China Day 2

I guess this is somewhat a continuation from a previous post...

After a nap Tuesday afternoon, I woke up to a the results of a fierce rain storm, the results can be seen in the picture below:

I watched the traffic for about 5 mins, watching scooters drive slowly through the growing puddle and others deciding it was too deep and turning around, causing havoc for oncoming scooter traffic.

After this entertainment, I met Linda downstairs in the lobby. We got in a taxi and went out for dinner in a restaurant that seems to be typical here in China, located among residential and commercial buildings.

Dinner was good - I wasn't a fan of the "drunken crab" which was boiled with wine.  The pork knuckle, bubble fish (in a hot pot which is just boiling water with spices) and spicy chicken were all really good.

After dinner, Linda ordered another cab and we made our way to downtown Nantong for a stroll along the waterway.  We walked for just over an hour taking in the many sights:

Afterwards, it was a short 10 min cab ride to our hotel where I made my way to call into a meeting for work and Linda walked next door to the supermarket to get some watermelon.

It is now 7:25am and I should get ready for the day.  We will see if I get to have another nap today, being up since 4:30 might take its toll on me...

This one's for Lola (or other construction enthusiasts...)

I missed a picture of a much more impressive scaffolding structure for an overpass but snagged this while enroute today:

It is interesting how they pour concrete in place as opposed to bringing in pre-cast structures.  Hopefully I'm on the ball when we are returning to Shanghai on Thursday and can grab a picture of the more impressive structure that I mentioned above.

AA in China (again)

1 year ago, to this day, I was in China for work.  At the same place I am now.  Funny.

I'll keep this blog relatively short and sweet as the jet lag is hitting me full force and my body doesn't know what day or time it is.  Local time is 2:20pm on Tuesday 27 Jun, my computer says it is 1:20am on the same day which is the time it is at home.

My adventure started on Sunday, with an early morning departure to Vancouver.

I had a 4 hrs layover there which turned into 5 hrs as the incoming airplane was late arriving.  Arriving in Vancouver at 7:30am on a Sunday meant having to kill time in the airport before restaurants or the AC lounge was open.  I did some walking up and down the airport and then found a quiet area where I could get some work done.

Shortly before noon we started boarding the aircraft (B787) for the 11 hrs flight to Shanghai:

The flight was routine.  I tried to get some sleep but this came in relatively short bursts - first one for about an hour with noise cancelling headphones on.  The second was more of a rest than a sleep without headphones where I could overhear one flight attendant talking about her education in interior design.  The last sleep was almost 2 hrs and (of course) near the time when we would arrive in Shanghai.  I'm not sure if it was because I was listening to an audio book (quietly) which provided enough background "white noise" or if it was because my body thought it was time to sleep since it was 12am back home as opposed to 1pm in Shanghai...

Once in Shanghai, I met up with Linda whom I had met on my previous trip to China.  She bought me a coffee and we were on our way to the hotel in a city 2 hrs away.

Instead of Linda driving, she hired a driver who picked us up at the airport and drove us (very efficiently) to Nantong.  I was quite comfortable in the back of the Passassatt:

Once in Nantong, we got checked into our hotel.

The views from my hotel room

Once in my room, I had a quick shower - it was quick mostly because it was cold.  Then I debated about going to have something to eat in the hotel buffet restaurant.  I could have eaten but was too tired.  Instead, I took a short walk to see what the gym looked like and then hit the sack at 8pm.

Boy did I sleep.  I woke up a few times throughout the night but finally got up at 5am (4pm home time).  I got some work done, took a few calls and ran a mile at the gym, all before 6:30.

Then, it was time for another cold shower (I wish I could get some hot water), some more work and then breakfast at 8 with Linda.

Lost in Translation

At 9, we made our way to the customer's facility to see what state the airplane was in.  The aircraft was in quite good shape so I started my inspections.  I will need to finish tomorrow as we need power on the airplane and they need to make a few changes which I pointed out.

We ate lunch at the cafeteria in the "plant".  People were definitely curious who I was.  The food was good (rice, fried chicken, sweet and sour pork, green beans, yogurt and juice - there also was some tofu which I tried but did not care for - it was very bland).  Then, Linda and I got a taxi back to our hotel which is about 20 mins away.

