Jiang Xiao's weblog

GDP growth for the top 4 economics and BRIC nations

2011-02-17T04:06:00.005-05:00

from IMF data mapper.

127 Hours (2010)

2011-02-12T22:45:00.005-05:00

Yesterday evening, after dinner with Song and Lei at "金满楼" at Olympic City, Hong Kong, we watched this film at a theatre there. 127 hours tells a true story that a mountaineer trapped himself in a valley crack with his right arm locked by a loose rock against the valley wall. With only a multi-tool, a watch, a torch light, a climbing rope, and 300ml of water, after 5 days of trying to get out

Inception (2010)

2010-07-31T08:31:00.006-04:00

I watched this fantastic movie last Friday night with four colleagues after a nice dinner on a boat sitting in a canal (at De V).Movies about dreams, or about reality and non-reality, are always inspiring, partly because basically anything can happen in that world. The Inception movie is kind of a multi-layer Matrix movie, i.e. the people get out of Matrix find themselves still living yet in

First post in 2010?

2010-07-26T05:08:00.005-04:00

It turned out that I was so busy that I haven't posted any post in the past year since I returned to China last summer after the Africa trip. As for Africa, in fact, my previous post-series about Kenya trip hasn't completed yet.I hope I would have sometime to write some stuff here, but I am afraid my next post is again one year later ...

东非之肯尼亚十一：印度洋，我来也

2009-10-17T22:07:00.002-04:00

[题图：从Fort Jesus看蒙巴萨的印度洋入海口]8月22日相册内罗毕只有一百年历史，我们在内罗毕逛的实在无聊，半天都多。而蒙巴萨有800年历史，照道理说应该可以逛一逛的。蒙巴萨最有名的应该是面海处的Fort Jesus，这是一处要塞，卡在蒙巴萨港的咽喉之处，最早是葡萄牙人修建的，之后在各个玩家之间多次易手。在要塞外面有一座"日不落帝国英雄纪念碑"以纪念在保卫蒙巴萨的战争中牺牲的英国军人，我想这只不过英国人是最后守住要塞的，要不这个英国人的纪念碑也不会安详的坐在这里。Fort Jesus的门票一样人分八等，我们处于上上等得买贵贵票。可以坦率的讲，这个地方明显不值8欧元，但是如果不去这蒙巴萨又有什么地方更值得去的呢。整个要塞估计不会有超过十个参观者。这个曾经扼守蒙巴萨咽喉的要塞现在早已成为准废墟。在Fort Jesus杀掉一些时间之后，我们出来往老城去逛逛。老城里现在主要还是居民居住，

东非之肯尼亚十：穆斯林的蒙巴萨

2009-10-17T08:08:00.002-04:00

8月21日21日早起来之后，用完早餐，开车出公园，沿着某条低等级公路往内罗毕与蒙巴萨的主干道切过去。这条低等级公路也正在被中国公司修理。在刚到肯尼亚的时候已经要safari公司帮我们定好了今天从内罗毕到蒙巴萨的客车票，我们将在途中某地拦截这班客车前往蒙巴萨。我们提前来到拦截地，某一小镇或者叫做集市，路两边是很多看上去比较破烂的小店铺。在等了不短的一段时间之后，班车终于来了。在离开之前我们给司机和厨子一些小费作为感谢这些天的帮助（司机3500肯币，厨子1000肯币，肯币除以100是欧元）。然后我们往东去蒙巴萨，司机和厨子往西回内罗毕。这个地点离蒙巴萨大概还有五个小时车程。路况属于来回各一车道的柏油路，算是比较高级的路了，因为这是连接肯尼亚第一和第二大城市的道路。蒙巴萨是东非比较古老的城市，至少有800年以上的历史。1415年郑和的船队就来过这里进行友好访问。但这之后来的船队就没有那么友好了

东非之肯尼亚九：乞力马扎罗的雪

2009-10-16T09:30:00.003-04:00

[题图：乞力马扎罗山的雪顶]8月20日相册一大早在鸵鸟和猴子的陪伴下吃完早饭，经过一个小时左右的车程进了Amboseli国家公园，在干涸的湖床上奔驰了又十几二十分钟，才到达了Amboseli的中心区域。首先遇到的是一群hyena（录像），然后是动物世界里面常见的腐蚀性的秃鹫正在瓜分一只斑马（录像），旁边还有许多秃鹫伺机分点肉吃。说大象是森林伐木工确实没错，在Amboseli看见的大象全部都在吃树（录像），虽然说Amboseli里面树不多，但是今年干旱所有动物的食物都减少了。可能同样因为干旱的缘故，我们没有看到大象用鼻子喷水的场景，但是我们却看到更新鲜的，大象竟然往自己身上撒尘土来给自己凉快（录像）。大象今年的日子特别难过，因为他们要在乞力马扎罗山和沼泽地之间来回转场，一边有水一边凉快。因为干旱，公园里尸横遍野，死得最多的是斑马。公园里有一片沼泽地，是所有动物的天堂（录像），在这片沼泽地里

东非之肯尼亚八：Porn and condom are murder

2009-10-15T07:54:00.001-04:00

[题图：Lake Naivasha的鸟]8月19日相册今天的主要目标是要从内罗毕北部的Lake Nakuru赶到肯尼亚与坦桑尼亚边界处在乞力马扎罗山脚下的Amboseli国家公园。这之间的距离比昨天还长，大概有500公里左右，先从Nakuru到内罗毕200公里，这一段路况比较好，但是从内罗毕到Amboseli的路况比较糟糕。早上从Nakuru hotel出来，有一段是我们在肯尼亚走过的最好的路，竟然是双向6车道中间还有隔离带。从Nakuru出来没多久，Kalim建议我们到附近的Lake Naivasha转一转，我们在湖中泛舟观看湖里的几群河马。每群河马里面只有一只雄河马，其余几只到十几只雌河马。雄河马会试图把自己生的小雄荷马杀死，以防止将来小荷马长大后对它自己的地位造成威胁。因此有些雌河马就躲起来生小河马。湖中有一个月牙型岛，现在由于水量减少，岛变成了半岛。这个岛是私人领地，有两户人家住

东非之肯尼亚七：火烈鸟染红的湖

2009-10-14T08:19:00.003-04:00

[题图：Lake Nakuru]8月18日相册我们今天离开马赛马拉，往北前往Nakuru湖，这是著名的被火烈鸟染红的湖。电影《走出非洲》里男女主人公开着飞机在湖面上激起一群火烈鸟飞翔的画面就是在这里拍摄的。从马赛马拉到Lake Nakuru大概300-400公里左右。我们用完早餐后从马赛马拉出发，中午在一个叫做Kericho的小镇吃当地的快餐（当地人都是用手吃），下午四点多才到达Nakuru市。途中有正在跑步迁徙的马赛人，殖民时期白人开垦的巨大农场（由于今年干旱，没有收成，农场作物只好用来放牧了），当地集市，联合利华拥有的巨大茶叶种植园，去年政局动荡时被毁的民房，中国建筑公司正在援建的公路等。到了Nakuru，司机直接带我们去Lake Nakuru National Park，大概只有一个半小时逛这个公园。一进公园没多久就是大片的火烈鸟（录像），从附近一山顶上看，湖边一圈全都是火烈鸟。

