China: Suzhou

Background: Big Pants.
Foreground: Lunch of Champions.

My second week in china was spent in Suzhou. Suzhou is a 2500 year old city just up the Yangtze river from Shanghai.  It's always been one of the commercial centers of China, and has now become one of the industrial centers as well. I had to readjust to seeing white people, and in talking with them noticed that I had unconsciously begun to gesture while talking, explaining all my words by pointing and signing.

Remember all the walking I did yesterday in dress shoes? It caught up to me. The first few days I didn't venture far from the hotel, although after I learned how to translate ibuprofen ("brufen" apparently), things were much improved.  Suzhou is an easy city to walk around in because you can use landmarks to help determine where you are. And by landmarks, I mean Big Pants.

Most evenings I would wander around Suzhou and end up in Central Park. Not as large as our central park, there were a number of activities every night. Slacklining (the only one I tried, also a bad fit for dress shoes), Tai Chi, ballroom dancing, choreographed hiphop dancing, and even pickup laser tag... with better equipment than you find in most legit laser tag arena's around here. I found the gear they were using, but no other references.

I've read this book.

After researching a fair bit online, memorizing the number of stops between stations and the Chinese for the directions I want to take, I took the subway!  (In Huizhou: "We have two subways, do you like their sandwiches?") I took the metro! It was super easy and I was quite overprepared - all the signs have English translations, the metro-ticket machines have "English Press Here" buttons.  It's such a nice metro. Unlike DC ( / Philly / NYC / London / ... ) it's actually clean! I could have sat on the floor and risked zero diseases.  Like DC (etc) everyone gets on and stares at their phones.

And either the future or past
of that last picture

I took the metro out to Times Square, where I had heard they had the largest LED screen in the world, spanning the street as an enormous technicolor canopy.  When I came out from underground it had begun to rain, and the screen had gone dark with only a few sporadically lines flickering across the face in a static rainbow. It was very William Gibson, looking like the future had come and gone already.  Luckily, it was only temporarily dark (It doesn't run full power all the time) and I did catch the whole thing lit up for a super-panoramic movie about aliens.  Then I wandered through stores, across bridges, and into a department store larger than most malls I've been in. Which luckily did have restrooms.





On my last night in China I was planning to hit the bars in Old Town with another guy from my company. You know, get drunk with the locals, wake up without a kidney, your typical crazy expat fun. However, he didn't show up, so I took the metro back out to Times Square for Pizza.  Pizza is can be different over there. My first pizza was braised beef, asparagus, and some special cheese around the crust (Front and center on their website, at least for now). This time I went for pizza with calamari and bacon-wrapped crab lumps topped with roe. It was great. Almost as good as the lobster soup I had on a business outing... I neglected to be true Chinese and eat all the congealed butter ( /eggwhites?) it was served in, but the lobster itself was incredible. And then we had a dozen more dishes, of course, and then some multiple of that in beers... Anyways, back to the story:

After that I wandered Times Square a bit and made my way out to the lake. Found a guy selling laser pointers, and despite initially dismissing him, ended up making my way back there.  Negotiated down to 60RMB from 100 (a bit too easily, makes me wonder how little he pays for them?!) for a green laser pointer. I even got the demo model, which I'm sure was the strongest of the batch. I'm gonna guess 75-100mw. For $10. I was amazed. Wandered around the lake, skirting a film crew and more laser-hawkers - and avoiding their lasers, which were pointed towards the pedestrian bridges at about head height, so you'd be sure to see it, even if it was the last thing you ever saw in that eye.

Seriously, you couldn't ask for a better locating landmark.

Work this week was more of the same, although on my last day I had the secretary ask my driver not to drive me to the airport. Instead, he dropped me off...

It's traditional to take a picture of the speedometer.

At the MagLev! I've wanted to ride a MagLev for 20+ years - ever since TomorrowLand's  mag-elev train broke my heart by being magnetic and elevated instead of magnetically levitated. Anyway, this one floats, and the future is finally here. Floating on a thin cushion of air (and massive electromagnets) this is the first, fastest, and longest commercial maglev in the world. I splurged for a first class ticket, ($15) which meant I sat at the front of the train, and could watch the pilot? and look out through the front window.

