A Bryson in China: August 2005

Hillview Country Club House from across the water on #18.

My caddie and I on #10 of the A & B course.

Hillview Golf Club

No rain!  No typhoon!  Yes, golf!!  Finally!!  Yep, I got out and played at the Hillview Golf Club Sunday.  It is only about a mile away near the Sofitel Royal Lagoon Hotel.  And what a difference from Camdor Harbour (the only other golf course I have played in China).  Camdor Harbour is like Rutherfordton Golf Club compared to this course.  I felt like I had walked into the Rivera Country Club.  What a magnificent club house.  It was massive!   And such incredible taste!  No Greek gods and windmills here.

It was a warm and nice day, when I called, but the receptionist told me I could not come out as a single until after 3 PM.  So I hailed a cab around 2:15.  Surprisingly, when we pulled into the Club grounds, the ride rolled through a long meandering road to the magnificent and huge Club House.  Bag attendants quickly took my bag and directed me inside.

And the interior continued the extraordinary experience.  The exterior was impressive, but the inside was magnificent:  tall high ceilings with huge chandeliers and curving staircases up and down to three story windows overlooking the course.  Check in was more akin to a Ritz Carlton than a golf club.  As I headed down to the locker room, even more impressive a setting was to be found.  The ceiling was at least 20 feet tall.  At the end of the hall past the lockers and showers, you quickly noticed the large round hot tub.  Now this is style!

Then making my way outside, Caddie #379 quickly grabbed my bag and directed me to a golf cart!!  Yes, a golf cart!!  Hot dig!!  A golf cart!!  No long walk to the hills ahead!  I soon found out Caddie #379 was named something akin to Jim Su.  And she was delightful.  Her smile was enduring.  And on this day, we didn’t get paired with anyone, as I really expected.  A course to my own, at my pace.  Only a couple of times did I catch up to play ahead.

And it was fun!  Great course!  Challenging and beautiful.  And whereas the greens at Camdor were like putting on old shag carpet, these were like concrete.  I made my first twisting putt on the first hole from about 25 feet, and really got psyched for a good day of putting.  Oh well, that soured quickly when I three putted the next three holes.  Hard as I tried, I couldn’t lag a putt short on these greens for the whole day.  They were hard!  Literally hard.  Most every second putt was an uphill 2 to 3 footer.

Bermuda grass increased the challenge around the greens.  And it was one of those courses lined with mogul type mounds everywhere, and elephants buried on most every green.  What contours!  But at least we had a cart.   Okay it was a pain being cart trail only.  It looks like that is a permanent thing.  The curbs were massive.  You weren’t gonna be driving out in the fairway over these curbs!

Lakes and hills were plentiful.  And those poles all around the course serve a unique purpose.  They are lights!  Yes, you can play at night.  I understand that the rate is higher to pay for the generators, but pretty impressive.  The lights only covered the 18 I played on Sunday.  There is another 18 that is longer and has a tall waterfall overlooking the last hole.

The scoring wasn’t so good, but it was fun!  Great to be out on a fabulous course and playing golf again.  Next time I gotta try late night under the lights!

Flower beds in median at intersection near New World Gardent apartments. Notice how many workers trimming flowers!

Another motorcycle picture from the roads of Dahlingshan. Unfortunately, this one was an accident..... not so uncommon.

A DVD Player

Unable to get a phone line to connect my computer in my apartment, and since my CDs, and other belongings are still in route from NC, I finally joined the ranks of owner of a new DVD player. Made in China, of course. And purchased in a local department store for about 190 RMB. Convert that……………. Okay, I will for ya: It’s about $35 US. Same price ya get at WalMart, right! Ha! Prices of this stuff are cheeeeeaaaaap here!

And then I bought some DVDs to go with it. That was even more amazing. Upstairs over the Dongguan WalMart, you find store after store of DVD and CD shops. For 15 RMB, or about $1.25 you can buy most any recent DVD!! I even bought the four seasons of 24 for only 180 RMB. Remember the DVD player price. Yep, that means it cost me around $30 US. Even in Hong Kong one season of 24 is about $60!!

Okay, yea, I probably can’t bring these back to the US. I’ll just enjoy ‘em here for now!

So what are these three mopeds hauling? I see many of these everyday on the roads here.