东非之肯尼亚六：马赛马拉的星空

2009-10-13T07:25:00.002-04:00

[题图：晨曦中的马赛马拉]8月17日今天我们坐另外一辆车去一天的game drive，清晨的马赛马拉草原格外的清新，一路上狮子、豹子还是像往日一样如入无人之境。逛了一圈之后我们来到一个比较豪华的lodge去接一对法国男女上我们的车，他们早上坐气球从天上看动物去了（当然ballon safari很贵）。马赛马拉草原上的斑马很多都是两三只在一起站着，头冲着相反的方向，目的是互相警戒随时可能醒来猎杀它们的狮子、豹子。中午应法国女生的要求，我们来到一块巨大空旷的草地午餐，诺大的草原只有一棵树，我们就在这棵树下野餐，午餐时一直有一只大概是羚羊的动物望着我们。午餐后，来到一片谷地，有成千上万的角马，我们开车从中穿过，驱逐着这些天真纯洁角马（录像）。原野上是开放的，昨天我们看到雄长颈鹿光天化日之下chasing雌长颈鹿，今天我们又看到两只鸵鸟当着我们的面交配（录像）。下午时分，我们出了马赛马拉公园，

东非之肯尼亚五：逐鹿东非

2009-10-06T08:54:00.003-04:00

[题图：马赛马拉草原上的动物]8月16日网上相册我们的司机加向导Kalim昨天建议我们早点起来，6点就出发进马赛马拉。在营地吃完早饭，我们开始了今天一天的game drive。车上坐了一个当地人，Kalim说带他一程。我们上路了，走进林子里面没有路，而且有不少壕沟等障碍物，好像挖了故意不让车过的。我想这也可以理解，如果不挖，车就在公园里乱跑，破坏landscape。在那个当地人的指引下，我们终于绕过这些障碍，开到了路上。傍晚回营地的时候我们是从公园正门出来的，我们才反应过来早上没有从正门进入，也就是说我们的公园门票逃掉了。当然逃掉的钱没有进我们的腰包，而是进了司机的腰包（4个人共240美元）。在路上开了没多久，我们便遇到了一群几十上百只非洲水牛（African Buffalo），一下看到这么多倒是有点激动相机乱拍一气。之后又随着车流（至少有几十辆向我们这样的车）遇到两只比较少见的黑犀牛（

东非之肯尼亚四：前往马赛马拉

2009-10-05T08:35:00.003-04:00

[题图：City of Narok]8月15日网上相册在楼下的餐馆慢悠悠的用完早餐，safari公司的车准点来接我们出发去马赛马拉（Masai Mara）。车上已经有两个丹麦年轻人坐在里面，他们将和我们一起去马赛马拉，不过他们只有三天两夜就回内罗毕。在城里逛了一圈之后，我们就上路了，开始了我们将近七个小时的车程去。出城不久来到东非大裂谷一部分的Great Rift valley的东缘，从这里观望80公里宽的大裂谷（这么大的scale当然在地面上是看不出来是个地球的裂缝了）。之后路过一个1942年由意大利战俘修建小教堂。从valley上面下来就进入了Rift valley，峡谷很平很开阔，非常有东非大草原的感觉，金黄的草（或者农作物）加上零星的展的很开的树。中午时分，我们来到肯尼亚著名小镇Narok午餐。之所以说它著名，是因为我来肯尼亚之前碰巧在一则新闻里听说过，说两辆客车在Narok

东非之肯尼亚三：内罗毕一日游

2009-10-04T08:16:00.002-04:00

[题图：从内罗毕Convention Center楼顶的直升机停机坪看内罗毕全景]8月14日相册早上起来之后先把hotel换了一家，虽然换前换后都差不多。然后在附近逛了几家不同档次的提供safari的公司，发现价格差不多，都是120美元每人每天，所以我们就定了一家lonely planet上有的，叫做Sanatracking Kenya的公司。这是被我们hotel里的一个人带过去的，他做成我们这一笔生意，他也可以拿到一点回扣，他很高兴。我们定明天出发的一周的safari，去三个地方：Masai Mara（两天三夜）、Lake Nakuru（一天一夜）、Amboseli（一天两夜），其他时间在路上。然后我们从Amboseli出来之后坐班车去Mombasa。定好了下一周的行程，今天的主要任务就是内罗毕城里的一些景点了（如果有的话）。内罗毕其实是一座非常年轻的城市，1899

东非之肯尼亚二：Into Africa

2009-10-03T10:54:00.004-04:00

8月13日飞机从阿姆斯特丹机场顺利起飞，飞越瑞士的阿尔卑斯山脉、希腊的伯罗奔尼撒半岛（因为Corinth运河的开凿，某种意义上说已经不再是半岛了）、尼罗河上的阿斯旺水库和Merowe大坝（前者在埃及苏丹交界处，后者在苏丹境内由中国援建），晚上7点左右降落在肯尼亚内罗毕国际机场。在飞机上坐在我边上的是一个肯尼亚人，现在在美国巴尔地摩做停车场的cashier，可以看的出来他应该是受过高等教育的，但是由于学历不被承认在美国只能做些低级的工作。下了飞机之后，入境非常顺利，但是行李等了好一段时间。期间收到Xun的短信几条，拿到行李后一出机场就看见Xun在外面。先把我的一个拖箱寄存在机场，14天约42欧元（为此兑换日币三万三千块）。存好包后，在机场的一家safari公司谈了一下我们将要去的一周的safari，这个公司给我们开了一些线路以及价钱，大约120美元每人每天，其中包括60美元每人每天的

东非之肯尼亚一：前篇

2009-09-01T10:45:00.004-04:00

在上半年复活节和Xun去东欧转了一圈之后，我便把暑假回国之前的假期目的地体上了议事日程。潜在的目的地包括：坐火车横越俄罗斯回国，印度北部，东非的肯尼亚和坦桑尼亚，南部非洲的赞比亚和津巴布韦等。在考虑8月天气等因素之后，我们把目的地定在了东非的肯尼亚和坦桑尼亚。我想非洲是每个爱好旅游的人心目中的乞力马扎罗，尼罗河畔矗立的金字塔、东非大草原上狂奔的野兽、北非浩瀚的撒哈拉、赞比亚河上的维多利亚大瀑布、西非的热带雨林、以及南部非洲的黄金和钻石，吸引了不知道多少殖民者、探险者和我们这样的游客。后来老虎也被拉入伙。我们陆续定了机票、暂定行程、预防针、旅行保险、签证等。其实肯尼亚和坦桑尼亚都不需要提前签证，中国护照可以落地签。不过为了减少不确定因素，我和老虎还是提前把签证处理了。就在出发前不到一周，老老虎要做手术，老虎必须赶回北京而不得不取消原定同一时间去非洲的行程，所以原本三人的旅行简化成我和Xun

Ready to leave Holland

2009-08-12T10:36:00.004-04:00

Today is my last working day in Delft, although I did no work at all in office today. Many things happened during the last a few days, which made it is impossible to calm down.The past Thursday, I had my 30th birthday.The past Friday, in the morning, Sunshine called me that he had to cancel the Africa trip due to family reasons so that he has to fly back to Beijing this week. This is quite a pity

Another win on Geography Quiz

2009-08-06T05:15:00.007-04:00

This is a nice present from Geography Quiz for my 30th birthday today.This morning, I also spent 73 Euros for 22 Malaria tablets for my trip to Kenya, so the 100$ win compensate these bloody expensive pills.My last winning was last year, a quiz about Hania, Crete Island. And in total, I've won 4 times now.

