Sense and Sensibility-ness-ing-ly

Shanghai > Sydney > Brisbane

Sorry for the delay on this post. Once I made it home, there really wasn't the chance (nor the inclination) to sit down in front of a computer screen for too long. A 13-month old pair of legs and arms made sure of that, once he realised it was Daddy who came in through the front door!!

Again, woke up kinda casually, and with no car horns. WOO HOO! The best bit was that no alarm was required, which was a change to every other day in the past two weeks. Last time for a while, too. Too many late nights in China caught up with me, and I hadn't been sleeping too well the past couple of nights, so any extra minutes today would help. It was gonna be a big one...

Had a casual breakfast with Adam, and then packed up, checked out, checked my bags in with the concierge, and off to explore Shanghai.

Went to a really touristy part of Shanghai (nex to the YuYuan Gardens) - walked around, and did some bargaining for Morrison (got him the 1GB Sony Memory Stick he was after for AUD$45!), and also Adam and I got an outfit for our children (he has a girl, about 8, and of course I've got Luke). I was going to pay for the outfits (bargained down, of course) but Adam insisted that he pay for both - a gift from his family to our family. Far too generous is that young man.

As we wandered around further I noticed that again we were looking at more of the 'facade' of China - shops along the front, and if you stuck your head down one of the little alleys that were scattered here and there you saw how the shopkeepers and their families and any number of other people really lived... just amazing. I guess you take what you can get in a place like Shanghai. Also found a guy selling rolexes... so grabbed one for AUD$20. Bargain! All part of the rite of passage for all westerners visiting China - and if it lasts for a couple of weeks, it cost me $20! Big deal!

Just next to this touristy shopping place was a extremely beautiful temple/gardens area... so Adam arranged a couple of tickets and in we went. You can see from some of the photos it was just beautiful and typical older style chinese architecture - lots of windows capturing vistas and views, lots of turns and openings into new areas... just lovely.

From there, McDonalds for lunch (mmm... cheeseburger!), and then off to Nanjing Road for some more shopping, and hopefully some shoes. Pretty quickly that was put to rest - Nanjing Road is a great place to look and spend a lot of money if you want to spend a lot of money. LOTS of money. Didn't find any shoes either - I think all my size get exported. It's also nowhere near as dramatic to walk through during the day as it was at night - all lit up it is quite incredible. At the other end of the road, right there, it was time to say goodbye to Adam (he had a much earlier plane than I). Really look forward to working with him more, and definitely looking forward to hopefully working with him back in China in August. That will be awesome.

Had a bit of a walk myself too around Nanjing Road - checked out the multi-storey department stores, and found nothing special that I wouldn't have seen already in Australia (just that the signs weren't in English and everybody looked like they were from China... hang on, that's right, they were...). So, after poking my nose in here and there, I decided to go for a walk - which in hindsight I think was pretty brave. Very few chinese language skills, no map, no idea where to go but a vague idea that I "thought" the hotel was up this way somewhere, and a couple of notes with phrases from Adam written in chinese in case I got into trouble and needed a taxi - "please take me to old Jin Jiang Hotel", "please take me to the Pudong International Airport", etc, etc.

Experienced some 'backstreet' Shanghai - lots of looks, of course, but also lots to see. It was actually quite refreshing to not see the sanitised China I had mostly seen when I was being escorted. I understand the chinese are proud and want visitors to only see the best... but we also want to see what makes the country tick too (well, I reckon). My well-travelled mate Brad would have been proud of me.

As I was crossing the road in one place I got a "hello" from someone, and offered the same back (got to be polite). The conversation continued as I stepped onto the curb and it was a nice chinese couple talking with me, no doubt trying to practice their spoken english (which was pretty good). They were from another province in China, just visiting and sightseeing in Shanghai. We talked for a short time, and they offered for me to come and have a tea with them...  I probably should have, but chose not to as I had no idea who they were, no one knew where I was (except 'in China'), and no idea where they would take me. It probably would have been a wonderful cross-cultural experience... but I chickened out. Maybe I am not as brave as I thought I was.

Just when I didn't know where I was going or where I was headed, I started to realise some buildings, and... hey presto, Hiua Hia Road again! This time, the computer market there was OPEN (not closing like last time), so had a good look around. Got Morrison the other thing on his shopping list (RS-MMC, AUD$45 - I love negotiating), and basically walked around and looked... and worked out (with some discussion) that I could get a PSP for AUD$200!! Plus a whole bunch of other things... wireless web cams, personal DVD players, etc, etc, etc. Get your shopping lists ready for my next possible trip.

After that figured it was time to start the journey home, so taxi back to the hotel, get my bags, then taxi off to Pudong International Airport. As much as I tried to keep my eyes awake for the 45 minute trip to the airport, I just couldn't manage it. I saw our way out of Shanghai city, but missed a lot of the rest of it. Oh well, maybe next time. Once there, waited for the Qantas check-in to open, and got through all of that and then through security clearance and Customs no problem. Had a token look at the duty free stuff on offer - nothing special, so straight downstairs to the partner lounge run for Qantas in Shanghai - pretty average! Nothing like the ones in Australia, or I am sure anywhere else. Will have to check out the Hong Kong one next chance I get, as I am told it is pretty good.

As I went to get into the lounge 3 ladies that I was talking to in the line cornered me and asked if I was a QC member, and if so could I sign one of them in as only one of them was a QC member and could only sign in one of them! Talk about given no choice! Signed the lady in and then checked my e-mail on what was the slowest internet connections I have experienced in the last couple of weeks! At least the couches were comfortable, the coke cold, and the conversation actually quite interesting. One of the ladies owned her own costume jewellery thing, and had been in China (to where I went on Sunday!) to buy stock. Her other friend did wedding flowers and stuff, and was over here with her to buy flowery things. The third (and one I signed in)... I have no idea, but she just annoyed me. I think she owned a bed and breakfast with her husband somewhere on the North Shore of Sydney. All three also had a 5 day trip around a bit of eastern China, which they didn't rate the organisation on, but enjoyed China.

The flight was pretty dull (although with the number of chinese people on it headed for Sydney, I think we were bringing an episode of Border Security with us!), I finished watching "Traffic" (had about an hour to go), watched all the episodes of The Office (UK version) they had and tried to watch "Syriana" but too tired and fell asleep. The bit I saw looked great, though. Will have to watch it later. Looked out my window at one point and just saw a MASS of lights - found out by asking the pilot later that was Manilla in the Phillippines... and no one there knows how to turn a light off!

Slept very poorly on the plane, and in the end woke just before 6am local time and just before they turned on the lights on for breakfast. Tried to get Michelle something throught the inflight shopping, but what I was after sold out on the leg over from Australia, so I will have to make sure I get it on the way over next time. Damn - when I saw it on the way over to Hong Kong I knew I should have got it then. Off in Sydney, through security and Customers no problems, made sure I picked up some Krispy Kremes (mmm... krispy kremes...) and then through the domestic transfers to get over to the domestic terminal to sit in the QC here and have breakfast and check my e-mail, etc. Got to chat with the pilot from our flight during the bus ride over about his security woes (he has to check through in Australia like everyone else - belt and shoes off, etc, etc, etc), his training experience (spent time in Beijing training pilots for regional airlines) and the joys of flying for Qantas. I was surprised he shared as much as he did, but then I am hardly a security risk.

Packed (and I do mean PACKED) into the plane to Brisbane, and managed to sleep most of the way home. Conveniently woke up for the lemon/lime cake that was offered, and then back to sleep (neat trick, huh?!). Couldn't even use any points to upgrade my seat to business class... oh well, probably not worth it anyway just for a comfy one hour sleep. Out of the plane, got my bag, taxi home... ahhh... as much fun as it was to travel and see China and all that - it was magical to see my wife and my son again. He's grown since I've been away (the clothes we got him before I left were just a bit too long - now a bit too short), and Michelle looked as gorgeous as ever, and not the least bit chinese. Not sure what that means, but it was awesome to see them both, and Michelle's parents too.

