Nothing Worse!
Ever been under the weather in a foreign country? Without family and friends close at hand? Well, at least I’ve had good friends nearby this week.
It’s not been an easy week. I came down with a stomach virus or some other malady the other night. I’ll forego the details. To suffice to say, it incapacitated me for a couple of days. I can fortunately say that it is one of the few times that it has happened while working over here. With eating the foods I eat here, I think I’m kinda lucky it hasn’t been many more times.
When I used to travel internationally years ago, I got sick almost every trip. A body’s system gets used to certain foods and styles of cooking. It’s great to experience and try new foods in new locales, but it can take a toll on your body. I honestly think it is more about the difference alone than any particular microbe or food particle that causes sickness.
And most of us know those folks that get sick just thinking about eating unusual foods. They have it tough when they get here. Fish heads and chicken feet are a little different.
Here Comes the Rain Again!
Here come the rains again! I just hope it ends before too long! But I don’t count on that happening anytime soon.
I went to Hong Kong Monday, and it rained much of the day there. You couldn’t see across the harbor, and the Star Ferry cruise ride takes less than 10 minutes to traverse.
Rain doesn’t mean you will get wet though when you are in Hong Kong. You can walk all over most of the city and never feel a raindrop. All over the main city areas there are footbridges and passageways. I walked for blocks without ever going out into the rain. You can pass right through from one shopping center into another, once you figure out the system. And most of it is from the first level up, so you pass right over the congestion of the highways without any delay too.
If you don’t like the humidity of the open air footbridges, you have the alternative of going down into the subway. There you can traverse block after block at each station while making your way from building to building.
Most Honk Kong folks still carry umbrellas, but at least they don’t pop them up so often. I usually run into a few whenever they do that. I don’t think they see me above the umbrella.
One of three new statues in the Decca Garden. This depicting a lady with her basket of vegetables following a dog.
Unusual statues of kids putting trash in rubbish bin.
New Guests in the Garden
There are some new additions to the Decca Garden. One never knows what the owners and management will do next to improve this place. They are all the time tinkering, adding, and renovating around this factory in Dongguan.
For Chinese New Year it was the addition of some new “guests” to our garden in front of the Decca Hotel. These “guests” are of the stationary variety. They’re statues.
I’m told they are bronze castings from the Hubei Province in northern China. I’m not entirely sure what the kids are symbolizing, but they make for interesting conversation.
Girl bathing baby brother near our waterfall.
My Affliction
I must have an affliction of some type. Okay, so most of ya may already know that. I’m just learning. I Know, it’s a bit of clumsiness. Lately it’s been associated with not listening to my own advice and stepping in water. Bad .. huh?
Yeah, there I was the other night at one of those fancy hotels in Dongguan with a gaggle of customers. In this case, it was eight French guests. I explained repeatedly when we went into the bar for drinks after dinner to “Be careful of the water ponds around the perimeter.” But did I listen to my own advice. No!
You see, I ordered and quickly went to the washroom before rushing back to assist my guests with getting their orders correct from the waitress that knew little to no English. As I rushed to get into my seat………… SPLASH. More precisely, I went around a chair to get to the large round sofa where my group had congregated. And I stepped right into a corner of the pond exposed beside the chair.
Now I don’t know who the designer is for all these hotels is, but why would you use a pond in the design of a dimly lit bar? There surrounding the whole of the bar is a rock pond. My guests said they even saw some fish in it. But to make matters worse, the sofa and sitting areas were raised on platforms of glass to expose the water. Really looked likes the sofa floats on the water. Cool huh? NOT IF YOU STEP IN THE WATER!
It’s bad enough to try to see where the raised platform starts, but then to make it out of glass, it really messes up your perception. Mine sure was.
So here I was, trying to be the good host and came around the outside of the chair to get to my seat. As I raised my foot for the platform, I stepped around the chair up to what I thought was the glass. But no, the designer had curved the glass around the sofa so that the pond extended here to a point. You couldn’t tell where the glass started and the pond started, without close examination, and better lighting!!
You ever have one of those sloooooooooow mooooooooooooootion experiences? You know, one where everything you’re doing seems to slow down and you see every detail every so precisely, but you don’t seem to have any influence on what is happening? It was one of those for me. Right foot round to the platform, step and oh no… …… stop…… stop……. Stop……. I could see everything too. It was as if I rounded to step on the glass platform, and my mind registered: there’s NO platform here! STOP!! STOP!! No way… Toooooooooo lateeeeeeeee…….. What is the physics of it? Try to stop a force of 200 pounds moving forward with speed? Nothing gonna stop this. Foot is going in. SPLASH!!!!
Next action….. get out quick. Out quick! Out quick! LOOK OUT French! I’m piling in to the nearest chair! Man, it was deeper than I expected too.
Okay, I didn’t get too wet. Just up above my ankles. I wasn’t in very long. I didn’t know the French laughed so much. Did you know they have a hard time stopping the giggles when they get started? Ever notice that little snicker. Just wonder what they were saying to each other in French.