70 airports I've been to

2009-07-30T15:12:00.005-04:00

Here is a map of all airports I've been to since 2001. 70 in total including airports for transit flight, and two airports (Nairobi and Doha) I will visit next month.View Airports I've been to in a larger map

6 places lived in the past 12 years

2009-07-30T14:53:00.004-04:00

After living at Singelstraat for about 2 years and 4 months, I am moving out tomorrow morning. In the past 12 years, I've lived at 6 different places (not including the temporary places):1. 09/1997 - 07/2001, 3 years and 10 months:Peking University, building #32, room 414, shared one dormitory room with 5 friends.2. 08/2001 - 05/2003, 1 year and 9 months:Graduate Living Center, 10th Street NW

7 drinks in a week

2009-06-23T08:07:00.002-04:00

You cannot live without alcohol in Europe, it is part of the culture here.In the past week, I have had precisely one drink per day:Tuesday: a beer with colleagues.Wednesday: a beer before the dinner with colleagues.Thursday: a glass of wine during filmavond watching Dutch film 'Turkish Delight'.Friday: a beer at home with Weihua.Saturday: a beer in The Hague with Weihua.Sunday: a beer with Stefan

Jokes only physicists understand

2009-06-17T18:24:00.002-04:00

During the poker night today, Stefan's friend told us a nice joke.Why Heisenberg's wife has problem with her husband? Because whenever he has energy he has no time, and whenever he has position he has no momentum.We extended this joke to Einstein. Why Einstein's wife has problem with her husband? Because whenever he gets speed he gets shorter, which also explains why his first wife divorced him.

Global meeting

2009-06-14T10:44:00.006-04:00

A global meeting is hold among leo and his new born son (Toronto), Song (Hong Kong), Lei (Tokyo), and me (Delft).

Where Eagles Dare (1968)

2009-05-16T05:52:00.005-04:00

Since I came back from Auschwitz last month, I am obsessed about the history of World War II. I remember there was a WWII movie I watched on TV when I was in high school. I don't remember what's the title of the movie, but I remember there were following ingredients in the movie: castle, cable car. Probably many people already know what movie I am talking about. Google helped me to find what I

Flight missing log

2009-05-05T08:00:00.005-04:00

11/25/2001, missed the connection flight from Richmond to Atlanta.Reason: because of the delay of the previous flight from NYC (La Guardia) to Richmond due to bad weather.Solution: changed to a later flight.12/29/2002, missed the connection flight from Chicago to Los Angeles.Reason: because of the delay of the previous flight from Atlanta to Chicago due to bad weather.Solution: changed to a

Easter: April 14, Bratislava

2009-04-29T07:03:00.010-04:00

[An interesting menu in '1. Slovak pub' restaurant]On the night of April 13, we arrived at our hotel in the center of Bratislava. The first feeling that Xun and I shared was the receptionist was cold, no smiling (typical Eastern Europe Socialism style?).I have to say there is not much to see in Bratislava. We actually visited two 'museums' on the Bratislava castle, they shouldn't be called museum

Easter: April 12, Auschwitz

2009-04-22T12:13:00.005-04:00

[Panoramic view of Auschwitz II - Birkenau Extermination Camp]Auschwitz looks just like any other beautiful European country side if it wasn't because of the largest Death camp built some 70 years ago. It is believed that there were about 2.5 - 4 million people were killed in Auschwitz during the Second World War, which should make this place top in terms of either total death toll or death

Easter: April 11 - 12, Krakow

2009-04-20T05:22:00.009-04:00

[Wawel Castle]Krakow was the capital of Poland from 1038 to 1596.Some highlights:1) Polish dumplings look very much like Chinese dumplings, but I have to say the taste is not as good as Chinese ones.2) Going to restaurants is generally less than 10 Euro/person.3) Many many churches in town, we may have visited a dozen of them.4) Copernicus was in Krakow, here is a duplicate of an instrument he

Easter: April 10 - 11, Budapest

2009-04-18T15:33:00.011-04:00

[Panoramic view of Danube and Pest from Buda castle hill]According to one of my friends, Budapest is the center of the universe, so finally I had the chance to pay a visit to the center. I learnt from somebody's travelog that the girls in Budapest would like to compete for attention by dressing little and tight. I guess I would like to check it out.The city of Budapest is just beautiful with the

Easter: April 9 - 10, Vienna

2009-04-17T06:55:00.006-04:00

[The grave of Boltzmann]The first stop of my Easter trip was Vienna. I do remember that Zhao Kaihua, my undergraduate teacher for Thermodynamics course, visited Boltzmann's grave in Vienna and put the picture of the grave in his Thermodynamics textbook.In the morning of April 10th, on my way to the airport meeting with Xun, I stopped at Zentralfriedhof (Central Cemetery), where Boltzmann was

First time cross country skiing

2009-04-06T15:57:00.005-04:00

From Trondheim - Copenhagen[View from mountain in Oppdal]After Thursday's Dynamax project meeting in Trondheim, Norway, most of the group went Oppdal for skiiing. Some of us joined for the cross country. This was my first time on cross country, it was quite ok except that I fell a couple of times, once into bushes. Getting back on feet was really hard when both skies and poles were buried deep in

UN meeting during lunch

2009-03-09T07:57:00.004-04:00

We had 9 people on one table during lunch today, all 9 people come from different countries or hold different passports: Chinese, Dutch, Georgian, German, Indonesian, Russian, Romanian, Swiss (who is also Hungarian), American. There are two more nationalities in our group: Ukraine and Iran.

First post in 2009

2009-03-05T08:07:00.005-05:00

I have come back to Delft for about a month from my three month long Asia trip, the last stop was Singapore.

New Years' Eve

2008-12-31T08:35:00.002-05:00

2001: Atlanta, USA2002: Somewhere in California, mostly likely Los Angeles, USA2003: Bangkok, Thailand2004: Washington DC, USA2005: Buenos Aires, Argentina2006: Esfahan, Iran2007: Berlin, Germany2008: Shanghai, China

WALL-E

2008-12-26T21:10:00.005-05:00

Pixar (owned by Steve Jobs) movie WALL-E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class) is a great movie.WALL-E使用的系统是Mac OS X，因为启动时候发出的声音一样。右图：WALL-E 饭 (shared by vital)

Latex on Mac

2008-11-21T02:35:00.007-05:00

Finally, I have a perfect latex working environment on Mac OS X. I've been always using Vim+xdvi for latex under linux, and I couldn't work on Mac just because I can't find a perfect Vim+xdvi combination on OS X. Currently I am on travel, so I don't have a linux machine to use, and I have to work on my Macbook. Although I can still run linux on my Macbook using VMWare, but it is just slow, and

just some observations

2008-09-05T16:38:00.005-04:00

1. some days ago, I saw an interesting news saying that cows on farm tends to point their body to the magnetic north based on a study using Google Earth. And today, I took the train back to Delft from Aussois, France, I paid a little attention to the cows along the rail. Indeed, it seems cows align their body more or less north/south.2. French cows are all white, Dutch cows are black with white

What will be happening in US for the next 4 to 10 years?