Let's face it, family around you, lamb roast with all the trimmings for dinner - why wouldn't you come home to all of that!

Shanghai

Woke to a pretty nice morning in Shanghai... In fact, probably the nicest morning yet. Who would live anywhere else? This was the first morning that I wasn't woken at some point by the car horns outside... even though the hotel complex is right on a pretty major road, it is a little protected by the massive garden area surrounding it.

Getting a taxi was easy - there they were, waiting at the hotel. It would be the last time today! Got to the office building OK, and then up to the 6th floor where I expected to spend the morining at ASSA ABLOY Shanghai (a sales office for the ASSA ABLOY brands). I found out soon enough that all the business units share the same premises on the 6th floor, so we were there all day. Met with Cerry Zhou (Executive Assistant to the Managing Director), and she helped us in explaining how everything kinda hangs together. Kinda is probably the word, as pretty much every PC is an setup for the individual and there is no common directory or server... but that's OK. A place like this will benefit most from the plans as far as what we can offer when we connect the China businesses all to the ASSA ABLOY Asia Pacific network.

After that meeting, I spent time catching up on things, and helping solve some issues back in Sherwood. Also took a couple of phone calls from the grads and a couple of VP's re: their living arrangements. It sounds like something will be sorted out for them so that they have somewhere a little more suitable that the hovels they are in now. Where they are might be OK by China standards, but they certainly aren't by Australian standards. Poor guys. They are most worried that they are causing trouble - but both I and the Residential VP have assured them they are not. Probably created an international incident (wouldn't be the first!), but I know if I was in their situation and was offered the place they put the grads to live for 6 months, they'd be finding me a hotel or I'd be on the next ferry/plane home, resignation already submitted.

Adam took me to a restaurant on the third floor of the building that the AA offices are in - Yuxin Sichuan Dish - a Sezchuan restaurant, very spicy.

By very spicy I mean that almost every orifice in my body started watering the minute I stepped inside the door of the restaurant, so thick was the chilli in the air. He ordered a little too much food for only two of us (pretty easy, considering we have been eating with a group of people almost consistently for the past 10 days), so we couldn't eat it all but we enjoyed what we did have. Lots of different tastes again, highlighting the regional variancess of chinese food. Poor Adam started sweating after his first bite - he says that spicy food always does that to him. I was OK until I had some of the steamed pork rib... it had some spices on it that when they touched my lips they turned them numb for about 5 minutes!!! Very weird feeling, and I am sure I will get it again... later... somewhere else... The food really was good, just a shame we couldn't do all of it.

Back upstairs to do more work - Adam was busy following through on preparations for the domain migration and getting prices and testing, I was on the phone with people (including my parents who had to ring and make sure I wasn't washed away in the latest round of floods in China) and sorting out stuff back in Australia. Kept us busy all afternoon. So busy in fact, that I didn't realise it had started raining about 2pm... so when it was time to go, it was doing a pretty good job of getting us wet while trying (and I do mean trying) to get a taxi back to the hotel. I think just about everyone else in Shanghai decided to get a taxi home tonight because it was raining... so it was tough to get one. Eventually we did (there are no taxi ranks, so you are basically jumping out in front of a vacant taxi as it drives along to convince it to stop), and came back and sorted ourselves out as far as drying off, etc.

So, downstairs at about 7:30pm and off we go - to try our luck going geek shopping on Hiua Hia Rd - apparently the best place to go looking for a bargain. Found one computer market that was closing at like 8pm, so had a bit of a look but nothing much. I am surprised it is as hard as it is to find 'after market' software and hardware when that seems to be all you hear about - probably a good thing. Sorry Morrison and Garth - no chance of finding what you wanted me to find, but I will keep your things in a list ready for when I return to China in August... the computer market in Xiaolan is going to cop a hiding from me when I go back!!

So - my turn to take Adam to dinner. Being the creative genius that I am, I decided that we would have to try chinese KFC to ensure its authenticity and as quality control. You can't have these multi-national food giants telling us that KFC in China tastes the same as KFC in Australia - someone has to keep them honest, and it may as well be me. It was surprisingly good... although I am not entirely sure that the chicken in my burger was chicken, but until I am otherwise convinced I will believe it to be the case. After that we walked along the road and really couldn't find anything else of interest, so we decided to get a taxi to go and look at the Bund - historical buildings lit up for the tourists (how very China). So we looked... and waited... and looked... and flagged some down that ignored us... and waited... and then I told Adam he must have a cigarette as in Australia that is the best way to get a taxi when you are looking for one - and it worked here too.

Off to the Bund - don't know a whole lot about it except that it is a bunch of historical buildings built by foreigners in China to reflect the culture they were from - European/British. That's one side of the Yangtze river - the other side is modern chinese architecture, lights and all. With all the rain it looked really beautiful with the tall buildings vanishing into the clouds, and this also provided a great canvas for the lights.

No Hong Kong light show on the harbour, but it is a pretty decent start. Grabbed a couple of shots like every other tourist there, and walked along without managing to kill myself. I've noticed that the grip on my shoes is all but gone... so wet tiles and no grip makes for some interesting walking! I was hoping to get some new shoes here when shopping, but finding western size 11 shoes might be like me finding pants that fit in China. Hmmm... oh well. We will see what I may find tomorrow.

Managed to find a taxi a lot quicker from here because Adam remembered and lit up sooner. Seriously. You can take that one to the Mythbusters bank - it really works. Quick trip back to the hotel (didn't realise how close it was to the river) and then some discussion about tomorrow. We checked with the Concierge - we can leave our bags with them once we have checked out so we aren't dragging them everywhere with us.

Adam has a 2:30pm flight back to Guangzhou, so we will probably do something touristy in the morning before he goes - what will depend on the weather. After that, I will go to Nanjing road again, independent of the weather, and do some shopping of my own (saving Adam the trauma of putting up with me looking at shops). I will do my best to be bothered by the fake Rolex salespeople again, and see if I can pick up a 50 RMB bargain - my only fear is that they only come out at night, and now I have missed my chance. My flight leaves Shanghai Pu Dong airport at 7:30pm, so I will need to be there by about 5pm to check in, etc. This will mean leaving Nanjing road no later than 4pm, as the airport is pretty close. Adam is planning to write down in Chinese some phrases for me so that I can cope with the non-english speaking taxi drivers when he has left me. I would be lost without him.

Blog up, photos up... time for bed. Cannot believe that my time for this trip is almost up already. Don't get me wrong - I am looking forward to seeing my gorgeous wife and beautiful boy again after 10 days, and am glad that this weekend it is a public holiday long weekend so I have that extra bit of time with them - but I think I was just starting to get my head around this incredible, wonderful place. All going well, I will be able to continue this journey in August when Chris and I return to actually perform the domain migration with Adam and his team. Cannot wait... because for then, I will be the seasoned traveller (at least as far as China goes!)...

Yongkang > Shanghai

Checked out of the hotel at Yongkang this morning - it's time to move on already. I was just getting used to the "little backwater" that is Yongkang... all 200,000 or so people of it.

Worked all morning, catching up on e-mails and uploading a couple of pics to yesterday's blog. Also helped solve a couple of problems back in Australia. Sadly, today would have been great to have a long phone conversation with my boss about a couple of sticky work issues back home, but he had today off, so it will have to be tomorrow sometime.

Kelvin and Mee Ching arranged lunch for us at 11:30am in the special lunch room again - Yongkang provincial food is very spicy - I quite like it. Got through all that, managed a photo somewhere in it, and then time to say goodbye and move on. Before we left Mee Ching gave me a special gift - a carved wooden chopstick set - it looks very cool, and will hopefully get a lot of use at home. Thanks Mee Ching!!

