levitation

Arrived in Shanghai. Travelling business class is nice, in particular the extra space and seats that turn into a bed. Food was also good. It somewhat amused me you get proper glasses and metal cutlery. In Shanghai we got picked up by a PhD student who is going to use our system. Very nice guy who did his master in Edinburgh.

We took the maglev into town which was very cool. It's kind of like a tube but lots faster, 430km/h (see extra). Then we took the metro to the train station. Liked the adverts in the tunnel that kept up with the train. The train station is absolutely massive. According to Wikipedia 220000 people travel each day on the Shanghai Beijing high-speed train. Totally amazing. Got food on the train which was very nice, rice and aubergine. Zoomed past lotus fields and rice paddies.

Eventually got to Nanjing where we took another two metros to get to the campus where we eventually after 25 hours of travelling reached our hotel. However, before we got some rest we met our host and discussed the schedule for the week.

The PhD student and a postdoc came for dinner which was very nice. I will have to see how I can slow down with the meat though. Then to the university to unpack boxes to check everything was there and to figure out what was still needed.

My impression so far is extremely positive. The limited bits I have seen are very modern and the people are very friendly. It is very hot and humid. The aircon is very busy. The insects made an absolute racket, saw a bat and a toad.

Blip is available, flickr seems to be locked away behind the great firewall.