Travel stories and photos and the occasional life lesson

When I start carrying the voice recorder and talking into it every single time something new or exciting occurs I will become a full time writer. Each day brings new adventures- still. I am nearing sixty days in my current China adventure. I see no end to my stay here.  My Mandarin lessons get more serious tomorrow as I start three separate one hour lessons in five days. Recently, my obsession with purchasing an electric bicycle has me examining electric bikes all day everyday. Now the journey to the Mandarin lesson lasts 15 minutes. With the electric bike it will decrease. The subway rides across town and the very very occasional taxi ride will cease. My exercise level decreases with the electric bike, but MY Beijing grows tremendously. My longest taxi trip to date lasted 22 km.  That will be a peace of cake on the new bicycle.  At this point I am still trying to talk myself into the purchase. The money plays a minor role in this decision. The lack of exercise concerns me mostly.

Hiking still trumps other activities. The break from the routine as well as the fresh air, and most importantly- the wonderful hiking folks make Saturdays a sanctuary. My comfort level with the trek to the meeting place finally increased. Instead of arriving 90 minutes early I only get there 20-30 minutes early now. Yesterday’s hike started with a 9:45am departure time from my apartment and ended when I returned home after 1am Sunday morning.  We always seem to end up in some beautiful bunch of mountains 60-120 minutes outside of the city.  Breathtaking is not even the appropriate word to describe the views.

Work continues to excite me. The adventures and challenges dealing with suppliers and potential suppliers here in China continues. Most of the folks use MSN Messenger to communicate which (some times) raises the efficiency level.  Many times the banter (Back and forth) appears (to me) to be an incredible waste of time.  I don’t know you. We are not friends.  I don’t care if ou had a good weekend or not. Geesch!  Maybe I’m a little insensitive.  Get to the point. I don’t need to tell you – via instant messaging- how my day has been.  Goodness!  I do appreciate the messenger when the topic centers around work and also when we have a minor communication issue. If your spoken English is not as good as your written then the messenger works great.

Enough about the msn….. I received a batch of swimming goggles after a three week wait, a 45 minute subway ride, a 35 (more) minute cab ride, and then 30 more minutes back (to my apartment) in that same cab. Now I must figure how to get 288 pairs of swimming goggles back to Texas economically.

I also received two sample chairs and some bamboo disposable plates. Those items arrived quickly and painlessly. China Construction Bank now holds money for me. Instead of carrying around 20 or 30 separate 100 rmb bills I now carry 5 or six and a bank card. Getting my own bank account took very little time with my very helpful Chinese friend.  This way I may pulse money when I need it and not carry an obnoxiously fat wallet. I am the king of the skinny wallet…. once more!

Since my food poisoning incident I have returned bread to my diet.  My stomach thanks me for that. I am becoming more adventurous in eating. I go to different places regularly and alone.

Making friends takes effort. I am definitely spoiled in the US with friends.  I am making positive progress here in China.

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Greg Gordon Uncategorized

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Greg Gordon Uncategorized

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Greg Gordon Uncategorized

I imagine that there are other ways to get by in China. For me it’s “pay as you go.” Saturday, after waking up with no electricity, I walked my empty (of credit) electricity card to a bank, handed the teller the card and some money and headed back home. I inserted the card into the box in the hallway and flipped the breaker switch back on. I have no idea when it will run out again. Maybe I’ll charge it again before it runs empty so the break from electric power is easier next time.

Monday, the cell phone needed to be charged again. Tuesday, I recharged the internet connection in my apartment. That was an unexpected one to me. It makes it simple. For the cell phone and internet I simply purchase recharge cards at any newspaper stand for 100rmb each, scratch off the stuff that covers the super secret code, dial the number, punch 2 for English, follow the instructions and “bam” I’m done.

I believe it was Monday afternoon that I had a “post it” note on my door in Chinese. I walked it down to the management office and learned that I owed water bill money.  I promptly paid the nearly two dollars and headed back to the apartment. I also signed up for a fourteen U.S. dollar teeth cleaning.

