Walking Around Agile Gardens

It's New Year's Eve (Saturday Feb 9th), and before we start the festivities this evening, Vicky wanted me to get a chance to meet John, who owns a couple of preschools in the Guangzhou area.  John is a Canadian who came to China to teach for a year or two and then met May and... well the rest is history.  He has now been in China for 10 years, and they have Joseph and Olivia who are 4 and 1, respectively.

We had a nice meal at a combination Steakhouse & Chinese Restaurant.  John shared his experience in living permanently in China and discussed the continuing need that China has for teachers.  We then saw them off to visit May's mother and we walked back through the Agile Gardens development to retrieve the car. Guangzhou is in the tropics so the plant life is very different from NJ and even though it is February, most everything is lush and green.  The development is incredible... beautiful walkways all over the place as well as wonderful water features and playgrounds.  The only drawback is that Agile Gardens was developed when one parking space per apartment was all that was dreamed of... that's no longer the case in China (part of the pollution problem), and it's amazing how creative people are in finding places to put their vehicles.

Fruit store

Today is New Years Eve, and we will start the festivities this evening with visits to Vicky's parents home.

But first we are having lunch with an old couple who used to help Tiger with English lessons. That necessitates a stop at a colorful small store the sells only fruit to put together a nice gift.

Visiting Ruby

Ruby was Vicky's assistant while she owned her own company in China and they have both maintained a close bond.  Tonight we went over to her place for a visit and dinner. Guangzhou is undergoing some "austerity measures" aimed at reducing government spending (which means we will not see fireworks this week, and that several of the districts have reduced street lighting).  This coupled with the fact that many people have "gone home" so to speak for the New Year's week, leaves the roads relatively uncrowded, the air relatively clean, and the place somewhat dark at night.

Those of you who follow this blog closely (and have a great memory) might recall that we helped Ruby and Xiao Ling pick out an aquarium last summer.  Ruby's daughter was willing to show me the resulting tank which was really nice.  Their apartment is high up in a condo building that overlooks a local farm, with other developments across the highway.

Walking to the restaurant on pitch black streets was an experience, as was the dinner.  They served me a beautiful pot of BOILING... I mean rapidly boiling liquid which turned out to be Sharks Fin Soup.  I also had Octapus balls (I didn't ask... sorry, no photo of those).  We stopped for a few photos of the incredible aquarium the restaurant had, as well as a couple of photos in the lobby and along the sidewalk outside.

Finally, since the air seemed so clear (most of the residents have gone home), I pulled out the tripod for an evening shot from Vicky's balcony.  (I couldn't risk carrying the tripod half way around the world and back home again without opening it.)

An International Company

When I was in China last August, I was too busy to try this but I remembered that the company I work for has a significance presence in China, and looking up the place on Google Earth after returning home, I realized that one of our China sites is right near Vicky's apartment - only 11 miles away.  So after a few phone calls to find someone with a connection, a friend introduced me to Tan who is the QC manager at our Guangzhou facility.  

Today I stopped by for a visit and got to meet Tan, Cat (the plant manager) as well as Sesame and Sara, two of the GC scientists at the plant.  It was an interesting discussion, and I realized that analytical chemists the world over share similar approaches and concerns.

Since today was the last day of work before the New Year's break, approximately half of the work force was already traveling home... people in general seemed in a joyful mood and Cat invited me to join them for the annual lunch (which was Dim Sum at a wonderful local restaurant).

Getting to Guangzhou

As I write this, it is a little after 10:30 AM Eastern time and a little past 11:30 PM China time. I'm sitting on a bus that has just pulled away from the China/Hong Kong border, and I'm facing the last two hours of the journey.

The flight was fine. We had nice seats near a bulkhead where I could stretch out a bit. I learned that putting the iPhone on something repetitive is more conducive to sleep than watching movies (which hurts your eyes after a while).

But the flight is only one small leg of the journey. It of course starts with the trip to the airport and struggling to get all your luggage from he car to the airport.

After landing in Hong Kong, though, there was a bit of a snag. Normally Vicky doesn't make formal reservations or ground transportation because its not needed. This time - due to the New Year's travel - all slots were full. Leave it to Vicky... She immediately began organizing a large group of people who were stranded and then convinced the companies that there was money to be made getting everyone into Guangzhou. Soon a large bus was on its way. (The photo above is of Vicky center at the counter competing to buy our tickets after organizing the trip.)

Of course you still have to de-bus at the Hong Kong boarder, then ride a short distance to the Chinese boarder and then board the last bus for the final ride to Guangzhou where Tiger and his dad are waiting for us.

That means we'll finally get to Vicky's apt around 3:00 AM which will give me a couple of hours to sleep before heading to meet my IFF counterpart at 8:15 Friday morning.

Some early morning web research

I'm waiting for Vicky to wake up and begin telling me what to do... so I took a little stroll around google.

It seems that Chinese New Year (also Lunar New Year or Spring Festival) is a time for people to return to their hometowns... Guangzhou, like other eastern cities tends to be departure point as people leave their workplaces and head to more rural areas.  One result I had not thought about is essentially the world's largest yearly migration.  2 BILLION train trips are made over a period of a few weeks.

This website shows what happens when the inevitable glitches occurr...

http://www.chinasmack.com/2011/pictures/chun-yun-worlds-largest-yearly-human-migration-1995-2011.html

I'll hope we're not planning on taking the train anywhere.

I also googled "Guangzhou Lunar New Year" and clicked on the image page... it seems there will be a lot of flowers around and hopefully lots of color! 

Heading Back to China!

Happy New Year!  (Well, in a couple of days).

Tomorrow we fly again (this time hopefully only 15 hours or so instead of 20) to head back to Guangzhou with Vicky to celebrate the Chinese new year. 

What amazes me is that while I'm excited to be going back, I'm relatively laid back about this trip... nowhere near as worried about travel etc., as I normally would be.  Could it be that I'm already getting used to international travel?

It sounds like Chinese new year (in China) is really a series of family events... some ritual cleaning, visits to markets (I'm told stories about a "flower street") to decorate, and lots of time to visit and meet extended family.  (I hope to get to the point where I can hold my own in a game of Majhong before the end of this trip.)  I'm also hopeful that I can photograph more of this city... we've enlisted Tiger to scope out some great places to photograph.  I hope I can find one of the Chinese dragon celebrations. 

Also of note... right after I arrive I'll have a chance to visit IFF Guangzhou and learn a bit about my Chinese colleagues.

It should be a fun week!