The ride was great. We left the station and smoothly accelerated up to 160mph. After that, acceleration was slower and evened out at 180mph.  This was the morning train, the midday trains hit 250mph, and the evening train 275 - I guess I'll just have to try it again. I'd compare it to being in a low flying jet, smoothly streaking past the scenery, under bridges, and banking in all the turns.  The only frightening moment was when the opposing train came by at a closing speed of 600kmh. Before I could even turn to look the entire train had passed, and all I saw was a businessman with his phone out, recording (not his, but...) and smiling. As an engineering nerd, I recommend it to everyone.

The flight home was long and unremarkable, except that time bent again and I managed to squeeze 24 hours of not sleeping into 12 on the clock. Oh, and Japanese airports are just like American airports. All in all, I loved the trip. I wish I'd had more time to do touristy/historical things... but... next time? I'm doing my best to get assigned to another professional project that will "force" me to go back, so I can experience (and taste) even more of China.

China(ish): Hong Kong

Between my two weeks in different factories, I had a stop over in Hong Kong.  I didn't do much, something I plan to take care of next time I'm there. They bulldozed Kowloon Walled City, but there are still some sweet bars I'd like to see. And, I noticed while leaving, a cable car right next to the airport. All that an escape from the GFoC? I'll just have to come back.

Anyways, with an 8am flight to look forward to I didn't do much in HK. Had dinner, Looked at some cars.

Walked a mile to take blurry pictures.

Watched planes.

And beat the sun up yet again. You might think I like sunrises, and that's a reasonable mistake given how many I've seen recently.

China: Huìzhōu

Luckily, we didn't actually start at 5:30, but rather 8:30, which gave me a lot of time to read, and watch both the sunrise and the nearby construction during breakfast. You may note the large number of Tower Cranes. I was informed that they are the national bird of China, and I believe it. Through extraordinary self control I managed to admire them only from a distance.

Official police vehicle.

After breakfast I was picked up and we headed out to the plant through the fleet of scooters (some of them had hats!), and the week started to fall into a routine.  Spend the morning working on the factory floor, head out to lunch, eat too much food, do more work in the afternoon, head out for an excessive dinner, and then send emails to my now-awake colleagues in the states before heading to bed relatively early.

So, what was the food like?
It was great! Besides basic Chinese food, we also had Korean, Indian, Thai, Japanese, and Pizza Hut. Each restaurant was surprisingly good.  The food was always brought out one dish at a time and placed on a Lazy Susan... then you had your own food bowl and a plate for any inedibles... of which there were quite a few.  Standard technique seems to be to grab an animal (for example, pick a fish out of the tanks up front), chop it up, cook everything, and serve! At no point worry about removing the bones or the fat. Actually, you just generally eat the fat along with the meat, which took some adjusting.  Another dining feature that took some getting used to was yelling at waitresses - which is how it's done. Waitresses yell at waitresses, cooks yell at waiters, waitresses yell back to the cooks, and when you're ready for service, you just wave and yell at one to come over.  Very different than the quiet and reserved manner of American restaurants. Anyways, just as soon as you think you've eaten all the food, they bring out another dish. Or two. And you have to try them, and they're great, so...

One of the most interesting meals was roast duck. Peking Duck is an ancient and beloved dish that is made by roasting a duck, removing all the bones, tendons, meat, etc, and serving duck skin with pancakes, scallions, and cucumber. I normally skip the skin on my fried chicken, but I had to admit, it was delicious.

#nofilter #groundskeepersSweptThemAllUp

As I adjusted to the schedule I began to go out in the evenings, either to the park along the river in front of the hotel, or to the nearby shops and shopping malls. The Chinese are excellent at shopping malls. Hundreds of shops and restaurants, usually a theater, all very clean and without the empty-shop-blight you tend to get in the states.  Oh, and an arcade! I didn't play anything, but watching a small Asian child hop as hard as they can was hysterical (this game, only with a 5-year-old having the time of his life).