Last night (not to scare anyone) I felt horrible. I ate some bad fish or meat two days ago. I know better than to do that. I walked 200 yards to the hospital, waited twenty minutes for my temperature of 102.74º F or 39.3º C to be taken and was promptly escorted to the fever clinic where I began paying for whatever it was they did to me. The entire (nearly two hour) experience set me back around U.S. $25 including medicine and lasted way less than eight hours.

Right now the clock reads 6:18pm Thursday. I skipped a Mandarin lesson (doctor’s orders) and a networking event tonight in order to get back to good health.

Saturday’s hike coming up will be exciting again and I better be healthy for it. The excitement about all of the new products I am sending back to Texas grows daily for me. My level of enthusiasm about this China adventure remains strong.

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Greg Gordon Uncategorized

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In Beijing I nap. For at least the last 12 years I have not been a nap person. It appears to suit me in Beijing. My activities get justified. That’s the way I operate. When I play hard I have earned the play from the efficient and productive work that I just completed. When I work diligently,  it is because my desire to buy something not totally necessary or possibly my plans to play when most folks are working brought on that diligent work.

I routinely wake before 6am and go to bed after 11 pm or midnight.  These hours occasionally call for a nap. Heck, Sunday calls for a nap. Saturdays typically start before 6am and end after 2am.  The past week like each week so far has been full of adventures. Scheduled dinners occurred Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday evening. Thursday evening contained an excitement filled multi-chamber networking event and a few hours of dancing. Friday night I stayed home in anticipation of the very long Saturday. One day I met with work related folks in their large office building wearing my shorts and t-shirt. I had tea at least once and I wrote several follow-up emails to (possible new) friends from across the world – all living in Beijing.

Friday the bike sat idle while the legs carried me to three different banks to make deposits into random bank accounts for product samples. Costa Coffee and Starbucks received a visit from me while I drank iced tea and updated website information. Late Friday afternoon a print shop updated and printed new business cards for me with my msn fun512@live.com and Beijing cell number on them. Tuesday and Thursday morning I practiced Mandarin lessons with my current instructor. After another week or two with her, my sessions will increase to the 10 hours per week range.

Saturday’s hike took nearly twenty of us to Fragrant Hills- a short 30 minute drive from town. This hike required ENERGY. We hiked nearly straight up hill for a solid thousand (meters) yards. At the top the we viewed the entire city of Beijing down in the valley. We walked back a different way after a brief rest. The group split up for the hike and arrived at our dinner place together. We dined with a group twice our size at the ‘once monthly hiking group’ party.  Again, new folks and some regulars attended. Great food, good entertainment, and the best company were all parts of the evening. We ate buffet line style. I tried mostly regular (to me now) foods. The random items I ate: some egg I was not familiar with, an un sweet warm dessert- similar to a porridge, and some different peppers. Next time I may even bring a non-Chinese person on the hike and to dinner afterwards.

(Work related) Presently I am attempting to gather money to make product purchases for a shipment back to the states. The marketing machine is in action and the products will arrive back in Texas. New photos are appearing on the partymachines.com site weekly.

This evening I may schedule a dinner before my beverage outing at 8pm. After a nap I am slow to get back into the swing of the day. I am not quite there at this point.

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The shirts with English words here in China are fantastic.

I imagine that most folks do not know the meaning of the words on their shirts. I have one very intelligent, English speaking friend, Morgan, who wore my favorite shirt yet. What makes it so special to me is that Morgan knows English! It is a good looking shirt and Morgan is an extremely attractive young lady. The shirt represents only a tiny portion of the excitement on Saturday. It’s only fair to start the weekend on Thursday.

The networking event Thursday night occurred near Guomao subway stop at the Kerry Center. That means- bike ride. The participants – forty something different people all live in China and hail from Vietnam, (mainly) Canada, Germany, England, the U.S., France, and Sweden. I imagine there may have been one person I did not meet. I made a few new friends, and possibly gained business contacts.  I met a dentist, a guy in logistics, a couple of gentlemen from a legal/ accounting firm. That can only help me. With each networking event I seem to get invited to another. That suits me well. I left the camera at home. Next week there appears to be a larger networking event with even more people that I will attend.