On the road heading to Hangzhou by 1pm. A fair bit of traffic around, but you do not really notice it at 140 km/h. As we were leaving I noticed the sky was clearing for the first time almost on the trip, and got to see blue sky... admittedly with a fair bit of pollution, but at least it was there. Slept most of the way on and off to Hangzhou as I was tired and had kinda seen it before. We had to drop a visitor to Wangli off at the airport for him to fly back to Beijing, so we stopped briefly after that for a leg strech and comfort stop. Leaving Hangzhou about 3:30pm.

The drive to Shanghai was pretty interesting, what I saw of it anyway (too tired - although we were in the Passat again, and it REALLY needs a wheel alignment if they are going to travel at those speeds a lot!). Once we got to some large toll boths - actually the entrance to the city I was awake the whole way in... because it was pretty interesting from there. I noticed on the way that the road signs showing the distance to the next town only show the distance to the perimeter of the place, not the centre. Mental note for next time, I guess. The landscape certainly changed as we got closer to Shanghai, and absolutely once we were in. The toll booths I mentioned are acutally some kind of road tax that all cars in and out of Shanghai are charged... I guess when you have a city that has the population of Australia in it (that's right, 22 million people!), you have to control the cars a little, even though the general road infrastructure is pretty good). I think by the time we made the hotel I had seen all 20 million cars/trucks/buses/scooters/bikes/motorcylces Shanghai has to offer. Most noticeable coming into Shanghai was that the pollution was easier to identify, because of that there was less blue sky.

Once through the toll booth gates, we pulled over with a bunch of other people for Adam to have a smoke and the driver to get directions to the hotel. There was a place there that did it, conveniently enough, and gave them a printed out copy for them to use. BIG mistake. More on that in a minute.

The driving in Shanghai is worse that anywhere I have seen in China. It reminds me of the "do what you feel" festival (replacing the "do as you are told" festival) that was on The Simpsons in the Brad Goodman episode - where Bart is crowned as a self-help guru with his 'spirited' attitude. I have noticed though that chinese drivers are both the most patient and impatient drivers ever - where else do you have people just push in wherever they want, however they want, but then the whole traffic as a mass still seems to cope and get through it all. Then multiply that by thousands. Just crazy. They also do crazy things when they are driving, like slow down to 20 km/h if they are not sure where they are... everyone else just copes. If you are on a pushbike you have right of way, no matter what, so the people riding these things just ride on out... Kelvin was telling me that in China last year 25,000 people DIED from road accidents. With a population of 1.3 billion, I call that natural attrition - if you can't survive on the roads in China, then you probably didn't deserve to be there in the first place (harsh, but what are you going to do?!?!?!). There is also no road rage (that I have seen)... push in, whatever, nearly hit someone, who cares, drive the wrong way on the wrong side of the road, we'll look out for you, park your car in the middle of the road to nick into a store to get something, we'll avoid your car, need to stop and ask directions, pull out against the red light and stop in the middle of the cross street to ask the cop directing traffic causing a small traffic jam yourself, happy to wait... it leaves me speechless at the best of times, and that is saying something.

As we were leaving the directions pit stop at about 5pm, I noticed guys on the side of the road with small signs, trying to stop traffic. It turns out these guys are "guides", offering to direct you to where you want to go for a price (of course).

Maybe we should have got one.

Adam and the driver did their best, but we got hopelessly lost. So lost, that some of the driving behaviour I mentioned above, we were responsible for. I'll let you pick which ones. There was also just so much traffic I could hardly fathom it. Some of the buildings were massive too - couldn't get any decent photos of them, though. Maybe tomorrow or Thursday. From wide 4 lane elevated freeways to little almost one lane wide side streets we seemed to go everywhere. So, in the end (about 5:30pm), it was decided we'd jsut get a taxi and the driver could head back to Yongkang. This seemed like a great solution until we got out of the taxi at 6pm at the wrong hotel. It turns out where we are staying (Jin Jiang Hotel) has an 'old' building and a 'new' building. The taxi driver took us to the new one and scooted after we'd paid. So, back into another taxi who took us to the old one (down the road, around the corner, essentially). Get out there and when Adam produces the booking confirmation, we are told we are staying in the other building on the compound - I turn around and realise this isn't so much a single hotel but a small collection of hotels - we are staying in the Cathay Gardens area. So they got the hotel cart and chuffed us off down there. I think we were all checked in and in our rooms buy 6:30pm. PHEW!!!

Quickly settled in (arranged laundry, checked e-mail, etc) and then Adam and I caught a taxi downtown to a hotel near Nanjing road - the shopping centre of Shanghai. Had a really nice Shanghai province meal - the place was recommended to Adam by someone he knows. It was pretty good - they are pretty heavy on the soy up here, so a little closer to 'Australian' chinese food. Certainly not as spicy as Yongkang chinese food. Then, out for a walk along Nanjing road... damn, if only my camera hadn't been left in the room because it needed charging. I will come back again, just to spend more time looking. We didn't last long, just walked down to the closest end and then in a taxi back to the hotel. For vista and atmosphere thing Times Square and Piccadilly circus all rolled in together and chinese-ified. Just plain wow, and threw the weird-o-meter up to a whole new level.

The funniest thing happened to me as we were getting into the taxi to come back to the hotel. As we were walking along the road, I was approached a couple of times by different people offering me a Rolex. Sure - no thanks. Adam was talking to the driver and I am about to get in when a guy holds one out and says "Rolex - 300 ?"

"What, RMB?"

"Yeah."

"No thanks."

"Come on, good quality!!"

So I figure what harm can it do to look. I have a look, and they seem kinda authentic - pretty decent handiwork, but obviously not a real Rolex. He shows me another - different kind, but still a Rolex. "300 - good price."

"No thanks mate, not interested." I start climbing into the taxi, with Adam telling me it is time to go.

"200."

"Nup - thanks anyway."

"100. What price you want? We make deal!!"

"No."

"80. 50. What price you want?"

"50 RMB?!!" (that's like AUD$10).

"Ummm... OK, 50, just for you..."

"No thanks, mate, we are leaving..."

The taxi drives off, and I start laughing. Adam asks why, and I explain that for 50 RMB I should have got one, just to show it off on my return to Australia - 'look at my cool Rolex I got for $10!!!'. Just hilarious. If I see him when I am down there again next time, I will get one just for that reason. For $10 it will probably work for eternity. I also noticed how the guy was dealing - everything was a little concealed, and he wasn't carrying the stock - maybe only 1 item at a time. He had a girl with him who was standing back watching (probably for the cops) and would come up to him and give him more stock if the person he was talking to was interested (like silly old me). As we drove off he gave all but one of the watches back to her and then went looking for his next mark... Just an intriguing process, I wish I had longer to watch... and learn...

Yongkang

Upon arriving at ASSA ABLOY-Wangli Security Products, the first thing you notice is the 'presence' of the place... just check out the website and look at the main panorama picture and you will see what I mean!! The whole place is no more than two years old, and incorporates not only the joint venture between ASSA ABLOY and the China Wangli group, but also a couple of other Wangli interests. Very impressive.

Adam and I had a meeting with the Infrastructure tech (Zhang Xu) from Wangli about the whole setup here - details, info, etc, etc. Was pretty interesting, and due to the nature of the JV I cannot disclose much to anything - even the photos shown here won't be too much - but let's just say that, for me, it was an education. Enjoyed lunch with Mee Ching, Adam and Kelvin - K is the ex-grad responsible for Saturday night - in the executive lunch room here. It has been quite cool to hook up with Kelvin again, as I didn't get to hang out with him much when he was in Sherwood (plus by his own admission he was still very green in the company and out to impress - obviously I am not worth impressing!).