Yep! It's chickens! And I bet they get more on a moped than they get on a Tyson truck headed to North Wilkesboro!

Another moped use. Nothing like hauling an unbalanced load of foam down the road! You shoulda seen the weaving to keep balance this guy had to do!

Mopeds and motorcycles get a lot of use here. This is no record. I've also seen families of 5 on one moped, and up to 4 men.

"Tomorrow, tomorrow"

Well, I’ve been here for months now, and I still don’t have an Internet connection at my apartment. Okay, I’ve only actually been in the apartment for a couple of months. But during that time I have been on a waiting list for weeks to get DSL. I think I’m finally close. Don’t ask me what takes so long.

After several weeks of asking about the process, I finally got to go to China Mobile last week to register. Of course, wouldn’t ya know that they also needed official confirmation from my apartment complex. And being my luck, the apartment wasn’t open at that time. So after another week passed before I got the apartment sign-off. Now I’m told China Mobile has to come by and hook up a line in my apartment. So I have to make a special trip back to the apartment early today. But we’re not there yet. Then they have to do some more wiring. I think I may finally get hookup later in week. What a process!

So how am I handling this? If some of you wonder why I don’t write more often, read above: I don’t have Internet at my apartment!! That is a real pain. For these articles, I can write at home in Word, and then I can copy over to blogspot at work. I want to be able to do this at any hour!!!

My driver Sao Boa, who is helping me on this doesn’t speak much English, but he understands I’m frustrated! It is a joke now between us when I keep rolling my eyes whenever we approach the subject, and say: “DSL = Tomorrow, tomorrow!” He just laughs too, and says: “Tomorrow, tomorrow!” Hopefully tomorrow will come…… some day!

Street vendor rolls cart by cars waiting in line for gas at Dahlingshan gas station. Long lines are plaguing the area as gas companies restrict sales.

Eels and Gas Lines

Eels and Gas Lines

The news around here has been rather interesting this week:

Pork sales down after a strep disease in a province nearby

Eel has been banned after preservative found to be carcinogenic

Lines at gas pumps have been long and slow

Another weekend = another typhoon

I wrote last week about the new service station in Dahlingshan. Well, this week, I thought they must really be having a great Grand Opening when I saw a line of traffic for a mile and three lanes wide on Monday night. But then I noticed other stations starting to have lines too. I finally found out the reason. It seems there are limited sales to maintain prices. Or something like that. Regulations govern prices, and stations don’t want to sell too much at certain prices. So with the limitations, a fear has gripped the area and when gas is available, lines form. Reminds me of the days I lived in California and watched fear cause huge lines there.

Television has regularly highlighted the eel situation this week. It is so much fun to see slithering eel on TV while eating lunch. (TVs are always on at mealtime here.) And they do have a lot of eel in tanks in supermarkets and fish markets. It is very popular here. But they have recently realized that a preservative used in the food or water to maintain the eel in these tanks is carcinogenic. With the announcement, supermarkets cleaned out their tanks. Ironically, I’ve been served very little eel over here. I probably ate more in Japanese restaurants in the US.

A type of strep disease has been blamed for death and major sickness for many handlers of pork in a province nearby. Steps were immediately taken to isolate and pork movement has been limited dramatically. Of course, that had an immediate impact on sales of pork, regardless of where it came from. The street vendors are complaining now that folks have just quit buying pork. What a surprise!?!

And, wouldn’t you know it, it’s a weekend and another typhoon is here! It rained about as hard and steady as I’ve ever seen last night. Shandian and leisheng all night – that’s thunder and lightning (or as best as I can interpret it). In fact, my driver had a hard time finding a way to my apartment this morning, and we had to take an alternate route back that wasn’t flooded. So it looks like another golf weekend washout! My luck!

Evidence of the landscape changes underway in Dongguan.

The Changed Landscape

Evidently the Chinese have been altering the landscape. Most of this region is really flat. But then you start back to Hong Kong or over to another town and suddenly there are some pretty good size hills or mountains. So how did this get so flat?

The Chinese have a massive infrastructure of progress. They have built major roads throughout this area, and the industrial revolution is strongest in this Pearl River Delta area. Factories are plentiful and more are being constructed everywhere.

One shoe factory in the area has 50,000 employees! Yes, I said 50,000!! And that isn’t the biggest. There is another shoe factory near Shenzhen with 70,000!! One village is being relocated beside a nearby shoe factory to make room for more housing at that plant. There are huge cities inside the factory grounds!!

