Wonder how that air will affect Olympic athletes?

Pollution aside, the course went well enough. The course operator had clearly over-played my qualifications when describing me to the delegates, as I was constantly addressed as 'professor' - nice in one sense, but the very sound of the word had the effect of adding yet a few more years to my already advancing age.

A picture of the 'professor' in full flow, below and of the class relaxing during a break:

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...and of course the inevitable 'applause' shot (as practised in Moscow last year):

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The hotel had an interesting clock - a mix of Disney and London, with Snow White and the seven dwarfs (Miss White hiding behind the tree) on the top display, and Royal Horsguards (without their horses below):

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I was wondering the same thing when taking this picture at Qingdao airport - my thoughts were/are, badly!

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there's that wrong roman numeral 4 on the clock....IIII, not IV...WTF?

I've seen clocks like that before too.

I think it has something to do with it all being backwards and upside down and all, and not confusing IV and VI. It's to help all the stupid people out there

Nice thread and photos Cycle. Thanks for sharing your travels!
I really enjoyed it.

Damn battery ran out on my laptop so couldn't add the last picture below I wanted to while in Dubai - it's in the category, sort of, 'you think you've had the worst in terms of in-flight food, and then....'

Well this little item was dished out on the flight from Qingdao to Beijing along with a bottle of still water - it tasted pretty rubbery and was difficult to swallow - I think it was meant to be shredded and dried squid.

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Now home. The Dubai-London leg was mainly uneventful. I'm not usually one for taking photos out of the plane window, but I thought this last one deserved its place in the collection. It's of northern Iraq, up past Kirkuk and edging twoards the Turkish border - looks quite peaceful in isolation and therefore it's hard to associate this picture with the blood that is still being consistently shed in this country.

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I've seen this before on clocks - I think around the time this was made there was a global shortage of Vs. Probably a clockmaker's licence (a bit like prosaic and poetic licences) to be able to get away with this sort of thing.

We've had the clock discussion before..

Thanks for taking us along. Not one 'are we there yet' from us, although you may have uttered it a couple times.

In the US, all University/college lecturers seem to be addressed as professor, and the Chinese aften follow American protocol on such things, so therein may lie your answer to that one. :)

Damn - and there was me thinking I had impressed them beyond their expectations....

... and, just when I think I'm all done, I inevitably find something else I meant to mention - the double glazing salesman has arrived! (seen en route to Qingdao airport)

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