Zhang Xu then took us for a site tour through the factory - steel security doors are the key business here, and the process seems quite simple... start at the diecast/press shop in one factory, then to assembly in the next, then to painting/finishing in the next factory and then finally to QC and packaging, and then upstairs to the warehouse (the warehouse is on level 2 because behind the factory is a hill where the road lines up perfectly with the 2nd floor, so it is easier for the trucks). Again the biggest thing I noticed was the sheer number of staff involved in the process. Very labour intensive, but they get a great product out of it. Wangli also designed their own special lockset for their doors - in all testing they have performed, no one has been able to pick the lock under 3 hours! No one likes to have their locks picked (that doesn't sound right), but I guess the longer it takes, the more secure you could be...

I was also introduced to Chairman Wang - head of the JV and head of the China Wangli group. Very impressive man - early forties, he and he brothers run the company and have diversified into lubricants, scooters, all sorts of things. Making a killing... let's just say they are not one of China's poor.

After this, Kelvin then showed me around a little bit, and explained for this westerner some of the cultural things that don't necessarily translate, and a few other things. Explained the company name - Wang is the family name, li means "power". I told him I had a powerful wang too - he laughed. Actually in chinese, wang also means "king"... so it is all about position. Additionally Kelvin went on to say how in China, everything is for show - it all has to look good on the outside for you to look powerful and successful. All about 'face'... first impressions, intimidation, displaying your power... take your pick. He also showed me the dormitory buildings out the back - the worker's building and the manager's building. I saw Kelvin's unit in the manager's building, and we talked about how it had no kitchen and no running water other than in the bathroom. The main benefit (and the reason he keeps it, as he now lives offsite) - it has a western toilet. So for his and all westerner's benefit - K keeps his flat for the loo.

Kelvin has been in China for nearly 12 months, and speaks quite good mandarin (he is Australian with Taiwanese heritage). It is a godsend having him around, as it means I have someone to talk to in unbroken, relatively quick english. Not that it is a problem speaking like that for Adam or Mee Ching, but I feel bad as I think it sounds like I am talking down to them when I speak slowly in broken english... but it is necessary and it helps them. However since he has been here, his connection to the network back home has been dodgy at best. So, I spent a couple of hours with his laptop and geekified it. He has now migrated to the new AsiaPacific domain (was still in the old one), and now has the Cisco VPN client connecting and authenticating BEFORE he logs on to his machine (I impressed myself very much by working that out). So, this means for the first time since he has been in China, the VPN works for him, he can get his mail through Outlook (and not OWA), and he has access to all the files on the network just like everyone else... I think I technically made his day.

As it took so long to sort out K's issues, we left the office at 7pm, and went almost straight to dinner. Adam went back to the room for a rest, K and I to the restaurant for a beer, and then the driver collected Mee Ching from work, got Adam and brought them both to the restaurant. It was good - lots of Yongkang local food, which is much spicier than the Guangdong province food. Less seafood here, though, as it is not close enough to the ocean. Had century egg (100 year old egg) - it was OK, not too bad. A bit of a delicacy - and then K explained how it is made. Not too bad - take a duck's egg, wrap it in a mix of mud, straw and duck poo and let it sit so that, effectively, it goes off. The yolk turns a blue/black colour and white becomes a clear/yellow gel-like consistency. It wasn't that bad, but I can see how westerner's stomachs turn when things like this are explained to them. I say it is an act of will to keep your stomach the right way up... but then I haven't been THAT adventurous with my eating in China so far.

A hot topic of discussion at dinner was IT (of course), and somehow it turned to my pet topic of the requirement of integrity, trust and honesty for IT staff. If you'd like to discuss it we can - as I can go on for hours about it. The short brief on it is that I think that IT people must realise that when they are employed, right from the get-go, they are employed into a position of explicit and implicit trust. If they have access to the Domain Admin password, then they have access to all the data, confidential and otherwise. They have access to all e-mail. Whether or not they realise it, they can do a lot of things. In all cases, everything that IT staff do should (a) set an example for the other staff, following policy; & (b) be entirely transparent in all actions, with a justifiable audit trail on all work done on machines. Anything less should be almost considered treason... and I've worked with some people who have performed less than admirably in some or all of these areas. We should be beyond reproach as to our ethical standards and work processes... and so few are. How else can we expect people to follow the rules and standards IT enforce on them if we as IT do not follow them ourselves? What kind of example is that?!! Like I said, don't get me started.

When we finished dinner (10pm), K and I went off for a foot massage... it was the best one yet. Perhaps it is because I am way more comfortable with the whole process, and understand that it is a very social thing to do. Subsequently, we had a good chat as two nice ladies worked the knots out of our feet and calves. Afterwards, back to the hotel for e-mail and bed.

One more thing - when were there we were watching some chinese TV, and I saw the chinese Oprah. A woman who used to be a reporter has set herself up in a similar way to the big O, set and everything. Except that she is a thin, chinese lady who doesn't speak english (let alone ghetto!). Another entry into China weirdness...

Yongkang sightseeing

Wow... totally missed the alarm, and the phone ringing woke me at 8:15am. Adam was checking if I was coming down for breakfast. Dived through the shower, gulped down some breakfast, and though feeling VERY dusty into the car for whatever today's day as a tourist would hold... I can tell you now that nothing could prepare me for what would end up unfolding.

Just be warned - there will be lots of touristy photos throughout this blog entry, that although I am trying to use them to support my "China is just plain weird" hypothesis... you'll probably think it is just me.

First stop was Chollywood (my word - China Hollywood). Think Warner Brothers Movie World without everything, and throw on a thick layer of all things chinese. There were many buildings of various age - old & new chinese architecture, stuff from other countries, all for use for people to make films and TV programs. It was a little theme park-ish in that we sat down to watch a show around a lagoon.

Chinese junk/boat to one side, castle-ish thing in the back. Costumes were a mix of modern and ancient, and there was a jet ski/boat chase that made absolutely no sense. GREAT explosions though - the chinese are always a little heavy handed with the gunpowder! I got some things from the story myself - there was a hero, the police, some slapstick (one of the police kept losing his pants), a heroine, some explosions - but I couldn't piece it together until Adam explained it afterwards.

Apparently the guy I thought was the hero was the bad guy, and he was running drugs on his boat and taunting the police. They chased him, there was a cannon battle from shore to the boat, the boat was hit and the people on the boat tried to escape but he police got them all and arrested them. The end. Very China.

I have to this point omitted to tell you that it was POURING with rain. Adam purchased me an umbrella before we walked into Chollywood, so that helped, but it wasn't big - so my shoes were drenched by the end of this. After the show, it was decided to take me to the copy of the Forbidden City from Beijing - just next door. We were told you couldn't drive there, so we walked, in the pouring rain and half way there we worked out that we had mis-interpreted what we'd been told - we could drive there, we just couldn't drive INSIDE.

We ended up walking almost there and the driver went back and brought the car up.Inside the fake Forbidden City it was just as grand as I expected, and I am sure almost as grand as the real one. It's just bloody big. Walked up and through Tianenmen Square, and almost up to the Emperor's palace. Went upstairs into one of the buildings overlooking the square, and started to notice that this was definitely a set - instead of carved columns with gold leaf, it was a picture stuck to the posts. Inside all the buildings was nothing. All for show, and all for filming. I wonder if they will use this set if they ever film the events of June 4, 1989??

We were meant to then go look at a set created from a famous chinese painting, but Adam decided we should go and have lunch. It was good - very local style - lots of chili, lots of fish, lots of duck. Bottled water and chinese coke have been my saviour here, as the tea I find to be not as nice as the tea in Guangdong provice.

