GUIYANG, CHINA — After the long flights from Shenyang via Nanjing, Team China (let’s just call it that!) arrived in Guiyang, the capital of Guizhou Province. We had an excellent view of the surrounding karstic mountains. I hope to have images of these tomorrow because they are simply enchanting. Above is our evening dinner, hosted by two men from the city. On the far left is Guan Changqing, an associate professor of geology at Northeastern University, then Wang Lin Song, chief engineer of a steel company in Guiyang, Professor Gong En-Pu from the Geology Department of Northeastern University (and our leader), Guo Shu Wei, a senior engineer at the local steel company, and me. Zhang Yongli took the photo with my iPhone. A classic Guizhou dinner is before us. It was very good. Among the many toasts, Yongli and I managed to get one in to the Fourth of July.
One of the dishes contained these green slices of holothurian (sea cucumber). Turns out this delicacy is specially provided for honored guests, so I have now eaten my first echinoderm. I can cross them off the list of invertebrate phyla to taste. I’m sure I’ll have many more culinary surprises.
Speaking of surprises, just before bedtime a team of policemen visited my room asking many questions and studying my passport and visa closely. I’m assured this is standard practice when a foreigner comes to town.
Tomorrow we drive for about three hours to Ziyun County for the start of our fieldwork.
