Passport is full

We have just returned from our 17 day trip to Beijing and Dubai, and now I wonder how long it will be before we’re off on another adventure. It probably won’t be long given our track record over the past year. We were thinking about it while we were in China and counted that since we met we have been to 13 different countries. We’re going to have to get pages added to our passports when we get back.

Now a bit about China and Dubai. China was a lot of fun and fortunately, we were able to mix in some fun stuff with all the meetings I was attending. Since this was a lighting meeting, it was really nice to see some old friends, ones that I have know for many years. And of course, it was nice to make some new friends too. The meeting was the 26^th quadrennial meeting of the CIE (International Commission on Illumination). The first 3 days were presentations and the symposium part of the meeting and the last three days were the Division and Technical Committee meetings. I am the chair of TC5.22 which is working on how to better define outdoor luminaire beam patterns and I was reporter on Outdoor lighting and Ecosystems. I say was, because now I have volunteered to progress the reportership into a Technical Committee to develop a guideline to help minimize the impacts of lighting on wildlife and ecosystems. It should be fun, but will be a lot of work. On our last day in Beijing we attended the 2^nd Annual IDA Asia-Pacific Regional Meeting. We had about 40 people in attendance. Overall, it was a really good meeting. I was surprised to see how much support we have in China and how many of the people in lighting there have realized that it is the quality of the lighting that is important, not the quantity.

While in China we were able to go to the Great Wall, Ming Tombs, Tian’anmen Square, the Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, the Summer Palace, Beihei Park, a Lamasary, and our hotel was very close to the new Olympic Village. Yes, we did see a lot of Beijing. Unfortunately, the food at the hotel wasn’t all that great, but we did get to have a really good dinner at a restaurant called “Hot and Spicy Restaurant.” They are known for their spicy donkey. We didn’t try it, but I’ve heard that it is really good.

Dubai was great, but really hot and humid. Our first night there we ate pizza. After 13 days of nothing but Chinese food we were ready for something a little more Western. We even had Chili’s for lunch the next day. Dubai is known for its shopping and had several huge malls. We went to one on Saturday that has an indoor ski slope. Saturday night we went on a tour out into the desert were we got to ride a camel, smoke a hookah pipe, get a henna tattoo, have dinner, and even learn a little bit of belly dancing. (Actually, I learned a little belly dancing, since I am the one who was dragged up on the stage.)

We are glad to be home now and our little dog seemed to miss us.

As you have guessed, we do have a couple trips planned before we leave Africa. We are planning to go to Lesotho for a few days for our anniversary and will be going to Cape Town around the 1^st of September for some IDA stuff.