Then we went to some big shopping trade centre. I thought I might get a chance to look at some gadgets, as well as get something for Luke and something for Michelle. I could have... but only if they wanted soft toys, hair ornaments or artificial flowers.

Oh my goodness.. the place was four floors high, and (sorry for the brisbane references for comparison) about 10 Indooroopilly Shoppingtown's long, and about 6 deep. It was just massive, with only specific things on specific floors. It wasn't really set up for "I'd like one of those and one of those", although of course you could do that, but it mainly existed for overseas traders to come and see things they want to import and then arrange for 10 containers of the crap to be shipped over to them. So, if you ever wondered where all that "made in china" toys and stuff came from - I found it.

After that, Mee Ching had arranged for us to go and see a famous temple in Fang Yan just nearby.

Here is where it gets very interesting. When we arrived and had barely gotten out of the car, some women came up to Adam and the others (driver and new HR manager - he is not from this area) and started shoving incense sticks into their pockets, saying they have to purchase them. For some reason they did pay, and through the temple gate we go. We were then greeted by some more women saying we had to go up this way to get ticket into the temple, past their stalls and we must buy candle and incense sticks from them. We didn't. When I arrived I looked up and saw a building at the top of a huge mountain, and asked Adam if that was the temple. It wasn't, so I thought that the temple must be somewhere lower. I should have learnt my chinese religious history better - all temples are at the TOP of mountains, where available.

Once we go through the gate, we started the climb. Many, many, many, MANY steps. I think it took me nearly 90 minutes to get to the guard gate at the top. It's still pouring, so the climb was very slow going, as I had very wet feet and my shoes are very worn - I intend to replace them in Shanghai if I can find something good/cheap. So, slippery, wet, cold, I'm nearly drenched, I've got thousands of dollars of electrical equipment in my pockets so I better not fall... man, I was just not ready for this. There were a few "shops" along the way, including a restaurant (of sorts) built into the side of the hill. I want to know how they get their daily supplies up here, and who is the poor sucker that does it!!

When we did make it to the guard gate and my heart lowered from about 195 bpm to normal, I could enjoy the view somewhat. It was very cloudy, so I couldn't see much, but that added to the mystery and charm of the place. Walked along a bit, saw another restaurant perched on the edge of the mountain, and then around the corner into what looked to be a small market. Lots more people selling fricken candles and incense sticks - all for the temple. Small little shop fronts with their houses in the back... living up here seemed a world away from everywhere else.

I have to say if I lived up here, the only way they'd get me back down would be in a box, and it would be my last time going down - not only for the fact of the climb back up afterwards that I would be trying to avoid, but also that it was just so beautiful and tranquil. No traffic noise, no chatter of 1.3 billion other people. That said, just outside the temple was two pay phones, and limited mobile signal.

Had a look in the temple, and after like two shots the battery was dead. Just plain flat. At least I got a couple of shots before it died.

On reflection, it was almost like the temple was set up for tourists, what with an almost never-ending stream of shops from the bottom to the top of the mountain path selling candles and incense sticks. There was the usual arrangement of gods that were there for people to pray to... good luck to them.

For the record, there are 17,594 steps, and I felt every one going up and down.

Once we made it down, off in the car to a very special restaurant that Mee Ching had arranged for us to go to - in a cave in the side of a mountain. When we got there, more wet slippery steps(!), and just as we got inside we were told that there was not power, and their generator was broken. So, I at least stood in the entrance to the cave restaurant, and it looked very... dark... Back to the car, and back to Yongkang.

By this time, I was just over being out. My hosts have been extremely patient with me, and most gracious, but a full day of being polite and enjoying a place I know nothing of was starting to wear thin on only 4 hours sleep. After the walk up all those steps, I can promise you all the alcohol from Saturday night had been well sweated out of me. I suggested to Adam that maybe we just go back to the hotel and have a special dinner tomorrow night, but by then we were at some other place (we drove across a footbridge to get to it, over a very swolled river due to all the rain today!). When we got out - they were all booked. Back in the car.

Adam did ask about going back to the hotel, but apparently Mee Ching had rung and we were off to Wangli to get her, and then off to a quick dinner together. No problems, just tired out. Dinner was nice, at a place just a block from up the road. At this one, they had samples of every dish on display (shrink wrapped!) for you to see and pick what you want. Again, standard chinese smorgasboard approach. I have to tell you, at the risk of blowing my own horn, I am getting very good at this chopstick thing. Finally got a head from another animal on the table today - a duck. Didn't realise it was there until after I had a few bits. At least it didn't give up its life for no reason... Mee Ching also wanted to talk business with Adam and I, as Mr Wang - owner of Wangli - is concerned about what it may represent. ASSA ABLOY-Wangli Security Products is a joint-venture, not 100% ASSA ABLOY, so there will be politics to deal with - there are already.

When we did make it back to the room - about 8pm I think - I had to get out of my wet clothes. Jeans and socks over the shower rail, and spent an hour blow-drying my shoes. In the end also did my jeans. Pretty much dry - I'll see how things are in the morning. Finished putting up my blog entry from Saturday, with pics, respond to a couple of e-mails, and then spoke with Michelle for an hour or so. Luke is settling down with her parents there and me not around - here's hoping he starts sleeping through again. Crashed into bed at don't care when - it just felt good. Had been talking with Adam about how Mee Ching owed us a foot massage after all the walking yesterday, but couldn't do it (to me, or the poor masseuse). Talked to Adam, and we'll save the massage for tomorrow night.

As a final addendum to last night's entry - how cool is it that you can jump on the AFL website and get each quarter of a game, or just the highlights streamed to your PC anywhere in the world with a broadband internet connection. I love technology. Stupid that you have to be a Bigpond member, but I still love technology (let's never fight again...)

Guzhen > Guangzhou > Hangzhou > Yongkang

Where to begin on today? I can absolutely promise you that it didn't end how I expected it to...

Down to breakfast by myself again (SIGH!), and then go up and grab my bags and go and check out. That was pretty painless, and Adam was right there to meet me at the desk when I came down - we joked about making sure I had my passport with me (as Chris remembered his was still in his room he checked out of on Thursday morning at Guli just as he and George were leaving for the ferry... they missed the 3pm ferry by 2 minutes in the end - the caught the 4pm). It felt kinda weird leaving Guzhen and the comfort zone I had built up around myself there... I just learned all the cool things you can get at the supermarket, I was almost in the zone to go and try ordering chinese KFC, I knew where all the lighting shops were... you get what I mean. So, off on stage 2 of this grand adventure, out into the further unknown.

The airport we were leaving from was about an hour away - near Guangzhou city proper. Both Adam and I managed to catch some sleep during the drive there - I didn't want to, in fact I tried to stay awake as much as possible to try and take all the scenery in... but not so lucky. The Bai Yua International airport has only been open for a year, and it is HUGE. Just bloody big. By the way, Bai Yua means 'white cloud', of which there were many - so many that our flight was delayed for 2 hours. Oh well. That didn't actually bother us too much, as Adam arranged for our tickets (I insisted for him as well) to be upgraded to first class - there was no business class on the plane. WOO HOO!!! This meant we had even priority security check point, and then access to the China Southern Airlines lounge to wait in... which is how I uploaded yesterday's blog. Adam arranged the upgrade because he was worried I wouldn't fit into normal chinese seat on the plane. Nice, and oooo-er-ahem, but still nice. In the lounge we enjoyed the scenery and the nice coffee-flavoured kit kats (I think direct from Indonesia), chinese coke and the obligatory broadband internet. They know how to look after you, that's for sure. We were even then escorted to our gate by one of the staff.