Actually they were pretty cordial. And the waitress was typically useless. Ran over with some poor excuse for towels to dry my feet. ………… She was snickering too!!
Of course, she was better than the last waitress when this happened once before. I know, you’re thinking: “It happened before?” Yep. Another hotel. Same story. Could have been a rerun. But I do think it is my affliction to find and step into poorly designed water pools at hotels.
They are all over Asia like this. In Bangkok the new airport Novotel had to put up barriers around the stream they designed into the middle of the lobby. When I arrived there the first time, they had warning signs at the front door. By the second visit the barriers, just simple bank teller stanchions and tape, were in place. I guess, there were too many kids playing in the water and guests stepping in.
But back to my other episode: it was at another Dongguan hotel. I had just explained to a vendor to watch his step in the buffet area. When SPLASH, in I went! ……. It must be my shoes are attracted to water! At least, I’ve balanced the washings.
On this occasion, a waitress came running around with paper towels, and slippers. No apologies. No free food. Just some size 5 slippers. Why do they always want to give me kids’ slippers in Asia. I wear size 12! If I’m lucky they are wide enough to cover my toes. They are not gonna come close to going on my feet!
Designers of Asia hotels sure have this thing about water ponds. They look nice, but they are incredibly open and hazardous. Whereas, nothing would ever be designed like this in the US, here maybe they have a lip. And if they do have a lip, that usually just makes them more of a big rock tripping hazard. And glass sections over some, but not all the ponds. In a bar? It’s no wonder this bar didn’t have much business. Too many drunks probably ended up taking a bath in the pond!
Sorry, I don't have any pictures of the bar area, but this is the entrance to the Grand Oriental Hotel in Dahlingshan, where I had my latest shoe washing.
One of Those Days
This has been one of those days: one where I would have been better off, just not getting up. I should have known it wasn’t gonna be good when I didn’t see the Morning News.
I just hate those days. I got up and raced down to see the ABC Evening News from the USA (remember it’s the next morning already here at that hour). Charles Gibson came on and introduced the night’s headlines. All was great until it switched to commercial and never returned! NO! Instead some Aussie chef popped up to show some new fish recipe! Forgive me, but that’s NOT NEWS!
It happens all too often. China must be unhappy with ABC and pre-empts the show. Usually it never starts. Often, like today, it gets started, but cuts away to something else. The other day public service announcements were on for the whole ½ hour. I must have watched about three in a row before I realized the News was late! This is happening far too often lately.
And I really enjoy Sandra Brown’s Travel documentary about Seville, Spain, but I bet it’s been on 20 times in the last couple of months! Doesn’t she go anywhere else. Usually it’s Sandra in Seville whenever they pre-empt the News! ENOUGH!
But I was started this talking about my day. The rest of it wasn’t much better. It hadn’t been too good the night before either. I raced from the China Visa office to barely make the ferry. Then I stayed at the factory to be with a customer who had made contact about an unexpected visit today. That was okay. I figured I would just stay at the factory and get a massage and good rest. Only someone messed up my reservation and our masseuse wasn’t booked. So that was a wasted plan.
And the customer didn’t get plans to us regarding his visit. It gets pretty tough arranging visits and details in Chinese, when the customer is speaking Hebrew, and the call originates from the USA. And to make matters worse, another communication snafu in the morning didn’t get him connected for a drive to the factory. Soooooooooooo, I get to spend my Saturday night off to Guangzhou to see the customer.
What is it the last few weeks anyway? We’ve had non-stop customers! It was as if the floodgates opened after the Chinese New Year. I don’t think anyone wanted to travel between Christmas and the New Year, and they have come in droves since then! We’ve had French, Danes, Meiguas (Americans), Germans, Indians, and Japanese. I’m exhausted from all the tours I’ve given.
At least I got an interesting article about my blog in the Winston-Salem Journal. Check it by clicking here, or from the link in the right column.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
A New Message from My Sister
How many other chances will you have in your lifetime to make a difference in someone’s life?
How many times in your life do you get to be a hero? We grew up thinking of imaginary heroes, wearing capes and flying through the air, scooping up the “bad guys” as they made the world a safer place. But, as we were reminded on 9/11, our real heroes were the firemen and policemen who put their lives on the line to save others.
But, YOU can be a hero by sharing a kidney. It’s not a decision to take lightly, but how many other chances will you have in your lifetime to make a difference in someone’s life?
There are many health situations that affect us and family members and friends, but very seldom are we personally able to do anything directly to help them.
And, the vast majority of these situations can be treated with drugs or surgery or treatments. Except for dialysis, which causes its own set of problems, the only help for kidney failure is another kidney.
There are so many situations in this world that we cannot change – we cannot make the Middle East a safe part of the world, we cannot save all the children dying in Africa, we cannot solve the war in Iraq, BUT we can do something for Gene. He only needs one kidney!! No one really needs 2, but everyone has to have at least one.