Friday turned (like most days here) into an adventure. I ventured to a subway stop on the blue (Line 10) line that I had not been to before. I headed north towards the airport, landed, walked, walked, walked, and then walked some more until I arrived at a large convention center full of audio, lighting, and dj stuff. I made a few great finds and am now waiting for follow up from potential new vendors. It’s so great being right here where most things are made. I believe I found my newest big humongous snow machine as well as a very impressive foam cannon. Photos and video to follow. The walk back to the subway from the convention took about 12 minutes.  I arrived back home around seven, in time to eat, clean up and head out to a cocktail reception at an art gallery, on to Xiu bar for a little dancing, one glass of wine, and then off to Vic’s for one margarita and some more dancing with Yolanda from Port Arthur, Mary from Beaumont, and Chris from Austin. That’s correct- all the way to Beijing for Beaumont and Port Arthur!  My bike gets a workout even when I go out dancing. I needed to be home before sunrise as the Saturday hike gathering took place right after 11am.

Saturday morning I forced myself to sleep past 6am. I made it til right after 7 and then prepared for a journey by subway to the meeting place near the bird’s nest for the hiking group.  Once I climbed to the street level it was clear that there was a solid mile more to get to my location. For the first time I hired one of those buggies on three wheels.

About half of the folks at the hike were new to me. It’s getting very comfortable with this group. By far these are the most wonderful new folks I have had the pleasure to meet in my travels here. The diversity in the group is most wonderful, refreshing, and exciting. Everyone appears to work so hard during the week and work even harder at letting loose on the weekend and especially around their hiking companions.

We drove for a little more than two hours outside of the city into the mountains. The peaceful scenery makes the hustle of city life seem so far away for the time we spend in nature. The great big bonus for me was that we walked to the Great Wall.

After the hike we drove back to Beijing in just about two hours for dinner at a SPICY Chinese food restaurant and some more fantastic ice dessert at Bellagio. The evening for David, Ping, Danshing, and me still had several more hours in it. We left (in our hiking clothes) the dessert restaurant, cabbed it to the Village, found a club, and danced til 2am. For me it was a very long, tiring, and exciting Saturday in Beijing.

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Greg Gordon Uncategorized Beijing, Great Wall, hike, rubber nipple

On a Monday night in Beijing after twenty-four of the last thirty hours spent in bed I intend to get out and walk around. My diet of vegetables, tofu, and the occasional tiny portion of meat was interrupted Sunday. Around the lunch hour I dined on lobster, sushi, and lots of other fancy food items at the best buffet lunch I have ever had the pleasure of attending. I will go back. Next time the portions will be smaller. Wow! My body yelled, screamed, and kicked me something fierce.

The weekend activities kept me out of trouble. Friday night included dancing at Xiu bar til after 2am with friends following a lovely dinner of grilled meats and dumplings. Saturday’s hike was skipped in favor of watching Iron Man II and a trip to a local Wal-Mart. Next time I’ll choose the hike.

My bike gets a workout every day. My comfort zone expands daily with longer journeys away from my residence. Sunday, immediately after the lovely brunch I purchased city maps to hang on my apartment walls. This week I intend to get two extra waste baskets, a clock, and two lamps for better lighting. This place feels a little more like home every single day. My second mandarin lesson occurs tomorrow morning. Work projects systematically get worked through daily. Hiccups always happen but life would be boring without them.

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I hope all of this excitement continues for quite awhile. So far today I found a cleaners and dropped off four shirts and finally paid the deposit and purchased 5 gallons of drinking water. I had help with the water. I also ran for right over 30 minutes and ate breakfast. Now I am going to create things to do until my 7pm social thing.

I also notice that now that I am a 90% (of the time) vegetarian I am a 100% (of the time) hungry person. Hopefully the 100% of the time hunger sensation will abdicate.

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