The flight was pretty good - I had to pull down the shutters once we were above the clouds, as it was just so damn bright, even with sunglasses on. Caught a little snooze, read the China Daily Mail newspaper (it is printed in english for round eyes like me), watched an episode of Mr Bean, etc, etc, etc. It was very comfortable, and the meal was good too - some kind of beef meatball about half the size of my fist, coated in sweet chili sauce, with noodles and some token vegies. Real OJ too.

The newspaper was the most interesting thing (I wish I had kept it, but it seemed silly at the time), as it had a lot of interesting stories about China, and the chinese perspective on international happenings. Cases in point:

i) National - some lady paid some thugs to come and beat up the staff of a supermarket because they didn't let her bring her pet dog into the store with her; & a story about some guy who had been jailed because he had been slipping contraceptive pills into his wife's drinks/meals, working on the theory that the extra female hormones would 'calm her down'.

Guzhen & Xiaolan

Woke to the darkest day yet - every day has been cloudy/polluted, but today brought in a pretty decent thunderstorm. Lots of rain, the cloud seemed lower and thicker, and the air needed a machete for you to cut through it. I think it was still 26 degrees and 110% humidity.

Catching the taxi to the Guli (thank GOD I had the business card of the financial controller from Guli on me - the concierge's english was not as good as I hoped) just reinforced the lunacy that is driving in China... in the wet, you don't slow down, you drive faster and honk more. Yeah, that'll do it... no safety issues with that! Really amazed that we I haven't been involved in a traffic accident yet, let alone seen one. Given the percentages, I am confident I will see one by the end of my trip (not that I want to, it's just with the sheer number of people on the road driving how they do, how could I not?!?!).

With most to all of the planning done for the migration so that George and Chris could go home yesterday, there wasn't heaps for me to do, but found some stuff anyway. Helped out Rebecca (GM Residential PA) using remote control software from my laptop... not bad - IT support from China!! At least it shows that wherever our staff are, we can support the company eaily given a broadband internet connection & our VPN (the lifeblood of IT). Adam showed me how his servers were set up, we looked at his WSUS (Windows Server Update System) configuration, and I showed him more of our Active Directory setup and GPO application therein. One for the geeks. We enjoyed lunch together in the Executive lunch room - just the two of us - and worked through the afternoon. The afternoon was interspersed with work and (welcome) interruptions from Tim Lindy and Gus - three 1st year graduates from Australia on 6 month rotation in China. They have only just arrived, so are still working out where their first placement is with Guli, as well as settling into their "apartments" that Guli arranged for them. Their places aren't great, and I am a little worried for them... I will speak to HR on my return to see if I can help them in any way. Surely a place with a working TV and fridge, a shower head, and the bathroom door not rotting isn't too much to ask.

As it turns out Jeffrey Zhang took the three of the grads out for dinner last night, and Lindy ended up getting very sick. So sick in fact, that Tim and Gus took her to the hospital (squashing cockroaches as they sat in the emergency waiting room... hmm... mental note: don't get THAT sick in China...). She was released last night, but Gus and Tim stayed up late with her making sure she was OK. She slept most of the morning and the guys went to check on her at lunch - and all three came back afterwards, as she was feeling a lot better. They aren't sure if it was an allergic reaction to the cleaning products they have all been using on their places, or if it was the food. From what they told me, my guess is it was the food (sand worms,anyone?)...

I promised Lindy (she's from Sherwood ASSA ABLOY too) before we left that we'd go out to dinner, and as George is Tim's mentor (as previously mentioned), it was fair that ASSA ABLOY pay for what will probably be their last decent meal for a while. So, back they all came with me in the Guli car to the hotel, where we dumped our stuff and they all marvelled at the room I was staying in, then downstairs for a walk around. It was good walking with them, as for the block the hotel makes up I am almost a local - so I was showing them around (they were still interpreting for me!). We had a good loiter with intent in the supermarket downstairs and found lots of interesting things. Tim Tams (made in Indonesia), Nestle ice cream (if only I had known!), etc, etc. This was the same place that Chris and I got his juice the other day, but we didn't really look hard enough. We even saw a display of imported Aussie foods - Real McCoy potato chips, Golden Circle juice, VooDoo rocky road - all made in Australia and imported for sale. We decided we'd come back after dinner (but never did) for desert... no stress though.

Japanese for dinner it was, though. Teppanyaki again, with some more sashimi and sushi. Mmm... japanese... Stupid that now twice I have had Japanese in China, but as you may appreciate I am getting authentic Chinese for every other meal - and this is GREAT Japanese. Our teppanyaki chef (another woman?!) could speak pretty good english, so we had a conversation with her as she cooked... prawns, matsu zaki beef, salmon, eel, crab, fried rice... mmm... A great time was had by all, but no sake was consumed (sorry JJ, maybe next time).

The decision was made - I had heard so much about this "Computer World" place in Xiaolan that I had to at least go and have a look for myself. Plus Morrison wanted me to do some shopping for him. So, into the taxi we all pile, and 30 minutes later there we were... downtown Xiaolan on a Friday night. On the way there, nearly at our destination, we saw a goup of people on the side of the road looking at something on the road... an accident between a truck and a bicycle.  The injured (and I am sure there was someone hurt, looking at the state of the bike) was not there - probably taken to hospital - but the police were there, CSI-ing it up with a digital camera. The aforementioned bicycle was now more of a bi and cycle separately, with the whole thing basically mangled. Ouch.

As it turns out, we were only at the computer place for 10 minutes as the place was shutting up (dammit!). Had a quick look, and found lots of cheap computers, computer bits, cameras, mobiles, memory cards, peripherals, software... and looking at the software and the prices, none of it was legal (SolidWorks 2005 for RMB$20??; Adobe Premiere v7.0 for RMB$30??). Decided I would take my chances in Shanghai... and besides, I'll be back in August.

Instead, all four of us went for a walk across the road in the HUGE mall that was there.

Lindy had to get a SIM for her mobile, and I just looked, and about 1 million chinese people looked - no, stared - at me. We then went to a supermarket that is still ringing in my mind. Think Big W, Kmart, Coles & Woolworths all in the same place, and throw in a hairdresser. And, at 10:30pm, there was at least nearly 1,000 people there shopping (kids at all). The noise was incredible. Imagine the white noise you hear from a crowd at a footy game before it starts... and change the language filter to chinese. China weird. The guys got what the needed - some water, a pillow, some thongs, some crackers, and then we were out of there.

They then felt like some dessert, and apparently the Pizza Hut they went to the other night had some good desert after 8pm, but when we go there it was closing. So, back to McDonald's for sundaes and drinks. Also got a cheeseburger and some fries for comparison - everything tasted like McDonalds, seriously. I could have bought it in Brisbane for all I knew.

Good night time for everyone, so we walked around until we found a taxi (5 minutes) who took them home and them me back to the hotel. BTW, my laundry was back in my room after dinner, but not before. Just as well, as I didn't want to bother reception to look for it at midnight and I was checking out early on Saturday - so it just would have become stressful.

Again, on reflection, it hit me as to why so many people are staring at me - this may seem obvious to you, but then I am a little slower than you all... Very few people in the region of China I am in at the moment will have seen in real life a westerner, let alone one as... large? hefty? sexy? rotund? big-boned? charismatic? fat?... as me. No wonder the kids and old people especially are staring. Doesn't bother me now, but still catch a few people's eyes, and they are so amazed that they do not even turn away. Also here the inevitable undecipherable comments that occur once I am past - like I can't hear them (OK, I can't understand them, so it's like I can't hear them!). I am waiting for someone on a pushy or motorbike to smack into something or someone as lots when they ride past are staring and follow me - the road becomes almost tertiary to the process! Such is life in Guangdong province, I guess. As there is so much industry in this area that exports (lighting, anyone - I can't stress that enough!), I expected that the locals would see more visitors than they do. Perhaps the visitors to this area only focus on business, and/or aren't game to step outside the realms of the hotel? If that is the case, then it is certainly their loss, that is for sure.

