China

I didn’t want to go on and on about China in that last post, but here are my thoughts on it.   I loved it — of course I was “handled” the whole time by some nice young girls as interpreters, meal companions and tour guides.  It would have been a LITTLE harder on my own, but I think I could have gotten around.  Most of Beijing has signs in both English and Chinese — obviously it would be different if I had tried to head out to the country.  So the trip went something like this (feel free to follow along in the gallery):

1. I had most of the first day to myself, so wandered over to the Bird’s Nest and Water Cube.  It was brutally hot and humid (36 C and 98% humidity), so that’s haze in the pictures, not smog.  I was instantly struck by how much the same as anywhere else it is:  Hordes of people touristing, buses more arriving and departing regularly, tour guides with their little flags held up so you could follow them, people selling souveniers along the sidewalks.  The humidity finally let go and it started pouring rain, so I headed back to the hotel.  I had dinner that night in a Brazilian Restaurant in the hotel — someone needs to tell them that chinese boys wearing cowboy hats and string ties just looks ridiculous.  That’s when I first met Fred London (from London) — Hexagon’s (our parent company) Chief Council.  Nice guy!
2. Day two was filled with meetings and work…just ate at the Brazilian joint again.
3. Day three was the meetings I was there for, lots of high mucky mucks and Red Army people.  An interesting story about the army guys.  They are not allowed to meet foreigners in their dress uniforms and they have to ask permission to meet at all, so they all came to the meeting in shorts and sandals — they actually were introduced as the Red Army Basketball team!  (It was all very tongue in cheek).  The meetings went very well and we’re pretty sure we’ll be going back soon.  Went out for a very traditional dinner with all the big wigs.  Great Peking Duck (sorry Leigh)!
4. By day 4, all the business stuff had wrapped up, my CEO had headed home and I was on my own.  I just had some technical meetings to go to.  I was picked up at the hotel and taken to the main company that we work with — “BD Star” — and met my counterpart on their side and did all sorts of technical things.  Big lunch with everyone from BD Star — very traditional.  That’s where I had the duck tongue, pig’s ear and other “delights”.   Gah.  That afternoon, Dr. Mao took me to the Summer Palace — Huge gardens with palaces all over actually.  It was still very hot so we had a little rest before going to a Chinese Buffet restaurant where I met my two “companions” – Linda and Rachel.  That’s where I ate fried silk worm which actually wasn’t bad…kinda nutty.
5. Day 5 was reserved for touring.  We started at the Great Wall or as my guide called it “the great wall of people”.  There must have been 100,000 people on the stretch we were at.  Refer to the pictures!  It really is a hugely impressive thing, and they certainly didn’t build it on the easy path!  Lunch of dumplings (yum!) and then on to the Ming Tombs.  Unfortunately it rained pretty hard so we hit the main tomb (about 10 stories DOWN) then bailed.  That was the night of the Hot Pot and Moutai.  The food was really good — I drew the line at “Cow Throat” — basically hunks of cartilage — but I ate the “Cow Stomach” and everything else — mostly beef and pork.  The story of that night was the Maotai.  They filled me up a juice glass of it — 53% alcohol — and we drank HEAVILY.  I can honestly say I don’t remember going to bed that night.  I obviously did, but it was brutal!
6. Day 6 was my second day of touring, up in the morning and spent the day at Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City.  So much to see, so little time.  The Square was FULL of tourists, mostly Chinese but a few Europeans and the Forbidden City was a complete zoo.  We rounded the day off with a trip to the market where all manner of knock off merchandise was available and I picked up a few things.  Dinner was actually at a Japanese restaurant, very much like Japanese Villiage here — they cook right in front of you with flair and pizzazz.  You know.  Again with the Moutai!   But this time I was prepared and drank it MUCH slower…and remembered everything that evening!
7. Day 7 was up to the airport and headed home.

So, that’s the story in a nutshell.  I would go back any time — the people were very polite and kind, there weren’t army guys on every corner, everyone was just like you and me.  I think I would avoid the summer if I had a choice, the heat and humidity was just oppressive, but, that said, I’ll go back any time I’m asked to.  Most enjoyable — except for the water bug or whatever I got.