Nanjing
Visited Nanjing for the 2026 Workshop on New Physics and Interdisciplinary Sciences. It was a pleasure to discuss physics with new and old friends. I spoke about forthcoming work on the axion quality problem; a nice work to discuss as it has a clear narrative. Nowadays I try to tell a compelling story about our research - why we did it, how we think about the problem, what we found and why it matters - rather than a complete technical exposition of the work.
A personal highlight was a chance to revisit Stone Elephant Road, a path lined with huge stone sculptures of horses, elephants, camels and dragons to guard a mausoleum.
Shushan
Visited Shushan, a village in northwestern Suzhou at the base of a mountain. Thoroughly enjoyed the boardwalk through the terraced tea farms and fruit orchards.
The grace and stamina of the workers picking the tea was inspiring. I've since read that they are growing Biluochun tea, one of the ten great teas of China, and that the mixture of tea gardens and fruit orchards enhances the flavor of the tea.
Tags: travel