P.S. Due to the early start and travelling nature of today (Saturday), this blog will initially go up without photos but some will surface soon - most likely tonight once I am checked into the hotel at Yongkang.

Guzhen & Xiaolan

Wake up, shower, e-mail, phone call, blog, breakfast, brush teeth and collect laptop bag, leave for the office. What is now my well-worn travel morning ritual.

Once we arrived, Adam then took Chris and I for a small site tour of the Guli property.

For me, most importantly, I got to see one of the manufacturing cells that has been moved (ASSA ABLOY terminology = 'translated') from Sherwood to Guli for manufacture. Had to take a couple of photos to show the people in the factory back home how it has all moved across (as I think it is something they are missing in just seeing that which they've done for years get packed up and shipped off to China with no idea of what then happens when it gets here).

While on the site tour met up withe Lindy, Gus and Tim - three first year grads who have arrived in China for a 6 month rotation through the business here. All speak either mandarin or cantonese (or both) so are all good, but a little worried about their accommodation... they arrived, and then had to spend the first day cleaning their flats top to toe. No 5-star hotels for them. In the grad program, every participant has a mentor - George (CIO) is Tim's mentor, so when they popped up to ask how to get their laptops connected to check e-mail, George arranged for them to join us for lunch which was very good. Then, Jeffrey Zhang (who is co-ordinating the grads when in Guli, among a million other things) joined us for lunch and a chat - he is quite the character. Adam took the chance to have a quiet lunch by himself away from all us noisy and annoying round eyes.  ;)

After lunch, we came out to (at least temporarily) the clouds and pollution clearing to see blue sky for the first time while I have been in China. I saw peeks of it, so it was a start. As Chris said, it was almost picture-worthy in itself, such is the rarity. We then went upstairs and proceeded to finish the planning for the China migration to the AsiaPacific domain. It looks to be pretty busy - lots of prep work and finishing off migrating Melbourne (still!!??) to AsiaPacific, upgrade Guli's network to a native Windows 2003 Server platform (currently Windows 2000), connect and test AsiaPacific VPN and AD/file/DFS replication, and have all that bedded down by the 28 July. Then, the plan is for a visit starting 1 August for a couple of weeks to get all of Guli migrated... as well as a visit to SG/TH/MY/HK for maintenance and/or Sth Korea to start the same migration process with the businesses there. We also managed to arrange the obligatory photo of the three of us with Adam and his team.

I am very impressed with Adam in as much as his technical skill is very high; he has set up (or at least managed and improved) the Guli network very well - it's very secure, which we didn't expect (based on our understanding at every turn of the chinese understanding of electrical safety as an example... dodgy...); and he is very generous of his time with us. I look forward to the next week with him, travelling through China and seeing the other businesses and learning more language and seeing more of this amazing country. Working with him as an ongoing task will be very easy. He also has a pretty sharp sense of humour, which makes it quite interesting - sometimes we haven't initially recognised he was kidding!

Have arranged with the aforementioned grads (Lindy, Tim, Gus) to come out to dinner with me tomorrow night - unless they or I find some place better to go before tomorrow night, we will probably go to the Japanese restaurant in the hotel back in Guzhen. Stay tuned for the dirt/details. They came up and sat in the office with me and I talked them through being able to check their e-mail, etc, from here. Will assist Adam tomorrow to connect their laptops to the Guli network and he will create temporary accounts for them for the time between now and when the migration is done... another advantage of what we are doing! Access to all your data no matter where you are on the AsiaPacific network (and then, within the next 3 years, the same globally). But I'd think that story is a whole other series of entries.

No massage or anything tonight - in fact, decided to just have a very quiet one. Back to the hotel, and had a bit of a walk around (and got gawked at) for an hour. Tried walking down to find the supposed tourist district here that Chris and I saw in the map in our hotel room, but only lighting shops as far as the eye could see. Oh well. Walking past KFC at 6pm was quite an eye-opener - just so busy. Was going to take a photo, but then chickened out (get it?!). It was very hot, so I was a big white sweat ball by the time I made it back to the hotel - but still managed to see some things that normally would seem out of place, but in China... well...

So, back to the room, figuring I would order room service for dinner. Probably not the best idea - tried to order, and after being passed through I think 4 sets of hands until I found someone who could speak some form of english, placed it. Tried the steak... medium. Closer to rare, and not that good. The smoked salmon entree I ordered had the salmon still frozen. Just as well I ordered some fried rice. I think. We'll see how I am feeling by Friday morning as to how good the dinner was. Actually, the pain was I expected it to be charged to my room, but the person bringing it up was after a ticket (the one I got when I checked in), and I had already thrown it out. Just as well that I had cash. Not much left now - will have to find an ATM tomorrow, I think. Might get through OK and will get cash out at Zhongshan airport on Saturday. Who knows...

Tried flicking through the TV to find something to watch. Couldn't, so ended up tidying up our Active Directory, making some long overdue changes (woo - what a party animal am I?!?!?!). We'll just have to see what Friday brings. Ended up staying up way too late, doing nothing, flicking channels in the hope of finding a western movie to watch that might be interesting ("Four Weddings and a Funeral" was on Wednesday night). Found nothing... so I think I fell asleep watching TV about 12:30am.

Guzhen & Xiaolan

So, hopefully you are reading this because you got my e-mail, or it was forwarded to you by someone else. Love to know your thoughts, so drop a comment at the end (click on the 'comments' link).

The alarm seemed to go off too early - 7:30am local time. Checked e-mail and finished my blog entry, and then dived through the shower and down for breakfast at 8am. Managed to turn on the TV and catch some chinese tele... very interesting. There are two english speaking channels & some chinese subtitled western movies, so that was a start. The Chinese are fascinated with their serialised stories, so they are everywhere on every channel (think Home & Away without the beach, the boobs, the blondes, the pre-marital sex, the drugs, but with the emotional relationship stuff turned up to 11). I managed to catch a couple of chinese infomercials - one was selling a brace to help you with your posture, the other a weight-loss powder. How did I know it was an infomercial? The look, the silly grabs of before/after shots, the quick to camera bits about how good the product is, etc, etc. Funniest part was the weight-loss one... the before and after shots of the girl (who in no way needed to lose weight to start with) had her like this:
BEFORE
- loose, baggy shirt
- no makeup
- hair not done
- unhappy look on her face
AFTER
- tight shirt
- bright, smiley face with makeup done
- nice hairstyle
- she looked like she'd had a boob job.
Except for the bood job, the after photo could have been taken an hour after the before!

Caught up with a few of the people from last night's dinner at breakfast, and enjoyed some custard-filled dumplings, french(!?) toast, chicken sausages, bacon, orange juice, watermelon, cucumber juice and fresh, white toast. Could have had some of the chinese breakfast stuff, but figured that I'd have something western while I had the chance. Also flicked through and heard some soccer (with chinese commentary), but was not allowed to see the pictures due to copyright reasons. Go figure.

Our taxi to Guli was the now usual game of "oh my god, you nearly hit that guy!" and "honk".

Working day today (the acutal reason I am here!) - all day with China regional IT Manager Adam Chen discussing and planning for the domain migration of the chinese businesses to the AsiaPacific domain we have covering Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore. It will be a big job (not least of which will mean one or two more trips here - YAY!), and the biggest issue we will have is overcoming the language barrier - both ways. It's been an eye-opener to see Windows XP running Chinese as the base language - two characters to make the word "Start" for the start menu?!?!

Lunch again in the Executive dining room - mmm, local chinese food. We really are being treated like very welcome VIP's here (and no doubt I will be throughout the rest of my China trip).

