More China Trip- Long Entry but Worth the Read

Okay folks, feeling much better; there is nothing like a quick (8 minute,) and expensive ($15.50) long distance phone call to fix a case of homesickness. I know, silly, silly, but the magic of crying long distance to James and hearing about his day of working on the mundane tasks of going to the Cloverdale house and what he plans to buy at Costco worked wonders.

And let’s face it; my standard method of fixing emotional turmoil was just not available in China. No Taco Time and my buddies Ben and Jerry haven’t made the trip to Guangzhou. Months of therapy couldn’t get me to stop using my food crutch; just needed to leave the country!

The trip to China was good; spent quite a few days with Lily (sourcing coordinator at AMMEX Shanghai,) Andrea (sales and marketing at AMMEX Shanghai,) and Gladys (country manager at AMMEX Shanghai.) These ladies took very good care of me. Lily with her maternal instincts served me food when those slippery noodles wouldn’t stay on my chopsticks as well as cooling those same noodles when I couldn’t get them out of the broth; Andrea offering translations throughout long Chinese conversations so I wouldn’t feel totally out of the loop; and Gladys being the social coordinator with trips to markets, dinners, and hitting some of the tourist spots.

On Friday night Gladys and I went to the children’s market where I purchased some toys and a Lightning McQueen backpack for Reyde. Have scheduled to send it home with Mark Wen on the 29th of October. Reyde can use this for his trip to Manila. Went to dinner at a tourist spot in Shanghai where many Westerners hang out. I think it is spelled Shiantinti. After dinner we walked around and met up with Gladys’s husband Wesley for dessert. First time I’ve gone to a Haggen Daas ice cream parlor and been offered a menu to choose my flavor and then been served by a waitress! Good place to people watch; for a change the tours were white people in a group with a tour guide carrying a colored bike flag rather than an Asian group. The same blank facial expression transcends races as well as the standard issue fanny pack and camera around the neck.

Saturday morning Lily picked me up and we headed off to visit the micro fiber towel factory. Spent about 6 hours touring the factory, learning how towels are made, speaking with the sales manager, having lunch at the local hotel, and reviewing additional samples and product available from the factory. The machines are incredible; I have never seen a spool of thread as large as is used to make towels (roughly the size of a 5 gallon bucket,) and am very thankful that my sewing machine at home only has 1 string to thread. The size of the knitting machines I would guess to be 14 feet long, 10 feet wide- this includes the walking platform for the worker to watch the machine, and 9 feet tall. I can’t even begin to guess how many threads are strung to make the towels; you can judge from the photos. Saturday evening I went to dinner with Gladys and some friends of Fred. The food is absolutely incredible. The highlight of this meal was the smoked duck meat; noodles with ground pork and hot pepper sauce; and the green beans sautéed in wine and bacon.

Sunday was basically a travel day. Lily, Gladys and I flew to Guangzhou and met up with Andrea whom had flown in from Beijing. Andrea traveled with Gene and Steven from AMMEX USA to be their interpreter in Beijing. Guangzhou is in the southern part of China and the weather is very similar to Manila. The humidity very high and the temperatures were at 30 degrees Celsius, 88 degrees Fahrenheit. Checked into the hotel, went to lunch at a Vietnam noodle restaurant, happened upon the local Starbucks, and checked email. Sunday was the hardest day for me as far as homesickness. That’s the day I spent the money on the call. The ladies went shopping in the afternoon while I checked email at the hotel; later this evening we went to a Korean restaurant for Korean style Hot Pot. Had my first try of sautéed lettuce. It’s common over in China to cook lettuce and eat it rather than make a salad. Just a tad slimy but did give it a try.

Monday was the day at the Canton fair. It is hard to explain the size of the show; two arenas the size of Safeco Field and Qwest field combined (so 4 arenas total.) with 4 floors of vendors. The factories and import/export companies spend a lot of money on decorating the booths, adding lighting, carpeting, and display shelves to try and differentiate themselves. Due to the size of the show, these factories and i/e trade companies are situated right next to their competitors as the show is divided by region and by product. It’s like AMMEX at a trade show placed right next to Ansell Edmont, Safety Zone, and Microflex.

One of my customers is looking for a mini fridge, so we spent quite a bit of time in the fridge/freezer area. Saw a new product on the market that I think could be a big seller for AMMEX China Direct. It is a mini fridge with car adapter in the shape of a soccer ball. Fridge holds 6 cans and can be logoed and produced in a variety of colors. Only 924 pieces in a 20-foot container. Will pursue this item for the soccer clubs really soon.

Lunch was served in the basement. They are very prepared for large crowds. 5 choices of food, repeated down the entire length of the cafeteria. The Indian pizza piqued my interest; I thought I might get cheese in China! Not so much, Indian pizza had toppings like beef and chicken curry, peanut sauce, and bananas. Settled for beef noodles and ice tea. In stark contrast to a USA trade show, no hot dogs, beer, nachos, ice cream, hamburgers, pizza, or garlic fries. The flavor was excellent and the beef had hardly any fat; now for those of you who don’t know me quite so well, I like my beef well done and rather enjoy the charcoaled tough bits of meat. Thought I found a tasty morsel of well-done beef in my soup; promptly put it in my mouth and chewed. NOT BEEF. Was a piece of star anise spice. Rather large chunk, and I didn’t realize this until I found another piece and asked Gladys what it was. She said, “Oh, don’t eat that, it’s just used for flavoring.” Too late, enjoyed the flavor the rest of the afternoon and into the evening with indigestion. I liken it to burping burnt black liquorices with a hint of beef.