2008-08-31T16:32:00.002-04:00

McCain becomes the next president of US, and he dies in office, Sarah Palin becomes the first female president of US. Sarah runs for the president again in 2012 against Hillary, Hillary fails again. Then she divorces with Bill, Bill marries Monica Lewinsky afterwards. In 2016, Hillary's daughter , Chelsea Clinton, runs for the president and becomes the youngest president of US.

从土耳其到以色列：序

2008-08-13T16:52:00.005-04:00

[题图：GUXUN和我在土耳其Capadocia]7月26日-8月7日到土耳其和以色列玩了两周，抢在奥运开幕前赶回来了。欧洲玩腻了，走到那里都是破教堂和烂城堡。GUXUN夏天前提议到土耳其和以色列玩一把。出发之前，虽然以色列和哈马斯决定停火两个月，但是局势仍然不太乐观：耶路撒冷连续两周有推土机在大街上乱撞，死伤若干，肇事者被当场击毙，伊斯坦布尔美国领事馆外有枪战各有三死。老妈还催了好几次要我取消这次旅行，鉴于不可预见性，第一次买了旅行保险。这次在土耳其和以色列虽然只玩了短短两周，但是新鲜东西不少：在伊斯坦布尔“逃过”恐怖袭击，在耶路撒冷“穿梭”于枪林之中，在死海中铁背“水上漂”......

My niece recites《欢迎北京奥运会》

2008-05-24T17:53:00.002-04:00

Little reunion in London

2008-05-21T07:19:00.003-04:00

From left: me, xiao gan, and dameng.At the Acton Town underground station in London.

天将降大任......

2008-05-13T12:04:00.001-04:00

必先苦其心志，劳其筋骨......

Yes, the answer is Hania, Crete Island, Greece

2008-05-06T10:10:00.002-04:00

Today's answer must be: Hania, Crete Island, Greece

2008-05-06T09:18:00.005-04:00

Just when I was eating banana, I was wondering around the webpages, then this newly added picture (Clue #3) reminds me a familiar dome at a harbor which I visited last month. I submitted the answer 8 minutes after the new clue posted, hopefully I wasn't late this time. John MoenQuiz Master Chelsea AlexanderAssistant Quiz Master Previous Quiz Previous 100 Winners

4-way video on iChat

2008-04-14T03:19:00.002-04:00

In the mean time, four of us are on 4-way video chat on iChat, because these four have macbook+leopard, but waiwai has only tiger installed not leopard.

5-way audio on Skype

2008-04-14T03:16:00.003-04:00

As you can see, waiwai is telling us a story, a story about San Francisco last week.Blogged with the Flock Browser

Power can change beliefs, beliefs can change nothing.

2008-04-11T04:05:00.000-04:00

古有五鼠，今有三妖

2008-03-09T19:26:00.003-04:00

[题图：郭雷、杨歆乐、和我在东京某面馆] 相册 3月8日-9日周末到东京与lei和从大阪过来的biajee一聚。

Steve Martin's Billie Jean

2008-01-22T18:03:00.000-05:00

Just found this funny Steve Martin's remake of Michael Jackson's Billie Jean on Youtube (original Michael's MTV is here). Steve Martin is one of my favorite comedian. Just name some of his movies: Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982, pictured right), Pink Panther (2006).

Late again

2007-12-19T11:25:00.000-05:00

Yesterday's quiz was quite easy, I submitted a correct answer, but a little bit too later. Pays a $100 prize! This quiz first posted on (12/18/07). Until solved, a new clue is added each weekday morning by 8:00am CST. A $100 cash prize is paid to the person who submits the first correct answer, and anyone (worldwide) can participate. Clue #1 (12/18/07)As the crow flies, the distance from Rome,

From Delft to Beijing in 181 hours

2007-12-14T07:28:00.000-05:00

One of my colleague found out that the Ducth railway website can give a route from Delft to Beijing. Delft -> Moscow -> Beijing, it takes 181 hours.Internationale Treinplanner Van Delft naar PekingVertrek: zaterdag 15 12 2007 14:00Deze

南法点滴之十：基度山的城市

2007-10-29T17:48:00.000-04:00

【题图：马赛老港】 9月21－23日：相册、录像吃在马赛：21日从Camargue到马赛之后的第一顿是在老城餐馆堆中的一家，Xun作为浙江人还是对海鲜比较有作为，而我好像还是要了有鹅肝的，而淫郭一不小心好像点了肠子，而他之前表示他对内脏什么的不是很感兴趣。经过十天的到处腐败，我们发现好像晚餐消费水平循序见长。由于淫郭提前一天到巴黎去踩狗屎，所以22日的晚餐只剩我和Xun了，我们在老港边上餐馆一条街上海鲜加大杂烩。吃饭期间，Xun说到有几次有人来敲他的门，讨论上帝的问题，还发送些中文的叫做“守望台”的杂志。这是个叫做“耶和华见证人”的被不少国家列为邪教的宗教。晚餐之前在马赛港口对这地中海看日落。住在马赛：21日的旅馆是在进城前打了好多电话才订到当天唯一一间空房，竟然还带sea view。不知道为什么马赛这么一房难求。进城之后才知道原来最近是橄榄球世界杯(Rugby)，

Leopard

2007-10-27T19:13:00.000-04:00

Finally, after swapping about 100GB data between two hard disks, I have leopard installed on my iMac G5. Didibaba, don't cry when you see the tabbed terminal and many other nice things in Leopard ...I also spent the whole afternoon on installing NVidia driver on my Ubuntu linux in office. I need to do that because I want to set up dual displays, and the hassle is that some recent linux updates

南法点滴之九：巴黎遍地是狗屎

2007-10-26T14:33:00.000-04:00

[题图：淫郭在海边闲走]9月21日：相册、录像早上在浪涛声中起来，打开窗户发现又是阳光明媚的一天，停车场旁边的湖上能看见不少Flamingo。早餐之后在小镇的露天市场上逛了逛，吃的穿的用的玩的什么都有，Xun买了一个小竹笛之类的小玩具。这里的海滩听说不错，我们沿着海边走了好长一段，还确实不错，沙滩却是一般，看起来不是那种雪白的沙滩。海滩都被防波堤围起来了，所以浪不是很大，我们就在沙滩上玩耍了一会，淫郭也在沙滩上努力寻找夏威夷沙滩的痕迹(题图)。看见沙滩，我便想起了Sydney Sheldon的小说Master of the Game里的主人公在沙滩捡钻石的场景。在海里面还不时有上身全裸的中年妇女晃来晃去，而Xun曾来回几次靠近...... 中午时分，我们开始往回走，在堤岸边发现一块沙地被围起来，走进一看发现原来是狗厕所，不分公母。不可否认，这种厕所在法国非常必要，

