Great W'All. Not.

WEDNESDAY, 31 OCTOBER 2012. On our trips through Hangzhou, we passed a replica "Great Wall" with faux stone attached to its facade and an amusement park behind. After one local taxi driver insisted that it was the real thing--NOT--we determined that we must visit, for better or worse. (One of the themes of the conference was globalization and cultural tourism.) So we steeled ourselves on our last day in China and headed over there. (The local professor who agreed to drive us couldn't believe our folly and refused to enter.) As we walked through the complex, our Asian host was aghast: much of it was so poorly done and clearly artificial. We threw ourselves into the experience, nonetheless, and I left with some blackmail-worthy photos of some very big names in the field. And there may be some, uh, "amusing" photos of me, as well. Er...enough said... The Chinese professor returned to take us for a sumptuous lunch at a restaurant that featured fresh, local food. Before sitting, you passed through a lobby with a display of produce and herbs on one side--some of it still in pots--and live fish on the other. It was the menu! It was a wonderful meal, with an overabundance of food, as usual. We persuaded the professor to take some of the remains home, but his four go boxes failed to put a dent in all of it. From there, we went to the airport for our flight to Taiwan. We checked into our hotel shortly before midnight. The lobby decor seemed a fitting end to a rather surreal day.