But to meet all this growth the landscape has often been altered. I can’t be so sure since I haven’t been here long, but the picture included today should give you an idea of the differences being made to the landscape!

The Marathon

How’d I get into this? I’ve never done a marathon. Okay, it’s only supposed to be one of those short ones. I’m not even dressed for it. I do have on my new sneakers that I got here in Hong Kong at a sporting goods store. It was the largest size they had ever sold. But other than the shoes, I’m not in running or walking attire. I have on some comfortable shorts and a golf shirt.

At least, the same can be said for most contestants around me. People are in any kind of attire. And everyone is closing in tighter as race time gets closer. The crowd is really growing. It already has to be hundreds deep behind me. A light is flashing red and looks like one of those drag strip “Christmas Trees” preparing to go to green.

You can feel the tension in the crowd. Folks behind me are pressing closer in on all sides. I can’t help but move in closer to the people ahead of me as the front runners try to brace in a take-off position.

As the light flashes green, we’re off! The crowd breaks into a frenzy of pedestrians with a single aim ahead in their sights. A young guy comes around me in a gallop. Then a lady rolls past me swiping me with a huge shopping bag. A shopping bag? Suddenly I’m right upon another lady with a baby in her arms! A baby! Carrying a baby here? But wait…. There’s a stroller with a toddler beside her too! Unbelievable.

Oh no! Up ahead there is confusion! Our peleton is in trouble. What is that? It looks like…….. Could it be? It has to be…… It’s another marathon coming right into us!! People are dodging right and left. The stroller is being met head-on by another stroller. Bags are being banged into my body from all sides. People are faking right and cutting left. They’re bouncing off each other like bumper cars as they head in their opposite directions. It’s chaotic right here at the start of this thing.

Just when I think it can’t get any worse, a bell starts ringing. The pace quickens. Folks behind me are pressing and passing on all sides. The marathon from the opposite direction is quickening too. The bell picks up its pace in some kind of countdown, as people are racing to get up on the curb ahead!

A marathon? Okay, you know I wouldn’t be in a marathon! But my description is as close as I can write about the activity that happens daily in many places in Hong Kong. And it even repeats itself every few minutes.

It’s the crossing of major streets. I’ve never seen anything like it. I bet more people cross Hennessy Road in an hour, than live in Rulfton! Just look at the pictures below to see what I mean. That is just one crossing when the light changes! Two marathons running right into each other is about the best I can relate to describe this event!

The marathons line up on each side of Hennessy Road. Notice how many people are across the street for as deep as you can see!

The two marathons meet in the middle!

Pedestrians pass and feign left and right to pass through.

Fish in the street!

Hong Kong Sunday

For what I figured would be a lost day in a typhoon, today turned out to be pretty good. It never rained on me. It rained, but at least I was inside during that time.

I had a great American breakfast at the Novotel. The bacon is never crisp enough, but the rest of the meal was delightful. I wandered down to Times Square shopping center to join the crowds. No movie interested me at any of the nearby theaters, so I made my way over to Outback for a hamburger.

On my way back to the hotel, I took a different route. And what a route! First, I found a narrow alley of low cost clothing shops. It was more like a flea market setting. Only I was almost too big to get through. They sure designed this for smaller folks. Turning out of it, I came face to face with fish. And I do mean many fish. There were even fish in the street, and a lot of fish heads were for sale. A vendor would let some of his live fish jump into the street. It attracted attention. I don’t know if it helped sell em though.

As I made my way on, a street hawker gave me a handbill for the Health Portal. I decided to stop for a massage. I missed having one at the hotel this week. It wasn’t as good as by Zhuzhu but I now have a comparison.

Last night, I got a tip to go to Lan Kwai Fong for a great block of western style pubs and restaurants. I would have gone there later on Saturday night, but the rains were too heavy to venture there then. So off I went tonight. And oh did I have a great dinner. I had a burrito dinner!!! Yes! A burrito!! I finally found a Mexican restaurant. It was a pretty small bar with limited menu, but the margarita was exceptional, and the food was great. Certainly the best Mexican I’ve had in three months. Can’t wait to get back!

Fish or at least fish heads for sale!

Fish anyone?

