Quick post - Crazy sights of China

I call this first picture "East Meets West", for obvious reasons

And this second one, "Huskies in a Tank", I assume they all live in a big field and only when brought to market for sale are they crammed into a small tank

Shenzhen

On our 1 day off while here Eben and I headed into Shenzhen, a city not far from Hong Kong for some shopping and possible indoor skiing. Well the indoor skiing didnt work out but the shopping was insane. Never in my life have I had to bargain for something and never have I purchased a purse. (Catherine, neglect the last sentence) Anyways we got a driver from the factory to drive us the 1.5hrs to Shenzhen and we brought along our factory assistant Ivyna for translation and guidance. None of us had ever been to Shenzhen but the driver quickly found the walking mall and we began. The retailers are attracting you to their booths with loud noises and promises of a deal, or I assume thats what their saying in mandarin. Once you start looking your in trouble, they wont let you go and they do everything they can to sell you something you dont kneed. My watch for example, bargained from 270 Yuen down to about 70, with 8-1 ratio I paid a little under 10$ for a ripoff of a major brand electronic watch. Not sure if I even should have purchased a watch, In fact i regret it now, but the bargaining was fun. It's also fun to see the styles of another part of the world. While I wasnt able to find any Engrish.com worthy clothing I found styles not seen in America. I walked away with a pretty awesome shirt with wolves on it and another with a pheasant. I told my engrish speaking salesman I like shirts with animals and this is what he found me, I had to purchase after his dedication. Our main item we didnt get is a remote control mini helicopter. A sweet toy these miniature RC toys can fly indoors and cost at most 20$ on the street, eben and I being cheap wouldnt pay this despite their 40$ ebay price and hence have no mini helicpoters. The rain began during our shopping adventure stopping us early but not until a quick lunch at Pizza Hut and more mini-helicpoter bargaining. I'm getting sick of chinese food, I cant wait for a hamburger or steak, even plate of spaghetti sound great. But mostly I miss my burritos, this will be my first stop upon arrival in Seattle this friday.

We finished shopping and had no desire to go indoor skiing on shaved ice. Ivyna will have to go another day. For being our translator/ assistant for k2 she has never seen ski bindings or boots, nor seen how people ski, but she does really well with it all and understanding us.

Today being Memorial day and us being in China, we worked. Last night Eben and I went out to dinner on our own and hit a huge language barrier, I will write more about that in my next blog, until then adios, I dont know how to say goodbye in mandarin.

G to the Z

(picture is in front of our factory, taken from the balcony outside the offices) After a long day of working on Saturday I met up with other co-workers, two from Seattle and 5 from China, and we went to dinner on the companies tab. We chose a hunan restaurant I think partially to watch us funny americans eat with chop sticks and eat really spicy things. Tony (chinese guy from factory) did most the ordering and acted as our tour guide, i'm not sure i'm happy with his choices yet or not. We went out to dinner in downtown Guangzhou and saw a whole part of the city I didnt know existed. First of all GZ is huge, people are everywhere and all of them are crazy. I cant count how many times I have seen cars in oncoming traffic lanes, people standing between lanes on a highway while cars race by, and overloaded bicycles moving slowly through fast traffic. Our dinner started with some type of egg prepared local style that tasted terrible. Kind of like a hard boiled egg mixed with what I would imagine a snakes egg tasting like, leathery slimey and full of life. The rest of our hot and spicy hunan meal was delicious and provided lots of laughs to the locals watching me eat.

On our way home we stopped at a DVD store where I bought my favorite tv show Prison break seasons 1 and 2 on dvd, 3 discs in all for $3.50. Now eben and I are back at the factory ready for some rest before a drive to Shenzhen tomorrow to ski indoors and shop for more good deals, I just may get a suit if the price is right. I will post a few pictures here and take more tomorrow for posting in the future.

Day One at Guangzhou, and why I cant sleep here

My body clock is still all messed up and I'm awake at 3am and 5am here, hopefully I can go back to sleep for a few hours so I can have a productive 13 hour day here. I'm not really sure how these guys do it, 8am to 9pm every day with an hour for lunch and dinner. Factory work is crazy. When I walk around and learn about things I'm usually talking to Amy or Evya our translators/helpers, while they understand us very well I realize that the person doing the factory work has no idea what we are saying. The language barrier is at times impossible to fill.

The factory conditions are really quite nice. Well this is not to say I have ever worked in anything like this place, they all seem relatively relaxed and generally enjoying themselves. Faded jeans, nikes and designer shirts are all the rage and I'm amazed how trendy some workers look. I dont know what I imagined them wearing but some look like they are ready to go clubbing, but instead they are assembling some part of a ski.

The food is incredible. Hopefully in a week I will be writing the same thing, but its really quite delicious. I fill a small bowl with steamed rice and sit down a a large round table covered in food. Here my english speaking counterparts, all 5 of us, and a few cantonese speaking office workers watch chinese soap operas at maximum volume. There are about 8plates of food in front of you to pick off of and consume. none of the food is what I have ordered at Panda express or restaurants but its close, and so far I cant complain. I have a 2" long cockroach lying in the middle of my room right now, i'm hoping he doesnt crawl into my clothing bag, and my bed i suppose too.

