John Kormendy: Dali and Yunnan, China

The Galaxy Evolution Conference Was Held In The Landscape Hotel in Dali.

Front of the Landscape Hotel (John Huchra was present in spirit if not in body. You are not forgotten, John!)

The checkin foyer of the hotel was in the back of this ornate atrium. Chinese artistry was evident throughout Dali.

This is the other side of the entrance foyer, opposite to checkin. (Scroll right to see the complete panorama.)

More decorations in the Landscape Hotel

Second floor of our wing of the Landscape Hotel. Our room is just outside the picture on the right. (Scroll right to see the complete panorama.)

John's talk was rescheduled for the afternoon of the first day of the meeting. A cold, caught originally in Budapest a few weeks before, flared up badly in the cold of the conference hotel (especially its restaurant), so John had a fever and was barely able to give his talk. He got better, enough to take active part in the rest of the conference.

This dinner at the meeting had wonderful company but very bad background noise. Clockwise around the table from John's empty seat: unknown, Sandy Faber (U C Santa Cruz), Dave Koo (U C Santa Cruz), unknown, Luis Ho (Director of the Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Peking U), Luca Ciotti (U Bologna), unknown, and Mary. All the named people have been good friends for many decades or (in the case of Luca) became good friends at this conference.

The young ladies who passed around the microphones during conference discussions usually wore traditional Bai cultural dress. Nice touch. Mary was not asleep...

Dali

Cultural traditions were prominent all over Dali -- one of the most scenic and vibrant cities that we have ever visited. Mary met these people by accident, and they graciously consented to have their picture taken.