Beijing, China

We arrived in freezing Beijing on the night of December 27th and made our way to our hotel near the forbidden city. Our hotel, the Sha Tan, was incredibly posh for the money we paid, but unfortunately it was a considerable distance from the metro, which made for some bone-chilling walks each day. On Monday the 28th, I made my way to the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP), which holds the majority of China's most treasured fossils. I had previously met Dr. Liu Wu in South Africa while we were both studying in Johannesburg and Cape Town, which made working at IVPP considerably easier. One of the best things about working at IVPP was getting to eat lunch in the cafeteria, which served truly authentic Chinese food. I quickly learned that "lunch break" is a very loose concept in China, which meant that I really only had a few hours each day to get any work done. However, this did give me plenty of opportunity to visit the adjoining Paleozoological Museum, which is the only museum I've ever visted entirely devoted to fossils. While at IVPP had the opportunity to study a number of important fossil specimens such as Luijiang, Maba, and Lantian, as well as casts from Zhoukoudian (original fossils were lost during WWII), Jinniushan and Nanjing. Despite the freezing temperatures we also had the opportunity to visit some incredible sights such as the Forbidden City, Summer Palace, and the Great Wall! Making the experience even better was the opportunity to meet up with Lewisville, TX friends the Sloan's and Cooper's who were in Beijing teaching English with "Let's Start Talking."