After work last night while I was desperate to fall asleep Ken and I walked to the night market for a few beers. 6beers, 4red bull energy drinks, and a pack of some gummy candies ken likes cost us a little under 5dollars. People are outside everywhere at night. I need to go out again later this week and explore more at night but its overwhelming. Also the fact everyone stares at you is great and some kids yell in excitement of seeing a white person. I'm not sure where all the bikes with passenegers on the back are going, or what the guangzhou'ites do at night but I'm hoping to find out.

Eben and I may be off to some indoor skiing this weekend, we've both agreed to snowboard if we go. There is also an outdoor waterpark we are debating, all a few hours from our factory. I will also be off to the DVD store later this week, they just got Shrek3 in and Spiderman3 too, If i get bored I know what i'll be doing. Anyways its 5:20am for me and I better try and sleep a little more. My bed is very firm, pillow undersupportive, but the bug net surrounding the bed is made of expensive lace with ducks designed into it. Priorities

Hong Kong part 1

First off because i'm writing this from China, everything on my page is in chinese, and I dont recognize the characters yet, so this may or may not make it to the internet.

We have arrived in Hong Kong after a short train ride from the airport to our stop at Kowloon. Its just like I have seen pictures of but never really paid attention too. Huge buildings holding thousands of people stacked side by side litter the side of the tracks, it feels surreal. We check in at the Harbor Plaza Metropolis where a doorman takes our bags to our room. My room is small, has 2 of the smallest beds I have ever seen, there is no view out the windows as they are covered in condensation. It was about 87degF at 8pm and humidity was high. Eben and I took a shuttle to Hong Kong from the hotel, I suppose it would be like traveling from Capital Hill in Denver to Denver, not a far ride at all. We walked the streets and were offered suites, jewelry, electronics and massages. Nothing is cheap in Hong Kong, and our venturous taste buds will wait until tomorrow, tonight we ate Pizza Hut.

Pizza Hut is not like you know it though. They serve shrimp cocktail, fresh seafood, and of course pizza and pasta. To accompany my pizza I ordered a “Black Cow on Rocky Road.” Basically a coke with a scoop of rocky road ice cream on top. A Hong Kong recipe for indigestion.

Tomorrow we ride the train to Guangzhou to the factory, hopefully they have air conditioning or I’ll have to get lighter weight pants.

Sunburns/iceburns and skiing on a volcano

Well my weekend was good, I relaxed friday night and spent much of saturday doing the same. From resting I loaded up my car with 3 coworkers and drove down to Portland OR for a day of skiing at Mt. Hood. Staying at a coworkers house in Portland we woke up after a half sleepless night on the couch and headed to the mtn. Above the clouds Mt Hood sits with yearround snow and great summer conditions. Skiing in a sweatshirt in sunny weather I had my first day of warm skiing since moving to the northwest. Im ready for our 08 testing season to begin, I will be back at Hood a few more times this summer for work. Hood is a cool place, mostly buried in the winter it has almost too much snow. Getting back into Seattle late I went to bed to work an early monday morning, where I missed my 7:05 ferry. Next week I fly to denver on thursday night, Adams wedding for the weekend then off to Hong Kong for 2 weeks. In hong kong I'll be posting more pictures and blogs than usual, to keep you all informed on which mammals i'm eating.

Hiatus

While not an intentional break in blogging I have just been too busy. In my time sans-blogging I have visited home in Colorado for a weekend and worked a bunch, and went to a work costume party. First off hometrip

The night before going to CO some friends and I bbq'd on the beach, watched sailboats/seals and had a mini bonfire. Its pretty cool looking out over puget sound and seeing the sun set over a mountain range and ocean. Who knew seattle was surrounded by mountains and had the ocean too. My shoes still smell like campfire. Colorado was a blast. I spent friday with catherine throwing a huge frisbee around in a park in Boulder only later to go eat dinner with my parents. Friday night a quick stop in with rob and ashley at her(their) house in superior and the day was pretty much over. Sat was spent with catherine doing random boulder things followed by ski team party for 2 hours, then denver for the night. A little bar-hopping then back to jeff's for a nice sleep on a love seat. Parents house the next morning and flight out sunday night. Quick weekend but really good to see these people who dont live in WA.

Work has been hectic. We are currently prototyping and getting the 08-09 skis modeled and prepared for production this fall and its crazy here. I've got a ski test at hood in the coming weeks to prepare for and Im working 12+hour days. I leave the Mt. Hood test to fly to Denver for Adam Foy's wedding, followed by a 2week trip to Guangzho China to visit our manufacturing facility. I'm excited for hood and the wedding and china, an exciting month ahead of me. I'm going to purchase all kinds of clothes in china so I'm packing light, if theres something you want me to bring back tell me. And sam i'll work on getting you your xbox.

This last weekend was k2 costume party fiesta. We partied for a bit at a house before arriving at the bars in our regalia. I dressed as a "mexican cowboy" outfitted myself in womens size 6 red jeans, plaid shirt, handlebar mustache, cowboy boot looking shoes, and bandana. I tribute this outfit to Spoes who pioneered this costume a few years ago. Spoes won the contest of who looked better in it, his costume was more complete. I looked more like a Cowboy Borat. Other costumes included cookie monster, 80's rocker, lifeguard and a few tom cruise's from Top Gun. I'm writing this at lunch and feel I should get going to do my work, i'll add more later.