On Saturday I finally had a bit of free time, and my host took me out for traditional breakfast before visiting the local market. So many turtles. Live fish. Live eels. Live snails. Live snakes. Even water snakes. All just chilling in buckets or cages.  We got to one stand that was selling parakeets. I had to verify that they were for pets. (They were, "for old people.")






After the market, we stopped by the local folk museum. It took a lot of later research and translation, but I think it was built in 1842? If you want to read about it... 黄氏书室 .  Basically, a stone dwelling  that looks about a thousand years old, filled with miscellaneous old stuff. Pretty cool. Finally we set out on our walk around Pinghu lake.  Very scenic, but I probably shouldn't have worn dress shoes for our several-mile hike.  We crossed "9 Bends bridge" (actually, more like 20?), climbed up the hill to the tower (built in 1930? and not open for climbing, unfortunately), walked the poets path, saw an actual 1000 year old temple (looked like everything else, really)... it was nice. We still had a bit of time to kill before my driver came, so we stopped to have tea!

I'll be honest, I thought it was going to be dumb. Not much of a tea drinker typically, but after having it with every meal I started to like it. It was very ritualistic, with too many cups and bowls saucers, and the the process seemed quite rigorous, especially when compared to my normal "drown a bag in a mug" technique. We tried a few different teas, so I became rather familiar with the process:

Boil water.
Rinse everything with boiling water.
Pick up the teacups with chopsticks, rinse them as well.
Place screen-funnel over teapot.
Place tea leaves on screen-funnel.
Pour hot water from kettle into miniature pitcher.
Slosh the pitcher around for 10 seconds to cool slightly.
Pour hot water over leaves, filling teapot.
Fill cups from teapot.
Dump out teapot, cups (using chopsticks).
Pour more boiling water into miniature pitcher.
Slosh this water around some.
Pour this over the leaves in the funnel again
Pour this tea into guests cups, then yours
Burn your lips on tea

She said my eyes were pretty, then laughed at my Chinese.

China: Arrival

After a 5 hour flight, a 12 hour flight, and losing 12 more hours along the way, I landed in Hong Kong. Slightly overwhelmed, I took it all one step at a time. Step one: Find my suitcase. Step two: Find my way through customs. Thankfully the airport signs and customs staff spoke English, so I had two quick successes! Next challenge: Find my driver. Well, here's someone with my company name scribbled onto a piece of paper, we'll have to assume he's the driver, since we don't speak each other's language.

I followed him to a van, and we set off across Hong Kong. It looked cool from what I could see from the back seat, I'll have to go back there again some day.  Mostly, amazing bridges and tower cranes everywhere.

We transferred into China and contined to Huizhou, where I'd be spending my first week. Highway driving in China, condensed into a witticism: Why do you need turn signals, horns, middle fingers, or headlights? You have High Beams!

The trucks did have sweet lights on the back (sometimes instead of tail lights): red and blue strobes, or my favorite was a grid of multicolor LEDs that each faded through different colors. I spent the next two weeks looking for a store that sold them with no success... I can't even find a supplier in the states. So, of course, I now have quote requests out, and am doing my best to become the American distributor of "Colorful Warning Light".


Got in to the (beautiful) hotel around midnight, met my host for the week, found out we had a 5:30am start time, and headed to bed.

Pausing briefly to shoot a blurry picture of the city.

Bahamas 2015

Another year, another trip! This time it's a little bit different, as I traveled with my church on a Mission Trip.

After years of hearing about my parents' / brothers' trips to Grand Bahama with Karazim Ministries, I finally had the chance to go, and I jumped at it.   The plan was to spend a week on the Island, helping rehabilitate a house in the 8 Mile Rock neighborhood.

Much like Puerto Rico, there are two faces to Grand Bahama. We started the week, after a depressingly early flight, on the public face of the island.  Nice hotels, great beaches, and welcome warm weather. We spent the afternoon on the beach swimming and reading before having a devotion and heading to bed.

Day 1: Lots to do:

We arrived at the house planning to paint and wondering what else we could find to do to fill our time. We quickly answered that question. The state of the house was daunting, and instead of wondering what extra we could finish, we instead asked our selves if we could finish.  After a few minutes of feeling overwhelmed, we got to work.