南法点滴之八：屁乃腹中之气

2007-10-25T13:10:00.000-04:00

【题图：建于罗马时期的嘉德水道】9月20日：相册、录像早上在Cavaillon的母女餐馆吃了简单的法式早餐之后，我们即上路前往Avignon，曾经的教廷所在地。在14-15世纪罗马教廷分裂的时候，这里曾经有过九个教皇。所以这里也就有了颇具规模的教廷宫殿。Avignon有条河叫做罗纳河(Rhone River)，河上有座断桥叫做圣贝内则桥(Pont Saint-Benezet)。历史上的罗纳河常发水患，但是近代建了大坝之后，罗纳河就不再发飙了。欧洲和美国已经没有一条河流上面没有大坝，而中国西南的河流有不少还是处于原始状态，比如金沙江、努江等，不过在不远的将来，巨坝也将把这些河流截断，不知这是好还是坏。在前往Nimes途中去看那个在漂亮的罗马时期的三层的“桥”，其实不是桥，而是引水的水渠(题图)。很难想象这么精细的建筑能立着两千年不倒。看完这个大概是5欧元钞票背面的这座水渠之后，

南法点滴之七：鳄鱼、S&M与皮尔卡丹

2007-10-23T14:50:00.000-04:00

[题图：Lacoste皮尔卡丹城堡的雕塑展]9月19日：相册、录像早上爬出帐篷，阳光明媚，在普罗旺斯的这十天当中全都是晴天。早饭就在帐篷外面烧水泡茶、炒鸡蛋吃面包。今天要去好些个hilltop villiages。先到Rustrel看欧洲的科罗拉多地貌，那种monument状的冬冬。在第二个hilltop villiage-Bonnieux，同游小山村的还有一对骑自行车的Lesibean。从Bonnieux可以远眺要去的下一个小山村-Lacoste，虽然这个Lacoste和鳄鱼品牌没有关系，但却另有名声所在。首先Lacoste是18世纪著名色情小说家萨德侯爵(Marquis de Sade)的出生地，而著名名词S&M(Sadism & masochism)就来字这个萨德侯爵。他还拥有Lacoste上面的那个城堡：Chateau de Sade，现在这个城堡为皮尔卡丹所有，

南法点滴之六：美味鹅肝

2007-10-22T14:46:00.000-04:00

【题图：从Roussillon看Luberon】9月18日：相册、录像早上从大酒店check out之后，走两步来到昨天吃早餐的餐馆隔壁那家餐馆吃早餐，虽然昨天的服务员态度不错，但是我但是我们从不在同一家餐馆吃两顿。今天要到Luberon区去看Hilltop villiages。我们从Castellane出来往Castillon湖方向走，因为据孤独星球介绍那附近有一个叫做Aumism的奇怪宗教。这又是一个结合各大宗教的一个复合型宗教，据其网站介绍有数千信徒。完全属于无聊人士创出来的无聊宗教。所谓的圣地里面有耶稣、如来等各大宗教代表人物的塑像。从Castellane到Luberon一路上风景优美，途中车上聊的话题有非常不错的德国电影The Lives of Others等。我们在路边一个有桌有椅有水有厕的休息区picnic了一番，这次做的是意大利面条和西红柿鸡蛋汤。下午时分我们抵达

南法点滴之五：遥远的桥

2007-10-21T12:30:00.000-04:00

【题图：威尔东大峡谷】9月17日：相册、录像我们在山中的露水和晨雾中爬出帐篷，淫郭在熬过了寒冷的一夜之后终于可以享受一丝清新的空气和温和的阳光。收拾好帐篷后来到Castellane镇上，在镇中心广场旁边的一家餐馆用了早餐，牛角面包加coffee和tea au lait。给我们服务的黑人餐馆服务员非常礼貌，有顾客的时候给顾客服务，没顾客的时候单手举着盘子等着给顾客服务，非常之敬业。餐后我们在Castellane进行了些补给（气罐，面包等），然后我们便驱车上路前往欧洲大峡谷－Gorge du Verdon。今天我们要从峡谷左岸开到峡谷右岸然后返回Castellane，总共行程约100公里。在这么长的行程当中，我们有机会从各个不同的角度来欣赏这个大峡谷。途中某地，我们终于有机会开火做饭，烧水泡茶泡咖啡，用Castellane买的气罐和摩纳哥买的锅煮了西红柿鸡蛋汤，另外还炒了几个鸡腿，

南法点滴之四：山村的悠闲

2007-10-20T09:30:00.000-04:00

【题图：Xun和Lei在Peillon的法国梧桐下】9月16日：相册，录像早上从宿营地出来，沿着弯曲的海岸线来到一个古老的城堡，城堡本身已经破旧，但确是不错的观景台。离开古堡，我们要去造访两个小山村。先来到Peille，小村子很平静，有那么几个游客，而村民好像都在家里躲着。沿着村里的小路闲逛，只碰见一两个老头和一个法国女郎在家门口擦洗一部Suzuki的大摩托。村口有一家餐馆开着，外面坐着一两个人，一边看报一边吃着薯条同时脚底下一条懒洋洋的狗，也许这就是法国村庄的典型场景吧。在村里的一个石山头上看见有户外运动爱好者在走悬崖峭壁上的trail。离开Peille之前，我们在村口的那家餐馆吃了顿简单而悠哉的午餐。吃的很简单，就是omelette和可口可乐，但是我们懒散地坐，悠哉地吃，无聊地聊。在这法国梧桐下，山间绿树中，享受着宁静的法国山村中独有的悠闲。从Peille出来，来到另一个小山村，

南法点滴之三：希区柯克美女之摩纳哥

2007-10-19T13:03:00.000-04:00

【题图：摩纳哥】9月15日：相册、录像一直很喜欢看希区柯克的片子，不仅因为片子中有我喜欢的悬念元素，更重要的是其中的女主角绝对是让你有冲动的那种。而其中有一个美女中的美女就是Grace Kelly，她主演过的希区柯克的电影包括：电话谋杀案、后窗等。借用赌神二里面的一句话：这个女人，我喜欢。而这个著名的美女嫁给了摩纳哥王储。不过很可惜，这个绝色美女在1982年因为车祸早早离去。 9月15日一早我们从尼斯出来，根据GPS指点误入山间石头小路，只好折返上高速前往世界第二小国－摩纳哥。刚到摩纳哥就看见Grace Kelly的大幅画像。摩纳哥有世界著名的赌场－Monte Carlo，也是物理里面的蒙特卡罗算法的名字来源。这面积不到两平方公里的小国，依山而建，背靠阿尔卑斯山，面朝地中海。这是一个三维的国家，路，楼，桥，山洞，互相交错，极具空间感。在进赌场之前，我们现在附近一家餐馆吃了顿午餐。

南法点滴之二：尼斯之光

2007-10-18T13:12:00.000-04:00

【题图：尼斯港口全景】9月13-15日：相册、录像到尼斯之前就听说这里的海滩是个好地方，原因是很多人在这里日光浴，其中不乏上空美女，不失为一个观“光”的好地方。我们刚到尼斯，在旅馆安顿好后，沿着著名的英人大道上漫步，路边有卖冰激凌的小推车，于是每人两勺坐在旁边的凉亭下舔着吃，咬着吃。月有阴晴圆缺，天有不测鸟屎，一泼鸟屎落在我雪白的衬衫上，不过幸好鸟屎没有落在冰激凌上，所以继续舔着吃，咬着吃。没想到一道尼斯就碰到鸟屎运。之后到尼斯制高点观全城。晚饭时分，翻开孤独星球找餐馆，在老城附近一家餐馆，Xun点了著名的Mr. Bean在巴黎火车站吃过的那份Fruits de mer (fruits of the sea)。在老城逛到晚上回旅馆，Xun呼声如雷^2，幸好我带了耳塞给Lei用，否则他肯定和老虎在墨西哥一样睡不着觉。不过可恶的是，第二天打扫房间的人把耳塞给打扫走了......

