Diary of my time in Asia during the Spring and Summer of 2012.

1st entry, the wedding on May 12th. Harbin. Fifty photographs and a short essay on marriage.

2nd entry, some street scenes on May 12th. Harbin. Fifteen photographs taken from a car and some pictures of food.

3rd entry, A visit to Dragon Tower in Harbin on May 13th. Tianhua and Annie took me out for an adventure.

4th entry, A walk I took around the neighborhood of Heilongjiang University going west of the campus.

5th entry, On May 16th, a visit to Zhihong’s class, and then meal in a faculty home.

6th entry, On May 17th, a lecture on the topic of immigration and ethnicity in the United States.

7th entry, On May 18th, a sort of reunion of exchange faculty in Zhao Chuan-Min’s home. After that A visit to a shopping area to the east of campus.

8th entry, On May 19th, a day at the Harbin Botanical Gardens.

9th entry, On May 20th, a day with a group of faculty families outdoors near the river.

10th entry, On May 22nd Chuan-Min brought me to the Temple of Bliss (Ji Le Temple) in Harbin.

11th entry, On May 24th the faculty of the School of Western Studies participated in the opening ceremonies of Sports Day.

12th entry, On May 25th several faculty visited the Harbin Botanical Gardens.

13th entry, On May 26th I was at Rear Window preparing my presentation.

14th entry, On May 27th I went to the Golden Jaguar restaurant with Chuanmin and met some English teachers there.

15th entry, On May 30th I visited a class, gave two presentations, and had a party in my apartment with some faculty visiting from Vermont and some graduate students.

16th entry, On May 31st I gave a presentation and went out for a dinner before taking a train to Beijing.

17th entry, On June 1st my family arrived in Beijing, and we went to the museum of women and children.

18th entry, On June 2nd we went to the Forbidden Palace in the morning.

19th entry, On June 2nd during the afternoon we visited Bei Hai Park, Jingshan Park, and Wangfujing Avenue.

20th entry, On June 3nd we went to the Beijing Zoo and the Summer Palace.

21st entry, On June 4th we went to the Temple of Heaven in the morning.

22nd entry, On June 4th we took a train to Chengde in the afternoon.

23rd entry, During the morning of June 5th we visited Putuozongcheng Temple and Xumifushou Temple.

24th entry, During the afternoon of June 5th we visited Puning and Pule temples in Chengde.

25th entry, On June 6th in the morning we visited the Qing Dynasty palace in Chengde's Summer Resort.

26th entry, On June 6th in the afternoon we walked around the Summer Resort in Chengde, and then took a train to Dandong in the evening.

27th entry, On June 7th we arrived in Dandong, and went to see the eastern end of the Great Wall at Tiger Hill.

28th entry, On June 8th we walked around Dandong and visited the Korean War Museum, and then took a train toward Beian.

29th entry, On June 9th we visited some sites around Wudalianchi.

30th entry, On June 10th we visited the black volcano at Wudalianchi.

31st entry. On June 12th we visited the Heilongjiang University Museum.

32nd entry. On June 13th I gave two presentations.

33rd entry. On June 14th we went out for lunch with Shenmin and Zhou Ping.

34th entry. On June 16th we celebrated Sebastian’s birthday.

35th entry. On June 19th we visited Polar World on Sun Island and we went out for dinner with Tianhua.

36th entry. On June 20th Sebastian gave a talk and we went out for dinner with T.C.

37th entry. On June 21st we went to the Unit 731 Museum and went for dinner with our friend “Left”.

38th entry. On June 22nd we went to the science museum in Harbin’s Sun Island, and then in the late afternoon we went to Ashley’s three-year-old birthday party.

39th entry. On June 23rd we went to the river early in the morning for the Dragon Boat Festival, and then in the afternoon we went to Achun City (near Harbin) to see the Jin Dynasty museum.

40th entry. On June 24th we went out for lunch and dinner with friends, and generally walked around campus.

41st entry. On June 25th we took a train to Mudanjiang.

42nd entry. On June 26th we toured the Mudanjiang Normal College campus, went to North Hill Park, and Eric gave a lecture.

43rd entry. On June 27th we went to Jingpu Lake.

44th entry. On June 28th Eric gave a lecture in the morning and in the afternoon. We walked around campus, and Eric went to the Mudanjiang River.

45th entry. On June 29th we woke up early, played soccer, saw some Korean cultural activities, and took a train to Harbin.

46th entry. On June 30th we went to the Harbin Botanical Garden.

47th entry. On July 1st we went to Xiuli’s home for lunch, visit with Left in our apartment, and went to the Beer Festival with T.C. on the birthday of the Communist Party.

48th entry. On July 3rd we went to the Russian villa.

49th entry. On July 4th we had a hot pot in downtown Harbin, and had dinner with Wenpei and his family.

50th entry. On July 5th. We packed, went out for special meals with friends, and tried to say good-bye to our friends in China. There was a special dinner for us.

51st entry. We flew from Harbin to Taiwan on July 6th, and went straight to Chiayi for a few days.

52nd entry. We were in Chiayi from July 6th through the 12th. We spent our time with family and friends.

53rd entry. On July 10th we went for a day-trip to Ershui to see Third Sister and her family.

54th entry. On July 11th we went for a day-trip to Kaohsiung to visit our friends from Springfield.

55th entry. On July 12th we took an evening train to Taitung and stayed overnight in Taitung. On the morning of Friday the 13th we took a boat to Green Island.

56th entry. On July 13th through the 15th we spent a weekend on Green Island.

57th entry. On July 14th we did went snorkeling on Green Island.

58th entry. On July 15th we left Green Island and drove up the east coast through Taitung and Hualien counties; we arrived in Taipei at night.

59th entry. We were in Taipei from July 15th through July 19th when we left Taiwan.

60th entry. Eric stopped in Seoul to see his friend M.J. Hwang on the evening of July 19th and morning of July 20th.

61st entry. We were all back in Saint Louis by the afternoon of July 20th, and then we came back to Springfield on the 21st of July.