Catching Up

Catching up on posts, while enjoying the company of Hurricane Sandy and I see that I left off in China.  This is a draft that I never finished, so I'll give you what I have and then start on current happenings.

I left NYC Monday afternoon, connected through Seoul, and landed in Hong Kong Tuesday night.  My birthday started by crossing the border into China at midnight.  I checked into the hotel exhausted.  Before crashing into bed, I set four alarms - worried I would oversleep as work started early the next morning.  There actually wasn't a need for any of the alarms as I awoke several times throughout the night.

I started my time in China by meeting the people I work with on a daily basis.  I finally got to put faces with names.  This is my counterpart Shirley.  She is one of the happiest and healthiest people I know.  I think she and my sister would be best buds.

Then we went to visit suppliers and factories.  I got to see our local hardware supplier, mill, and four shoe factories.  When we pulled into our hardware supplier, the red carpet was rolled out and employees lined the front steps with giant bouquets of flowers!  (Who knew I would get birthday flowers?)  :)  They were so welcoming!  We met with the owner and he took us on a tour.

Bars of metal that get melted down and the formed into eyelets.

  

I saw how prints are transferred to fabric on an extremely hot roller.  This is the process we use for samples.

Making outsoles. 

I only had one day off from work to enjoy for myself.  I thought I would relax and enjoy the pool.  Shortly after I got there it started to rain.  Instead I headed to "Wal-mart" and stocked up on dvd's.

There was a huge, beautiful park on the hotel property.  I didn't go out and explore it until my last day there.  I wish I had more time to see it all. 

Then I headed to Hong Kong before the long flight back to NYC.  I barely made it to Al Molo in time to be seated before they closed.  It was a good meal but not as impressive as I was hoping for.  Maybe they were rushing it out?

The next morning I really, really, really wanted to go see the Big Buddha, Tian Tan, but I didn't have enough time to get there and back before needing to head to the airport.  Instead I walked around the Avenue of the Stars where a tour bus was trying to take pictures of me!  And they were going beserk for Jackie Chan.