南法点滴之一：序

2007-10-17T13:25:00.000-04:00

【题图：合影于尼斯：从左至右依次为－我，Xun，Lei】Provence - 普罗旺斯网页9月13日至9月23日和Xun、Lei到南法晃荡十日，虽然薰衣草季节已过，但普罗旺斯的风情依旧。今年7月的中国南方，热度非常，正在网上冲浪降温之际，Xun发信息说有无意思8月底9月左右去法国南部玩耍一番。玩当然不能不算上我，我毫不犹豫确认同往，要不每年有8周的假期怎么才能花掉？（由此可见欧洲的文明程度和人权记录确实比美国领先不止一百年）。于是定了9月13日阿姆斯特丹飞尼斯，9月23日马赛回阿姆斯特丹的机票。接下来几天，驻守慕尼黑的Xun租了车并定了头两天在尼斯的旅馆。之后把驻守日本东京Lei也拉入队伍，他将于9月12日从东京飞阿姆斯特丹，13日和我一趟飞机飞往尼斯，22日从马赛坐TGV前往巴黎，24日从巴黎返回荷兰我的驻地，25日返回东京。9月12日一大早，我前往阿姆斯特丹美国领事馆签证（11

My Google Video: Provence - 普罗旺斯

2007-10-07T12:03:00.000-04:00

Photo can be found here.

Goldeneye

2007-10-06T14:46:00.000-04:00

Just found out the first scenes of James Bond movie Goldeneye were shot in Monaco, the car chasing, the casino (Monte-Carlo Casino), and Monte-Carlo bay where tiger helicopter lifted.Since just visited Monaco several weeks ago, these places look very familiar.

iMovie '08 sucks

2007-09-29T17:23:00.000-04:00

I was exciting that I had the chance to try out the newly release iMovie '08 on the videos I shot during our Provence trip, but after trying it out for a few days, it really disappointed me. I should say iMovie '08 really sucks. It lacks a lot of things which are in iMovie '06, such as video and audio effects. It can't import quicktime movies directly either, although quicktime is originally from

Guo Lei back to Tokyo

2007-09-25T13:15:00.001-04:00

After 10 days trip to Provence with Xun and me, and 2 days in Paris, Lei came back to Delft last night. Before boarding his flight back to Tokyo today, he should have spent several hours in Amsterdam, either on a canal cruise in rain or in sex museum.

Farewell, Virgin Golfer

2007-09-11T16:17:00.001-04:00

During this group retreat to Ameland, we had a chance to play some golf, I finished 9 holes with 63 strokes and lost one ball in the pond. So farewell, virgin golfer after 'Farewell, Virgin Skier'.

光阴似箭岁月如梭

2007-09-05T12:58:00.000-04:00

Today, biajee sent me an MSN message:help biajee 6:57I've known you for 10 years.Then I found my admission notice (right) to confirm today is the exact date. Indeed, today is the 10-year anniversary for me getting to know some of my best friends: biajee, muddog, song, lei, and wei. I guess I didn't know those guys from neighboring dorms on exact same date, but they would come into my life later

Busy aha Busy

2007-09-04T12:59:00.000-04:00

Too many things coming together le.9.8: friend coming to Amsterdam9.9-9.11: group retreat + talk9.12: US Visa interview in the morning, guo lei coming to Holland in the afternoon9.13-9.23: southern france trip, haven't prepared yet9.25: guo lei leaving in the morning, and group talk in the afternoon9.27-9.28: project report in BelgiumOther tasks: 1) paper writing2) prepare 4 talks, due 9.12,

Late again

2007-09-03T10:03:00.000-04:00

Today's Geographic Quiz is extremely simple - Amsterdam, The Netherlands.I submitted the correct answer 15 minutes after the quiz was posted. Since it was so simple that I didn't believe I could be the first submitting the correct answer. I watched the video in the quiz, and found the tram has GVB sign on the side. Coincidently I was checking Amsterdam tram (called GVB) to US embassy in the mean

Fool走了

2007-08-31T13:23:00.001-04:00

红灯区也去了，风车也看了，Fool满足的回巴黎了。

News on CNN

2007-08-22T15:02:00.000-04:00

News 1: Bush: it's not up to the politicians in Washington DC to say whether he will remain in his position. That is up to the Iraqi people who now live in democracy and not a dictatorship. The news immediately after: 37 killed in truck suicide bomb in Baiji, Iraqi.

希腊之二：独行雅典

2007-06-14T11:38:00.000-04:00

From Athens - 雅典[从卫城看雅典]2007年5月31日晴这次来希腊的最大失误就是对天气的估计。来之前我看希腊的温度和荷兰不相上下，所以我来希腊的着装基本和在荷兰一样，长袖长裤加运动鞋。第一天我就发现其实短袖短裤加凉鞋才是正道。早上8点多起来，发现屋里其他三个个床位都睡了人，而且都是女的。昨天晚上虽然有过简短几句对话，但当时由于太晚神智已经有点不清了，所以没听出来是男的女的。起来后我出门到洗手间去洗漱。回来推门进来发现三个女生都已起来，着装不整，我于是退出门外，她们说没事我才再进去。原来她们是三个漂亮法国女郎。由于时间快到9点了，我拿了相机准备出门去和biajee一家碰头。出门前我谢了昨天晚上给我递毯子的美女(后面的Alex)。Biajee他们住的hotel离我住的地方只有三个街区。去之前我先给他们打了个电话，片刻我即到了他们住的房间，阿诺当时正高兴的在地上爬

希腊之一：摸黑到雅典

2007-06-06T04:29:00.000-04:00

2007年5月30日几个月前biajee说要携全家到希腊办点家务事，我于是决定顺便也去希腊和他们一聚。5月30日下午2点半我放下手头紧张的工作背起背包从办公室赶往阿姆斯特丹Schiphol机场，飞往罗马，若干小时后，飞往雅典。午夜12点半抵达雅典国际机场。乘X95机场bus，40分钟后到达雅典市中心的Syntagman Square。接着依据地图找到我预定了的Hostel Zeus。Check in，被分配到8号房，被告知里面有两个法国人住着。我拿着钥匙上三楼开门放包，虽然已经是晚上两点了，我仍然决定先洗一个澡。洗完澡摸黑进屋，没有开灯，因为已经是2点多了，里面的人都睡了。我走到床边，看见右边的床上下铺都有人，左边的床好像都没有人，不过我喜欢睡上铺，所以就往上爬，这时听见右下铺有人说：Que'st-ce que c'est? 我小声说了声sorry然后就翻身上床了。

Prison Break

2007-05-03T17:19:00.000-04:00

I was watching "Prison Break" since last Friday, and it was so good that I couldn't stop watching it until I finished it. I always like the prison breaking thing, maybe because of my favorite film: "Shawshank Redemption", or because of the two things needed for breaking a prison: intelligence and braveness.I like the escaping story in season 2 too. When escaping with hunters and dogs behind you,

My Google Video: Spain - 西班牙

2007-05-01T17:32:00.000-04:00

Here are the pictures.