Shrimp and scampi anyone?

Fresh fruit and vegetable stand.

Sanvu the Typhoon

Level 1 – What does that mean? Arriving in Hong Kong that was posted everywhere. You enter a building there is a sign. You enter the hotel, Level 1 signs. You enter the MTR subway: Level 1. At many a turn there is a sign for Level 1.

Walking outside, you suddenly realize the meaning. The wind pushes you sideways as soon as you exit into the open. Rain pelts you from every direction. Puddles of water are everywhere. Cars splash and spray water along curbs.

As I check in at the Novotel, the bell captain, Stephen, welcomes me back. It’s good to have a face that recognizes you, especially when you are so far away from home. Stephen then tells me, “It’s Sanvu, the typhoon.” He goes on to tell me it is likely to pass and not be a direct hit. Level 1 is just a stand by warning, and the forecast takes it up to a 10. The weekend isn’t looking so good. I sure hope it doesn’t rain all weekend.

The new service station in Dahlingshan.

My driver, Hua Be with gas station attendant, at new gas station in Dahlingshan.

The New Service Station

Last night Hua Be, my driver, pulled over for gasoline. Now in all my rides back and forth to my apartment from work, I’ve never stopped for gas. Evidently they usually fill up before I get in for a ride. Well, this stop was interesting. The gas station was brand new. I had watched it being constructed for months along the road through Dahlingshan. It’s a massive, tall structure with a sweeping roof. There were at least eighteen pump locations and a large store. For whatever reason though, the store wasn’t stocked with many things. The interior was primarily for several cashier stations and what looked to be a lounge for the workers.

What really caught my attention though was that when we pulled up to a pump, an attendant was there to assist!! Yes, remember gas station attendants. Each pump had a girl to pump gas into vehicles. It seemed like old times. In this case, the girl even spoke a little English and was quite excited to speak with me. She did very well at asking where I was from and how I was on this night. Not bad. A lot better than I can do in Mandarin.

But the service pretty much just stopped with the pumping of gas. Like so many stores here, you make your deal – in this case, get your gas pumped – and then go to the cash register with your bill to pay and complete the transaction. So Hua Be had to go inside and wait and pay a cashier. The process sure doesn’t save any time. I’m still not sure if the attendant was to be sure there for service or just to assure no theft of the gasoline.

By the way, gas was 53 RMB per liter. You can convert that to something you understand.

A Busy Week

I’ve got a busy week going on again. My good friend and associate, Chris Plasman, the president of Bolier and my former boss as president of Baker, is visiting for several days. He is reviewing October Market introductions and discussing other issues. Hopefully, we’ll also have time for a good dinner and shopping for golf clubs.

Part of my week’s schedule requires the return to Hong Kong. The China government must really like me to come there to spend money. My visa still requires me to re-enter every 30 days just to get it stamped. Of course, that also means I will stay in Hong Kong and support the local economy.

So on Friday, I activate my Hong Kong cell phone [(852) 6535 7553]and move back into the Novotel Hotel for a couple of days. If lucky, Chris and I will find some good American steaks too.

Together with my friends, Paris, Ziyi, Jessica, and Teri, before dinner at The Dongguan Old Restaurant.

Duck Tongue and Other Delights

The girls, Jessica, Paris, and Ziyi included me in invitation to another dining delight on Thursday (see first post together from July 19). This time it was a repeat trip to the Dongguan Old Restaurant near my apartment. But we were privileged by the additional patronage of Teri and Tony. (Tony didn’t make it in time for pictures. Aren’t I lucky in such company?!!)

We dined as usual on a mixture of amazing culinary specialties, all spun before each rice bowl on the table turntable. The highlight of this evening was in the deserts. We had two wonderful dim sum dishes that delighted the palate like none I had had in the three months since arriving – except maybe my first visit to the golf course – but my hunger probably caused overstatement of the taste on that occasion.

The unique dish of the night had to go to the plate pictured here today. As usual, I tried before asking what it was. I find it best to not always know beforehand. I was quickly told it was a special of the region: Duck’s Tongue. I thought maybe a squid by the look of it, but I guess I can see the difference now. The only the problem in not knowing what your eating, is in knowing how to eat it. On this occasion, I found myself biting into a bone like center, which was probably best chewed around. Well, at least I learned that lesson quickly.

