About Me
I was editor of the Swarthmore College Bulletin from 1992 to 2012. This China trip was under the auspices of the Swarthmore Alumni College Abroad, and was led by Professor Haili Kong, who teaches Chinese language and literature at the college. I hope you enjoy this blog about China.
This was my second trip to Asia. In January 2006, I accompanied the Swarthmore Alumni College Abroad, led by Associate Professor of Religion Stephen Hopkins, to Vietnam and Cambodia. A blog from that trip is here.
In 2010 and 2011, I returned to Southeast Asia, specifically to go to Cambodia as a member of a house-building team for the Tabitha Foundation. Ever since the 2006 Swarthmore trip to Vietnam and Cambodia, I have been drawn back to Cambodia by its beauty, its people, and its needs. My 2010 trip, which included a side trip to Laos, is chronicled here. The 2011 trip, on which I was accompanied by my son, Joseph Lott, is the subject of this blog.
Your comments on Swarthmore China 2007 are welcome.
In 2006, we explored Angkor Wat in Cambodia with the Swarthmore Alumni College Abroad. (Photo by Stephen Hopkins)
Swarthmore in China 2007 
Jeff,
I’m sorry not to be tagging along as your roomate with a parallel blog this time, but am looking forward to your reporting of the coming few weeks. There will be another Kalkstein along on the trip though; don’t believe any of the stories she tells you about me! Enjoy!!
Jeff – my colleague Chris has sent this link on to me. I wish you an amazing journey to China – the itinerary looks great and you are sure to learn a great deal along the road. I am representing CASE at the Association of Chinese University Foundations meeting in Xi’an in December.
Happy travels,
Krista
Jeff, tracking you from Saratoga Springs. Have a fabulous trip, and I’d like an order of ginger beef and snow peas. K
Jeff,
We’re tracking you from New Mexico. You’re look’n good! Have a marvelous adventure, and keep us posted.
Gail et all
Jeff,
Hope you have a great trip to China! I’ll try to follow your blog, if I can get this RSS thing to work for me.
The US-China relationship and Chniese society have both certainly changed dramatically in our lifetime. I wonder what the future will bring?
Any predictions?
Sean
This is a typical Jeff Lott misdirection exercise. I tune in to learn about China, and get an education in astronomy and polar aviation.
I am, however, glad to see that there are not yet palm trees in Siberia, and still ice at the north pole. All of those cold crinkled mountains look very harsh–a reminder that the next ice age will likely make global warming look like a picnic.
Good blog already, Jeff! I look forward to the coming installments.
Sounds like everything is going well -still try to set the BR meeting – you may be back in time.
Jeff, Thanks for including me. I’m loving it. Great job of reporting. Hope you are reserving some time for R & R plus sleep. Joan
Thank you so much for recording our trip in detail and especially for the photographs. It is a great pleasure to relive our trip by reading this blog.
Jeff,
I loved my vicarious China trip with you! I’ve been able to get to the whole thing now due to lack of time. Is the panda blog the last one? or are more coming? How did China compare with Vietnam? It sounds much more commercial. I sensed that Vietnam might seem more “western” due to the past colonial presence there, did you feel this on location?
Anne
More to come: Terra cotta warriors, musings on the afterlife, a visit to a Chinese mosque, and a whirlwind look at Shanghai.
It’s hard to compare China and Vietnam. China is obviously bigger, developing faster, wealthier, and more tightly controlled politically and socially.
Jeff
Jeff