In what would become our modus operandi, we moved the contents of the house out to the lawn, giving us room to work inside and room to rest outside. With a dozen hands you can move almost anything quite quick. We spent the day repairing drywall, taping seams, and I took over the trimwork, edging the doors and windows, if only so we wouldn't have to repair the drywall edges around them.

The outdoors team started scrubbing and priming, and inside by the end of the day the house was ready for mudding, and the task seemed much more manageable.  We retired to the hotel for dinner, and after recovering, made our way back out to the beach.








Day 2: Dust everywhere
For day 2 our goal was to get the interior ready for paint. That meant sealing all cracks, nails, and gaps in the drywall with drywall mud. Marvin* gave us all a lesson, and we set about sealing up the house. There were a lot of cracks, and it took a lot of mud. And, once the mud dried, even more sanding.  The floor became as slippery as ice, and we were all covered in a thin powdering of gypsum. After the huge progress of day 1, it felt like less was accomplished on day 2.  However, a miter box arrived with our supplies, allowing frames for the windows to start.  I have never appreciated powertools more than after a day of mitering, sanding, and nailing by hand, joint after joint and corner after corner. While the outdoor team finished priming, the indoor team finally got the walls ready for paint.

Our resident taught us how to harvest coconuts, open them, and drink the milk within - something new and amazing for those who had never seen it before.  If I liked the taste of it, I'd probably be amazed too, lets be honest.

The evening held the same dinner-beach-devotion pattern, with notable exceptions being some surprisingly good snorkeling out by the main channel, and a beach bonfire we were all amazed didn't burn down the entire island.



Day 3: Paint!
After all the prep work it was finally time to paint! On the outside, at least. Inside, we still hand to sand... the ceiling. As someone tall and relatively young, I spent the morning on buckets sanding over my head, just to make sure I got as much dust as possible.  I did.  I took a few breaks to trim a few more windows, something I was getting quite good at.

Lunch was spiced up when the residents brought out some local fish that they had fried up. I don't know if it was the best fish I ever tasted, or if hard work and hunger had sharpened my appetite, but it was amazing. I did decline, unlike one of the highschoolers, to eat the heads.

Once we finally got to painting, everything went much quicker. Proper prep work meant the paint went down quickly, and made a huge difference. Those of us with steady hands edged the rooms and the rollers came through behind transforming the rooms behind us. The teamwork was just as impressive as the result, and both only improved from there.

After edging the rooms I got out of the way and spent the rest of the afternoon painting cracks around the outside of the house. After a few hours in the sun I motioned to a ladder and asked "Want to get high and do some crack?" without even realizing.

Afterwards, we had more snorkeling, more devotions, and more reading on the beach.




Day 4: Wrap up
Paint, paint, and more paint. Paint on the ceilings, second coats everywhere, and then came all the odd jobs that had to wait until after paint was (mostly) dry.

My dad spearheaded a project to replace the plywood protecting certain windows with a thick metal screen, and we built spacers. strung, and tensioned the screen exactly as intended, with no surprises - which in itself is almost a surprise, since projects never go so smooth! I also trimmed a few doors, and everything was wrapping up nicely.

Gauging the material left, we (I) decided to add some baseboards. The entryway went quickly enough, but we were running out of time.  As the carpet was cut for the remaining bedroom, it became a race against time.  Rodney and Dad volunteered to assist, and as fast as I could measure and cut the boards, they got them installed! We did the entire room in probably 20 minutes, which is amazing for doing it all by hand - and everything even fit!



After wrapping up and saying our goodbyes we went back to the hotel to clean up before going out for dinner, returning from the true face of the island to the polished face they present to the tourists. It was rather uneventful until we went to catch our water-taxi back to the hotel. As I sat by the light throwing french fries to the fish, they all suddenly disappeared... and in a few seconds we saw why as a 7 foot shark casually swam beneath us before veering back into the bay and vanishing in the darkness.

As I took pictures of the completed house,  our resident Arthur turned to me and said "If you take a picture of the house, you have to take a picture of me."  And like that, I realized that the house was a distraction. We were really there to work on him, his community. The true face of Grand Bahama.