Thursday nights are getting to be a unique cuisine night.

Duck Tongue as served recently at The Dongguan Old Restaurant.

Blogging and Favorite Posts

One of the limitations I find with this “blogger” thing is the ability to effectively post a lot of pictures to my abrysoninchina site. So solution from the parent company Google: setup pictures on another site that is a partner with blogspot. It is dotphoto.com. From what I can tell, it is free for posting pictures with several options for viewing. You can allow viewing to anyone, or restrict any with a password. It even looks as if many photographers use the site for selling their pictures. I guess that helps to keep the site free.

Anyway, I’ve setup several albums of pictures from my experiences in China at my site at dotphoto.com. To get to those sites, I’ve added to the Links in the right column of this abrysoninchina.blogspot site. To access, just go to: http://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=abrysoninchina&p=1A55

I will warn that you may find that the “All my albums” link can be difficult to access. (It works fine for me, but computers are finicky.) The individual album links, like “Decca Celebration” and “Cheung Chow”, may work better at accessing the albums. And Internet Explorer works best for the site (bummer – I prefer Mozilla Firefox now).

And, why not try something else here. Maybe I'm having too much fun with this blog stuff. It sorta lets me be editor of my own website, so I do enjoy this. But as the postings get added, some of my favorites are harder to find, much less to tell someone how to find.

So the simple solution is another blog site! But of course! I can’t believe sometimes how simple this is. Well, the other site is: www.brysoninchinafavorites.blogspot.com
I have put a link to in on the right too. So if you are new or looking for some of my better postings, check that link.

Enjoy!

Moon Bay Plaza, a new department store opening very near my apartment. Yes, I did say a department store.

Walks and lazy afternoons

Awakened by heavy rains on Sunday morning, I knew I was in for a washout of a day. I was right.

I did find some solace in a long walk down Cong Cheng Road in between showers. That’s one of the main roads in Dongguan city, just out the window of my apartment. I’ve walked down this road several times for the first long block anyway. And now I have eaten at the Korean, Japanese, and the Dongguan Old Restaurant along the way. On Friday, I found the Pizzeria Calzone, run by Miguel from Portugal. Wouldn’t you know a Portuguese would run the Italian restaurant? Well, he is doing a fine job. We had a wonderful dinner of pizza, lasagna, and other pastas. All were exceptional!

But on this day, I wandered further down Cong Cheng than I ever had. The first recognizable restaurant on this new block was McDonald’s. Now the amazing thing about it being here though is the fact that I had just passed one in the first block! Okay, they’re big blocks, but two this close? And this one was huge. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one so big. Very wide and two stories!

The new coming attraction is a Starbucks. It is due to open in a few weeks right next to the second McDonald’s. Newsweek recently reported that there will be more Starbucks in China in three years than in the US. At least one will be close to my apartment. Oh well, I don’t drink coffee anyway.

Passing on to the end of the block, I visited Park ‘n Shop, a major department store. I had been there on my first visit to Dongguan to buy essentials for my apartment. I wasn’t as successful on this visit. For the life of me I can’t find pictures for my new home. I keep looking, but nothing catches my fancy. I’ve got to get rid of these plain white walls soon.

The rains never came down too hard on me. It did shortly after I returned in a taxi though. Glad I wasn’t on the golf course for this downpour. Oh well, again soon.

New Starbucks Coffee opening down the street. (Sorry about picture - I'm still getting used to this new cell camera.)

A Bryson in China

Tuesday, August 30, 2005

Hillview Golf Club

Saturday, August 27, 2005

A DVD Player

Thursday, August 25, 2005

Wednesday, August 24, 2005

"Tomorrow, tomorrow"

Monday, August 22, 2005

Saturday, August 20, 2005

Eels and Gas Lines

Thursday, August 18, 2005

The Changed Landscape

Wednesday, August 17, 2005

The Marathon

Sunday, August 14, 2005

Hong Kong Sunday

Saturday, August 13, 2005

Sanvu the Typhoon

Friday, August 12, 2005

Thursday, August 11, 2005

The New Service Station

A Busy Week

Saturday, August 06, 2005

Duck Tongue and Other Delights

Thursday, August 04, 2005

Blogging and Favorite Posts

Tuesday, August 02, 2005

Walks and lazy afternoons

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My Time

Fellow Bloggers

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