This could be the most significant decision of your life if you decide to share a kidney with Gene. When the opportunity is there, when you can actually make that kind of difference in someone’s life don’t you want to be a hero?
This is your chance, and how are you going to live with yourself if you choose to turn away?
Anna
For more information about donation, click here, or the Links in the right column. And you can see former articles and information about my condition and situation by clicking here, or BrysonInChinaFavorites, in the right column.
Thanks,
Gene
ACC Tournament News
Way to go PACK!
What an ACC Tournament! Lowe brought back the "redcoat" and with it the flair for winning! What an inspiration! Just wish I coulda seen some of the tourney! I could only follow a few games on the internet, or wake up to the news from overnight! But I’m proud of ‘em, just the same!
And just check the ESPN.com for some great coverage of the Wolfpack! May have lost the tournament, but got some great press! There in the ESPNU Spotlight was Lowe in his Redcoat, a profile about Tom O’Brien now being at NCSU, and Andrew Blackman is highlighted as the top prospect in college baseball! WOW! NCSU in the Spotlight!
And I had forgotten about Brackman too. Just think if he hadn’t decided to only play baseball, and was still doubling in basketball. He would have been a great compliment to the team………………. Oh well… I still don’t blame him for his decision.
Well, on to the NIT! And Drexel first! Ouch! That’s a tough draw!
GO PACK!!
Labels: ACC Tournament, NCAA, NCSU, Wolfpack
Man............. What a Small World!!
I was rushing to take some guests to Dongguan City the other night, when I ran into some friends from Henredon visiting our factory. I had just heard they were coming, and was upset that I wouldn't get time to see them, since I had to leave with the other guests. But at least I did get a chance to say hello and speak with them. As I was saying "Hello," an unknown young man in the rear of the group spoke up and asked "Are you Gene Bryson?"
"Well Yes," I replied.
"We have the same grandfather, Albert McCracken."
Well drop my drawers at Statue Square [That's in Hong Kong - for you foreigners]!! You needed a forklift to get my jaw off the floor.
I knew that cousin Linda's son, Clint, was getting into the furniture industry, but I didn't know where he had gone, and sure didn't expect him here in Dongguan at my factory!
You just never know who you're gonna run into over here!
At my office in Dongguan with cousin, Clint Brown.
Kidney Awareness Efforts
Oops! I almost missed this:
March 8 = World Kidney Day!!
And March is National Kidney Month!
Click on the links above or under the Links column to the right for more information.
Froggers in the median, preparing to make final crossing!
FROGGER
Ever play the game FROGGER? Remember the frogs trying to get across the lanes in the road or creeks and other obstacles, while trying to avoid becoming roadkill? They play real life Frogger here everyday to get across the streets. Unfortunately, the consequences can be just as dire as the fate of the cartoon characters.
For the last year, a new road has been open that I traverse daily to and from my home to get to work. Fortunately I don’t drive, but have a company driver chauffeuring me. The ride takes about thirty minutes down a daredevil stretch of highway. The froggers dare to cross anywhere and at any time. It is dangerous enough to see how the drivers switch back and forth from lane to lane, but the froggers make it even more hair-raising! And believe me, it is hair-raising enough without added excitement!
You see this new road has these concrete dividers that are typically used for dividing new construction in the US. Here it is the common divider right down the road. So froggers race across the three to four lanes of one direction’s traffic to get to the middle divider. Then they have to climb the ~40” barrier before they start the next race across another three to four lanes of traffic. You often see pedestrians perched on the dividers like roosters, as they await a gap to try make their run for it.(01)xw.jpg)
Sadly, this is still a better road than we used the first year to get to my home. Construction was too great to use the new road, so we traveled a more commercial route that is six lanes across. Only this had no divider, so the froggers were frozen like statues in between oncoming traffic, or even between lanes. Every time we commenced to pass a buss or truck, I feared a frogger would be standing in the lane up right where we elected to pull out to pass.
I’ve seen far too many sheets draped across froggers that didn’t make it. I am not used to seeing such sights.
The government is trying to make the new highway safer. In the last few months they have been building footbridge after footbridge along the route. Soon, every half mile, may have a footbridge. Only that doesn’t stop many from still playing Frogger. Often you see ‘em even playing frogger directly under a footbridge! They are a little more stupid than daring!
New footbridge construction along highway between Dongguan City and Dahlingshan, PRC.
Cowboy Kidney Donation
Did you see the news last week about Ron Springs and Emerson Walls? Springs needed a new kidney, and his former Cowboy teammate donated one in an operation in Dallas last week. Springs had deteriorated to a very needy situation, but he still was not due a kidney from the transplant list. He had lost his right foot and several toes from his left foot. And he had been on dialysis for years. A living donor now will keep me from getting to that condition.
And if you note, Springs had been through some of the same heartache I have had, when many of you have tried to donate, but been unable to do it for different reasons. It is far more difficult to work this out than I would have ever imagined a few years ago.
Anyway, here is a link to the Springs / Walls story:
http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/6523802
Labels: kidney donation, transplant
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