Washington, D.C.

I visited the turbo couple at Silver Spring, MD for thanksgiving (zig happened to be there, too). After enjoying a perfect homemade hot pot, we went to Washington, D.C. the next day. It was so crowded everywhere, from metro stations to museums. It made me feel even sicker when facing crazy drivers and policemen carrying guns...

The Washington Monument and the Reflecting Pool, as well as the Capitol Hill far behind and the National Museum of Natural History on the left (where we had lunch).


Another shoot.


The Lincoln Memorial and the National World War II Memorial.


The names of the States in the entablature of the Lincoln Memorial. Here goes Massachusetts, MDCCLXXXVIII (1788), when it became the sixth state to ratify the Constitution.


Squirrels everywhere. Here is one near the Reflecting Pool.


The White House and a Christmas tree.


Another Christmas tree in the Reagan airport.

One Day Off

Ah, take a breath of fresh air around Boston and Cambridge (with a visitor, amber) after the deadline, more to come though. It is getting so old in Boston. (but why 20 °C yesterday!)

Harvard Memorial Church (bird's eye).


The harbor (near the Maverick station, blue line).


Pity that I have missed shooting the colorful fall...

Gloucester

Had a nice day for the CSAIL Student Workshop at Gloucester, MA, though pity bad weather again. Thanks to the organizers!

The workshop was held here, pretty cold even inside!


Some CSAILers.


Birds in fall.


Last but not least, the lobster dinner!


It was also great to see several 9#ers there: justin, sola, theorist, and zig.

Newbury

Here's the group outing today, at Newbury, NH, about two hours drive from Boston. Thanks to Silas for driving! Thanks to Frans for inviting us!

Lake Sunapee, pity the bad weather though. Actually that's just an island faraway in the photo; the lake is pretty large.

Aleksey was sailing.

Tubing is absolutely an awesome sport! Frans drove his motorboat and one tuber grabbed a tube behind it. Jeremy, Neha, I, Yandong, and Aleksey enjoyed it in turn, reeeeally cool! Besides advising students the almighty Frans was so good at cycling and making waves to throw them off!

Newport

Just enjoyed a nice weekend at Newport, Rhode Island with mystery and riki. Many thanks to mystery for driving.





We took the Cliff Walk, which starts from Memorial Blvd. We exited around Marine Ave. There are many beautiful mansions along the way.





BTW, we even saw a rainbow on the way back to Boston. :-)

The Longest Day

36 hours for the Saturday: 12:00 pm at Beijing, 9:00 am at San Francisco, 8:00 pm at Boston.

On the way to SF, i saw the second sunrise today.

Haikou Bay

A walk along the shore with my family.



I love sunsets. :-)

Gong Qi

Some pictures shot on Feb 10 during the Chinese new year, at Baoluo, Wenchang, Hainan. It's my friend Feng's hometown; I went there with him to see the famous "Gong Qi" ceremony.

"Gong" (literally, "lord") may refer to a chief or a leader of the early migrates to the Hainan island from the Mainland (one thousand years ago? not sure), as some people tell. If so, I guess the purpose of the ceremony may be similar to the thanksgiving. But some other people say it is related to Xian Furen (Madam Xian), a leader of the Yue peoples in southern China (in the 6th century), and the Feng family is her descendants.

Every year a lot of people come back from cities and share the time.


Fireworks after the ceremony.


Feng's little boy. Cute? :-)


The quiet village.

Dandong

It took about two-hour drive from Shenyang to Dandong, a small and quiet city. Maybe it's most famous for the Yalu River and the Korean War.


There is a new bridge on the river, and an old bridge bombed by the US in the Korean War.

There are people in a faraway country we never know.

Changbai Mountain

Since we always went wrong way, it took me almost a whole day's drive to the Changbai Mountain from Shenyang. Heaven Lake is so splendid, so are the valleys, the falls, the rivers, the springs and the flowers. It's really really a great place to enjoy.

Shenyang

Shenyang is not far from Beijing, only four-hour train or one-four flight. Since it is not a big city, I mobbed the city last Friday just as planned, starting from Wulihe and ending at Mukden Palace. Later I took a drive to Liutiaohu and Beiling (the tomb of Huang Taji). The next day I visited Yongling (tombs of Ancestors of Nurhaci) in Fushun, a nearby city.

There are many amazing Manchu characteristics. For example, the Mukden palace resembles Manchu tents, rather a different style from that of the Forbidden City.

Besides, loongs/dragons are usually flying in Chinese culture. However, I saw some sitting loongs in Yongling, which were said to have evolved from dogs.

Here are some snapshots.

Towers in Beijing

Bicycling around the city of Beijing is always a nice sport:-) It's a pity that only a few gates and almost none walls have survived, leaving only ugly concrete jungles.

I passed by the archery tower at Deshengmen (Google Maps) on the way to Houhai. Yu Qian defended the city in 1449 against the Mongol army here, though he failed to defend himself against slander after the triumph.
Deshengmen Archery Tower / 德胜门箭楼

Jingshan (Google Maps), where the last emperor of Ming Dynasty, Chongzhen, hanged himself, is a symbol of the fall of a dynasty and the end of an era.
Jingshan / 景山

There are four gorgeous corner towers of the Forbidden City, one tower at each corner.
Northwest Corner Tower / 紫禁城西北角楼
Northeast Corner Tower / 紫禁城东北角楼
I didn't bring a tripod yesterday since I was alone, so it's really hard to shoot at night. Two boys nearby were quite happy with their equipments, talking and laughing, which reminded me of one evening at Wangfujing last year with TuotuoXP and Weidog.

Here is my route for yesterday.

Houhai Again

I bicycled to Houhai from campus yesterday afternoon. It was really a good day to walk around.

Green and Gray
Prunus triloba / 榆叶梅
Thanks to Jack again for helping with recognizing flowers.

The Weekend in Wuhan

This was my third time to Wuhan. Arriving on last Friday morning, fishy met me at the railway station. Then we enjoyed our breakfast, re gan mian, my favorite. Later we took a short walk on the beautiful campus of Wuhan University, which is famous for its cherry blossoms. More photos can be found at fishy's blog.

In the afternoon we bought some cat food for Fuwa (fishy's cat) in Hankou, then hung around the East Lake in Wuchang, the largest lake in a city in China.

It's quite amazing to sit along the lake (right on the path in the middle of the map) and watch the sunset.

We had supper in Jianghan Lu in Hankou. The photo below was shot right here.

I left for Beijing the next day, and hurried to prepare my slides for a whole day on Sunday. That's the end of the story. Many thanks to fishy!

Chinese New Year

Wow, this is my boy. Why is he always that cute:-)

Lanterns everywhere.

The skyline of Haikou (Google Maps).

V for thanksgiVing

Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory there is no survival.

Winston S. Churchill

Yeah, not V for Vendetta. Another Thanksgiving.

I was so depressed one year ago when I wrote on my MSN space with the words "thanks to those who hurt me". Well, blow it off. In fact it's always oneself hurting himself.

Thanks to the nice guys who have cared about me and helped me a lot enjoy the amazing days on campus, especially to V, the optimist who is cute and nice, a gesture for victory, or a symbol for courage and hope. Viva la V!

By the way, I come to the new domain for my blog, procfs, which is technical and short that makes it a good one.

Windy

It's so windy since the weekend, while the temperature went down below zero degree centigrade. Keeping blowing, the air became extremely fresh and the sky was really cute with the skyline of the Western Hills.

Over a month ago I got a shot of sunset at the same place, on the 14th floor of Zijing 14#. I was somewhat depressed at that time. Anyway, the October's gone.