After spending the day at the show, we went back to the hotel to await dinner with the factory owner, production manager, and salesman of the metal box/security box factory we work with.

If I may take a step back in the days…Ryan is he salesman for the box factory. On Sunday afternoon while the Shanghai team was shopping, there was a knock on my hotel door. I look through the peephole and see a Chinese man in his mid 20’s standing at the door.

I say, “You must have the wrong room.”

“Ummm, no are you Wendy?”

“Yes.”

“I am Ryan, I have Lily and Andrea’s passes.”

Nice first impression. Ryan meets a crazy American with a very concerned tone of voice not wanting to open her hotel room door. Let alone the greasy been traveling all day hair and sweaty complexion. Nice.

Fast forward to Monday evening. Ryan phones to say that his Uncle and he are waiting down on the street to go to dinner. Lily, Gladys, Andrea and I head down. We get out into the street and I see Ryan, but not his uncle standing next to him. Maybe he chose not to come to dinner. But then just like a scene in a movie, this older Chinese man catches my attention; he is squatting in a raised flowerbed having a smoke. He jumps down, throws his cigarette away, gets a big grin on his face and extends his hand. This is the factory owner? Fred and Mark had mentioned that he had worked very hard to make a better life for himself, and so his old country ways were still part of his personality. I guess so; he looked completely at ease squatting in the vegetation of a raised flowerbed on a street as busy as the downtown streets around Pike Place market, as if it were the farming country. Can you imagine the owner of your company doing this?

We had dinner at a Macao style restaurant. The plates and cups were all decorated with Christmas trees, holly, and poinsettias. Lily tells me that the Canton province is known for its soups, and we hade a lovely fish broth for starters. Lily, who might weigh 95 lbs and eats more than Andrea and I combined at most meals, asked if the soup had chunks of fish or vegetables; the waiter lifts out a fish head to show us that we are to enjoy the broth only. Gotcha. No need to eat the eyeball of a fish for Wendy. The highlight of this meal for Andrea and I was the baked pumpkin. Steamed pumpkin in a peanut and cream cheese sauce. It was simply delicious. No green beans in this meal; just green vegetables. The green vegetables are similar in texture and look of steamed spinach, but there is no translation. Gladys just tells me they are green veggies. Okay, will give them a try. Not too slimy, was able to get passed the texture moment.

After dinner, I went back to the hotel and packed. Then headed down for a foot massage. The foot massages in China are incredible. For $10, your feet and lower legs are massaged for 45 minutes. So relaxing. Makes your feet feel brand new.

Tuesday morning, Gladys met me at the lobby and went out to the airport to make sure I got through check in and on the plane. Landed back in Manila at 11 am, promptly dropped my bags off and stopped by the office to check in with James. James kept Reyde up hoping that I’d call; and Reyde was gracious enough to take my call. It was so good to hear his voice and have a 30 second conversation with him Nothing like hearing the love of your life, (sorry James Reyde took your place at the moment,) tell you that he loves you.

Glad to be back in Manila around more familiar surroundings; now can count down the days until my boys arrive.

Odds and ends-
*Elevator etiquette. Both in Manila and China people push the open door/close door buttons to hurry the elevator. Does it really help? I have no idea.
*Elevators are set at a much higher level to close the doors. You know that feeling you get that your arm might get stuck if you try to keep the door from closing? It will get stuck here. Not like in the US where just a little resistant to closing and the elevator doors kick back open.
*Guangzhou had so much more vegetation and trees. All the high rises had trees on the roof top terraces, and decks were full of potted plants. Didn’t see this in the area of Shanghai that I was in.
*Pollution still amazing to me in China. Hopefully the pictures can show you just how bad it is. My throat began to ache on Saturday and didn’t stop until I came back to Manila. Thank goodness for nose hair and whatever other filter material I have in my noise and throat. Too much information coming your way now…the brown mucous I coughed up in the morning and the brown spit as if I had had coffee before brushing my teeth was GROSS.
*Nordstrom service at the hotel in Guangzhou. Saw a bellboy help a very drunk patron walk the lobby and take him up to his hotel room. The man couldn’t stand on his own, slobbering drunk, trying to answer his cell phone, smoke a cigarette and carry on a conversation with the bellboy. In the foot massage area, the waitresses served drinks and lit cigarettes and cigars for the men.
*Chinese business etiquette. Dinner with the box factory owner involved toast after toast after toast. Standing up, bowing, sitting down. I asked Andrea what we were toasting. She said nothing really, just a sign of respect.
*Must learn Chinese so I feel a little less isolated the next trip. I flipped through TV channels searching for an English show. Watched a re-run of America’s Top Model just so I could hear some English. How pathetic is that?

*Just like Gladys trying to translate the green vegetable, I struggled with trying to translate English as well. Amy sent me an email in which she referenced the word Beelzebub. I laughed so hard at her email that the ladies wanted to know what it was about. Totally a “you had to be there,” moment. I couldn’t explain the concept.

*My version of Fast Food Nation/Supersize me....Starbucks Planet. Yes, have had Starbucks in Shanghai and Guangzhou. Have spetn $11 US to buy a mug that says Guangzhou. What a good idea Starbucks came up with. Will have one that says Manila too.