Once we got work out of the way, time for dinner and a massage (woo hoo!!!!!!!!). George convinced Adam to come out with us, and so we were off to some restaurant (I think the Tiantian Fish restaurant - one of those "pet shop in the front, kitchen out the back" deals). It was great - why is everything so BIG in China? Dinner was a mix of stuff... starting with chicken's feet (yes, I tried one), then onto some fish, beef, prawns, something else, pork, something else again - it was all good.

Even managed to fit in a phone call to home just before we started. The main thing - we were celebrating Adam Chen's official promotion to China regional IT Manager. That, and some festival I can't pronounce the name of, or even remember. Or understand, but it involves some kind of leaf-wrapped parcel.

Then, a short drive later, of to a MASSIVE (again, what's with the big stuff??) place for a massage. A two hour massage. One word - madness. The building itself inside was kitted out like a 12th century palace, including bridges over streams of water on rocks, etc, etc. All it needed was Genghis Khan to jump out and it was on... but I'm not so sure he was around in the 12th century. All four of us had an awesome foot/leg/arm/back/neck/head massage that went on for just an incredible amount of time. We hit the deep end of the madness when the lady that was massaging me started feeding me the cut up honeydew melon that had been brought in for us.

I think to some degree this is all starting to weird me out - but then I can't really comprehend the scope of many things in China.

On reflection, I am finding a couple of things really hard while here:

1. Obviously, I miss Michelle and Luke (and hearing him on the phone whenever I call ask "Dada?" as soon as the phone is answered is heart-melting).
2. I must slow down the speed at which I speak, and use smaller/more common words - only to make it easier for people who can speak english to understand me.
3. I have so little understanding of the culture and lanaguage, and I just do not want to upset or offend anyone (yeah, I know, is this really me talking?!?!?). The small but growing number of chinese phrases I know is now so overused that I am sick of them, but the hardest part is ensuring the pronounciation and intonation is correct.

I guess I just wish that I was better prepared for this... but it sounds like I'll be back and so I will have the chance to further hone my skills both in preparation for and when I return.

BTW - the remote control in my room is shrink-wrapped. Thanks to Scott and Jo, I was partially ready for this. Oh, and in response to Jo's comments from yesterday's blog: of course I will eat innards - how else do you eat cow?!?! Not so sure I'll venture too far beyond muscle/meat, however...

Brisbane > Melbourne > Hong Kong > China

OK, I'll state straight out that having never travelled in a plane for more than 4-5 hours, I really didn't know what to expect with the start part of this trip. Looking back now that I am settled into the hotel in Zongshan... the flight bits were a breeze...

Flight Brisbane to Melbourne was, as usual, pretty uneventful. Got off the plane to see my parent's smiling faces - they are in Melbourne at the moment, so came up to have dinner with me. After a good chat, I went through customs and managed to leave my phone just after the security check. Didn't notice until 5 minutes later and went back - there was a security guard grinning talking on the phone - to my parents!! Got that, and then off to the Qantas Club to meet up with compatriate Chris Robbs and hang out until flight time (23:00). QC is great - thanks Chief for organising that!

Flight to Hong Kong was OK - 9 hours, didn't sleep that long (about 4 hours). Got to watch two episodes of The Office (USA) and two episodes of The Office (UK), "Mrs Henderson Presents" & half of "Traffic".

Off the plane, through Customs - HK airport is huge (and very empty at 6am)!! Went to get into a taxi - hoping that we'd get a bit of a tour one the way to the ferry terminal - and the adventure began. Some official looking guide said to "catch the blue taxi" (I knew we should have caught the red taxi!). So we did. We drove around the airport and the AsiaWorld Expo building for 30-40 minutes... in the end, and after numerous phone calls to someone the driver knew that kinda spoke English, we went back to the airport. Found the train station that we walked past in the first place. The very nice guy there wrote down in English and Chinese where we wanted to go, and then caught the train into Kowloon station. Got the taxi to the ferry terminal OK (at last, the taxi system works).

I have well overused the only two phrases of Chinese I know already - only 10 days to go (and many more phrases to learn).

We got our tickets, checked in our bags, and went looking for breakfast. Had some kind of "sliced pork, schezuan style with noodles" and 'something'... we think it was bamboo (bloody big bamboo!!).

The weather in Hong Kong was really overcast, so really beautiful, but couldn't see much.

The ferry ride was OK, managed to catch up with a little bit of sleep. Getting off the ferry in Zongshan and through customs was OK, could have been anywhere with lots of chinese writing on the wall. Walking out the door, after meeting our driver from Guli (with the sign!)... WELCOME TO CHINA! It's like a whole other country - you can't get there by bus! Just amazing - the heat hit me through the door, the landscape just totally out of a travel guide, and people EVERYWHERE.

Driving to Guli (factory in Xiaolan), learnt a few things about driving in China:
1. Everyone uses their horn - to let you know where they are, where you are, saying hello to someone, reminding you that you nearly hit them, etc, etc.
2. Road rules are merely a suggestion.
3. Everyone uses their horn.
4. It really doesn't matter which way you drive on which side of the road - just don't hit anyone.
5. Speed limits are merely limits in your mind.
6. Everyone uses their horn.
7. If you can't afford a car, get a motorbike. If you can't afford a motorbike, get a pushbike. No bike, just walk wherever you want anyway.

Guli Security Products is a HUGE place. Hope to get a tour in the next few days. Just massive - 2,500 employees, 300 of which  are admin, the rest are manufacturing staff. We caught up with George (CIO - our boss), and had lunch with him and the other Management Development Program (MDP) delegates in the "executive lunch room". Very nice, very authentic chinese food. I am taking the stance on this trip that "I'll try just about anything once, and then if it tastes good and doesn't kill me, I'll keep with it". I am drawing the line at heads, though. No heads.

Got the car out to Guzhen where we are staying (Guzhen International Hotel), and checked in, had a shower, checked e-mail, relaxed, etc. So, after that, and with George still at work, Chris and I decided to go for a walk around. I am sure it was as weird for the locals as it was for us - a tall, thin Australian with a South African accent and a large, loud Australian walking down the street in, what is really, regional China. Guzhen is the 'international lighting district' of China, so every second shop sells light fittings or globes. Seriously. We wandered around, and found some big monument, KFC, the hospital, and lots of chinese people staring... a lot.

Eventually found a nice pool hall and hung out there playing on a full size table for a couple of hours, waiting for George. Then, when we found George, back to the pool hall (current score status: George 2 - SM/CR 2, George 1 ripped pool table felt - SM/CR 0). So, we got a call from Boonmy (MDP delegate from Oakleigh) to come down and meet with the rest of them - off to dinner. After looking at what really was a pet shop (lots of fish, turtles, snakes, crocodile, etc) and us deciding we couldn't eat much of that, it was off the to Japanese restaurant in the hotel. Teppanyaki and sake for everyone! It was a lot of fun - good sashimi, teppanyaki was amazing. Had eel, matsu zaki beef, oyster, massive prawn... yum. And lots of sake.  ;)  Good ordering, JJ!

With the promise of a massage on, dinner ended, but somehow we ended up at the karaoke disco in the hotel too... just plain weird. Not enough words to explain it - this one is best talked about over a meal (if you are interested). Walked out past the line of women... 'nuff said. So... off for the massage. 70 minutes of the most AMAZING foot massage - George, Chris, Boonmy and I all lined up in comfy chairs, foot soak/massage, back massage, etc, etc. The quickest 70 minutes of my life. The four girls were very chatty, and according to Boonmy it was because they all thought I was cute (apparently). Leave that one alone, I think.  ;) 

In bed by 12:30pm, and just crashed (on an amazingly hard bed - that, after the massage, quite incredibly felt good). The promise of a 2 hour massage tomorrow night will get me through any tiredness tomorrow, I think...