Back from Belgium

2007-04-16T08:04:00.000-04:00

[View of Brugge from the tower]This weekend, Moosa and I made a visit to our friends in Belgium, whom we met in Esfahan when we were in Iran last Christmas. It was a very nice trip there, seeing old town Brugge and Gent, of course the capital, Brussels, too.

Trip to Spain

2007-04-16T07:59:00.000-04:00

[Panorama view of Barcelona from Parc Guell]During Easter holiday, Gu Xun and I made a Trip to Spain, visiting Barcelona and Madrid. This is the forth Spanish speaking country I visited so far, after Mexic, Argentina, and Panama.

最长的试验

2007-04-11T16:32:00.000-04:00

今天听一个报告，提到一个持续77年的实验－沥青点滴（The Pitch Drop Experiment），8年才掉一滴下来，77年后只有9滴掉下来了。这个教授获得2005年搞笑诺贝尔奖。

Missed the target by 0.5%

2007-04-03T09:18:00.000-04:00

About the Geography Quiz again, the quiz on April 2nd is: Clue #1 (04/02/07)For more than a century, the only feasible (and safe) route across this wide span of water was a commercial ferry, but then came a plan. Clue #2 (04/02/07)Ocean going commerce along this busy international shipping lane can now look up and see one of the planet's amazing feats of engineering. (This strait of water

Small world

2007-04-01T03:43:00.000-04:00

Last week, my colleague W asked me if I would like to join him with his friend from Natioanal Taiwan University on Saturday to the Keukenhof, also known as the Garden of Europe. I thought it was a good idea, so I decided to go. So did X, my officemate, whose gf is from Taiwan. I was wondering, W's friend is from NTU, he probably knows my NTU friend L I met in Montana in 2004 and San Jose in 2005.

中国最强的钉子户上CNN了

2007-03-29T02:34:00.000-04:00

早上起来打开电视，CNN International，听到里面有中国的新闻，发现是关于重庆那个“中国最强的钉子户”的。那个CNN驻中国的记者好像会成天浏览各大八卦网站看看有什么可利用的新闻资源，因为每次他报道的新闻我一般都会在某些论坛先看到。Youtube上有一个很有意思的关于这个钉子户的MTV。

Interesting physics video on Google

2007-03-22T17:08:00.000-04:00

My Google Video: Iran - 伊朗

2007-03-10T09:14:00.000-05:00

Travel video - Iran, 旅游录像系列之伊朗：

Gizmo web call

2007-03-08T05:50:00.000-05:00

Gizmo project recently released web-based phone calls, which enables calls from web browser to conventional phones. I just had my home phone installed yesterday, so I put a "Call Me" link on my homepage. My friends are welcome to call me by clicking on it. Unfortunately, this phone call is limited to 3min/call and 10min/day.

Ultimate detour

2007-02-22T03:50:00.000-05:00

The distance is 400km from Deggendorf (red dot on the right in the map), Germany to Karlsruhe (red dot on the left), Germany. But to transport one piece of scientific equipment, one has to detour 9000km with multiple segments of river-sea-river-land transportation. This is a story from the back of "Physics Today" (Feb. 2007). A map of the ultimate detour is shown on the right (from this website).

2007年春晚上熟悉的面孔

2007-02-17T17:37:00.000-05:00

今天看2007春晚，突然发现里面出现熟悉的面孔和场景。在赵本山和宋丹丹的小品后面彭丽媛演唱的“报答”里面出现了连续三代领导集体的影像，毛泽东、邓小平和江泽民。在江泽民的里面有一小段是1998年北大百年校庆前江泽民到北大视察的录像，地方是在图书馆，以江核心为中心围了一堆人。右面是从YouTube上的截图，图中显示从左到右是物理96的柏树丰、当时北大校长陈佳洱，还有江核心（此为录像链接，该画面出现在此录像的8分39秒处）。值得一提的是，当天总书记也视察了学五食堂，我当时就在学五吃午饭：那天阴天（可能下了点小雨），我正在学五楼上吃饭，突然发现很多人都围到学五楼上的玻璃窗边向下面观望些什么，我也围过去一看，下面停了两辆中巴车。后来听说江来视察了，当然不奇怪总书记在北大百年校庆前夕来北大视察。然后就看见江上楼来了，很多学生围过来，我也在其中，

思念

2007-02-13T10:57:00.000-05:00

我突然发现我是那么的思念刚离去的亚特兰大。生疏的环境让你思念熟悉的过去。2001年刚到亚特兰大的时候，觉得北京是多么的让我怀念，而亚特兰大的一切就像另外一个世界一样和我没有一点关联。五年之后，在不知不觉当中，我和亚特兰大的一切已经融合在了一起。我对亚特兰大的一切是那么的熟悉，75/85高速公路，Peachtree上的Kroger，经常光顾的中国城，285外的韩国店，市中心的Centennial Olympic Park，学校旁边的Homepark，甚至曾经光顾的一家家快餐店，这个清单我可以一直列下去......。每当想到这些，我就不禁要打开Google Earth去寻觅那曾经熟悉的亚特兰大。然而在亚特兰大的头几年时候我从来没有把亚特兰大看作是我的家，因为我的心仍然生活在留有美好回忆的北大，而我只不过是暂时寄居在亚特兰大。现在又开始重复5年前的过程，我人到了荷兰，心却还在亚特兰大。

Oslo photos

2007-02-10T12:52:00.000-05:00

Back from one week trip to Oslo, Norway. Pictures can be found on Picasaweb:Oslo - 奥斯陆

Farewell, Virgin Skier

2007-02-08T16:29:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, Gerrit, Yuli and I went to a ski resort near Oslo. Only Gerrit and I went for skiing, Yuli decided to walk around the hill because he doesn't enjoy skiing that much. I am a virgin skier because I have no ski experience at all.Before coming to skiing, I did watch some skiing tutorial video on Google Video, but it doesn't give you much sense if you never touched ski boards at all. So

Mao, The Unknown Story

2007-02-04T12:50:00.000-05:00

In a bookstore at Schiphol airport, I was attracted by a book about Chairman Mao: Mao, The Unknown Story. A picture in the book shows Mao's bed with several chairs in front of it, and the description of the picture says: Mao likes to work on the bed, and also likes to summon people from their beds to a meeting in the mid night, Mao also enjoyed a lot on this bed with his numerous girlfriends. Wow

My Google Video: Argentina II - 阿根廷(下)

2007-02-04T02:57:00.000-05:00

Travel video - Argentina II, 旅游录像系列之阿根廷(下)：

My Google Video: Argentina I - 阿根廷(上)

2007-02-02T15:35:00.000-05:00

Travel video - Argentina I, 旅游录像系列之阿根廷(上)：

Don't be late

2007-02-02T05:40:00.000-05:00

Otherwise, you will lose money.Yesterday I checked out the worldatlas.com quiz (2/1/2007) at 10:30am CST. I submitted a pretty obvious answer "Rio de Janeiro, Brazil". And today, I found the answer came out as mine, but the winner is not me because someone from Czech submitted the correct answer two and half hours before me.This has happened to me several times. So be sure on time, otherwise you

