 set. I did 6 as fast as I could, used the 7th for recovery and then did six more. I died in the middle of number 10. I was holding 4:15-4:20 per 300, but after my muscles gave out, I was holding more like 4:35's. I did them on 4:45-ish - I had to use a normal clock on the wall so it was not accurate to the second. I put in 5000 meters today. I haven't put that kind of distance in for several months. It was definitely an accomplish.

After swimming I walked quickly back to the dorm to go to a dinner with the Bangladeshi family. It was w wonderful home-cooked meal with several different dishes. I loved it and felt very embraced by this family.
Part way through the event, I went up to my room and grabbed my ukulele and a chocolate bar. I gave the chocolate to Salma and then attempted my first ukulele concert before we started on another course of the meal. One of the little girls loved it. I am supposed to teach Salma here to play a little before she goes back to Bangladesh. It was a great evening and hopefully I will get the chance to visit with them again.

After I was finished there I came up to my room. Ben came by and was in need of my computer as his was messing up. We talked a little as he checked his email and Facebook.

Heading to bed here because I am worn out -- but in good way. Good night to all and God bless.

The donkey burgers place