My Google Video: Xinjiang

2007-01-29T23:27:00.000-05:00

Google video search for: "jiangxiao, xinjiang", or "jiangxiao, 新疆"

周游伊朗(七) - 德黑兰

2007-01-13T13:44:00.000-05:00

[题图：德黑兰的标志建筑－Azadi Square]1月1日晴早八点起来，八点半在楼下免费自助早餐。期间遇到四个同样住店的在伊朗工作的中国人。早饭后，check out，然后去附近的邮局把我的明信片寄出。之后，我们先打车到机场把行李寄存了（因为我的飞机是明天早上凌晨的），途中经过德黑兰标志性建筑－Azadi Monument，然后开始逛德黑兰。据说德黑兰可看得东西不是太多，一天足够了。但是德黑兰实在太大了，交通又很糟糕（部分原因是因为油价太便宜），所以我们的的士花了两个小时才从机场到城北山底下的原来国王的夏宫－Sadabad Palace。里面有几坐房子，都是欧洲风格的。说实话，我觉得这真称不上是一座宫殿，因为只有零星几座建筑物，不过这个地方倒是不错，树木撑天，背倚大山。其中最重要的是所谓的白宫－White House，这是一座完全欧洲风格的建筑，由德国设计师设计，装饰完全是法国的。

周游伊朗(六) - 蓝天碧水

2007-01-09T15:55:00.000-05:00

[题图：伊斯法罕的三十三孔桥]12月31日晴由于昨天晚上上帝占用了我们太多的睡眠时间，今天早上九点半才起床，吃完早饭已经十点多了，先把房间结了，把行李寄存。之后我们打车来到伊斯法罕的Zayandeh Rud河边继续看昨天没有看完的桥，这条河上有五座古桥，其中又数昨天看过的33孔桥最为有名，也最大。我们先看了看其中一座较小的桥，然后沿着河边的走到33孔桥。在33孔桥两边各有一个很大的喷泉，估计有几十米高。由于今天是什叶派穆斯林的一个节日，所以今天是伊朗的法定假日，有很多伊朗人都出来游玩（我不知道昨天什叶派的伊拉克政府处死逊尼派的萨达姆是巧合还是有意选择昨天）。在河边可以看到三三两两的伊朗人，或情侣或小朋友或老头老太，在河边散步或者休闲，在这蓝天碧水之间，这是一幅多么祥和的图景阿。我不禁怀疑我现在是不是在传说中的伊朗。离开河边，我们打车往城西去，在车上我通过穆萨问司机伊朗油价几何，

周游伊朗(五) - 世界的一半

2007-01-07T15:54:00.000-05:00

[题图：伊斯法罕皇家广场的清真寺]12月30日晴有一谚语说：伊斯法罕是世界的一半。早上一大早我好像听见穆萨推门出去做祈祷（日出前的祈祷），我继续睡到快8点才起床。早餐之后，我们步行来到伊斯法罕著名的 Emom Khomeyni 广场（中文翻译有叫皇家广场或者国王广场），广场建于1602年，据说此广场大小仅次于天安门广场。由于在多年前的世界遗产课上看到过这个广场，所以真的看到的时候有一种似曾相识的感觉。广场大约中央的位置有一个大水池，有几十束喷泉，虽然我来的时候由于天气寒冷，水池已经结冰，但是喷泉还是照样喷水。在广场的四周是一圈两层的伊斯兰风格的建筑，南边中央有一个较大的清真寺（Shah Mosque），东边中央也有一个清真寺，西边中央是一个高高的看台。我们首先来到南边的那个大清真寺，门面确实很大，正值早晨，太阳正好在门的一个角上，照出来的照片带有上帝光环般的光芒，

周游伊朗(四) - 前往伊斯法罕

2007-01-06T15:54:00.000-05:00

[题图：德黑兰至伊斯法罕路边的小店工艺品]12月29日晴早7 点起床，7点半和穆萨去火车站，火车站不大但是条件还算可以，至少有饮水机。8点半的火车晚点一个小时，候车期间我和穆萨讨论妇女地位的问题，当然他持传统的伊斯兰教观点，我持自由平等的观点。虽然穆萨伊斯兰观点很根深蒂固，但是穆萨不会强词夺理，非常乐意讨论各种话题。9 点半我们上了火车。火车条件也不错，我们坐的所谓一等舱，座位宽敞，乘坐舒适，火车上还提供免费早餐和矿泉水。火车票价非常便宜，从zanjan到德黑兰大概300公里只要大约1.5欧元。后来发现一等不是真正的一等，还有更好的特等，座位更软，服务估计也更好，不过我觉得不如我们坐的一等舒服，因为座位宽度不如一等的宽，而且比较热。铁路沿着山脉之间的峡谷而建。火车在雪山之间，蓝天之下，白雪之上驰骋，使人有一种独立于世俗之外的感觉。途中的每一个火车站都可以看见明显的两个指示牌，

周游伊朗(三) - 雪山与美女

2007-01-05T15:53:00.000-05:00

[题图：雪山下下的赞疆城]12月28日雪/晴早上8点，我一觉醒来，阳光从窗户射了进来，我一阵暗喜，想又能看见昨天见到的那画一样的雪白的远山了。推开窗户一看，外面的积雪更厚了。我洗漱好，出门去餐厅用早餐，门外积雪很深，有的地方踩下去几乎到膝盖。整个餐厅就我一个人，有一个厨师，给我端来一盘烙饼、一碗白砂糖、一碗块糖、一些黄油、奶烙、果酱等和一壶茶。Zanjan 气候非常干燥，所以我喝了很多的茶。Zanjan 海拔一千五百多米，又在山区，气候干燥，从各个方面来看都非常像美国的 Denver。上午9点半，穆萨的朋友巴巴克来叫我坐中巴去IASBS，来到他们办公室，我在IASBS里面稍微转了转，拍了些外面的雪景。可惜的是天已经变阴，雪也更大了，所以远处的盖雪的山已经看不见了。后来我们讨论了些巴巴克最近的研究工作和关于这里的人文地理。在里海（Caspian Sea）和黑海（Black Sea）

周游伊朗(二) - 初识伊朗

2007-01-04T15:53:00.000-05:00

[题图：赞疆巴扎里的波斯地毯画]12月27日晴/阴/雪飞机大约要飞行五个半小时，上了飞机我先睡了一会。然后在飞机上干了在飞机上该干的一般事情，吃喝拉撒、聊天、看伊朗电影。经过漫长的五个小时，在德黑兰时间凌晨2点钟（德黑兰和荷兰时差为两个半小时），飞机终于降落在了德黑兰梅赫拉巴德国际机场。下飞机到停机坪上，然后机场巴士把我们带到了入境大厅。我在入境之前要办理签证，先在一窗口领表填表，在另一银行窗口交40欧元签证费，然后回第一窗口取签证。一切还算顺利，大概半个小时搞定。期间看到一个日本人也在办理签证。有趣的是另外还有三个俄国人也在办理签证，这三个人一眼看去就像黑帮的。其中一个气质不错的一看就知道是老大，一个光头壮小个一看就知道是死跑龙套的，另外一个大胡子瘦高个一看就是杀手不太冷那种，这简直就是标准的黑帮搭配。这三个俄国人只会说俄语，不会英语更不会波斯语。其中老大坐在一旁什么也不管，