Back at the hotel, Linda checked with the staff to see if someone was able to look into my "hot water" issue.  They said that someone would come and show me how to use the bathroom (I laughed) and bring me an iron and ironing board.

By the time I got to my room on the 21st floor, the house keeping staff was following me with the iron and board and was ready to show me how to "use the bathroom" (real translation - how to get hot water).  Apparently the trick is to run the hot water from the sink and the shower for several minutes (perhaps more than 5).  My running the shower alone for 5 mins was not quite enough.  Nor was running the sink for 2 mins (alone) enough.  I will try this again tomorrow morning (or maybe tonight).

After ironing my pants and getting some work done, I am now ready to finish this blog and have a nap.  Linda is taking me out for dinner tonight for some local "spicy" dishes.  Depending on the time, we might do some exploring, something I didn't do much the last time I was here.

The return home

To my followers, I apologize for the delayed post.

Yesterday (Thursday) was a busy day, mostly only in the evening.

The day started off like all others - breakfast in the hotel and then drive to work. I checked out of the hotel because I was staying at a hotel right across the street from the airport so that I didn't have to deal with traffic in the morning.

Work was a series of summary meetings and then I was able to get some other work done that was started to become a backlog in my email inbox.

The previous post I left a cliffhanger, mostly because I wasn't sure if the "special event" I was told about on Wednesday was going to work out. It did.

After work, the team took me to Facility 3 which is a small pub right beside the office. It was a small group - two project managers, certification engineer, the CEO and his son who is working for the company.

From there, I followed one of the project managers to a city called Wiener Nau Stadt which was about 30 mins away. I thought it was odd that we were doing 130km/h on the highway that had 100 posted. However that is the limit for trucks, the limit for cars is 130 (confirmed by my gps later on).

The special event I was told about was a 4.5 km team race. The company I am visiting had several teams entered and some people couldn't make it. One of the project managers said that if I wanted to run in the race, I could. And so I did.

I got my bag with a team shirt, bib (with my team number) and a timing tag for my shoe. Since I was changing hotels, I had all my stuff with me so I could change at the stadium.

Once at the stadium, Andy (project manager) helped me find the rest of the teams for the company. Andy wasn't running.  I knew some of the team members (recall the guy who used to work at Bombardier, the guy who came to Winnipeg with test samples and now the CEO and his son) many of which were surprised to see me at the race. When in Austria...

The race went through the streets of the city. We started in the stadium, went out and around the village square and then back. I posted a time of 21:30 which is pretty decent for an old fart like me who hasn't run track or cross country in over 15 years. I placed 837 out of around 2200 participants.

Each team consisted of either 3 or 6 runners and your cumulative time was then used to determine the winner. We placed 45th out of 119.

After the race, the stadium area has a big party with beer and food for sale.  After a beer, a frankfurter and talking with many people who were interested in where I was from and why I was in Austria, it was time to say goodbye (since it was 10:45pm).

I made my way back to the car and then made the 1 hr drive to the airport, some of which at 130km/h again.  At the airport, I parked the rental car in the surface return lot and then proceeded to search for the rental counter to return my keys. After 15 mins (and three trips around the parking garage) I finally found where I needed to go.

It was then a short walk (across the street) to the hotel. Shower and talked to Lola (more like she talked to me because I was too tired) then went to sleep.

Today started off with breakfast at 7:45am local time (12:45am home time). I then walked to the airport (2 mins) and then proceeded to check in, check my handicapped roller bag and get through security and passport control.

At the gate, another passport check was conducted - this time to verify against your boarding pass. And then, once boarding there was another check. It wasn't very efficient and made the boarding process much longer than it needed to be.

The flight to Toronto was routine and 8.5 hrs. 

I watched a movie (The Founder, a story about the founders of McDonalds, good movie), did some work, at some pasta for lunch (quite tasty), had a nap for a couple hours and now writing this blog that I will post during my 4 hrs layover in Toronto, unless I can get an earlier flight.

I must look like a trustworthy and helpful guy since the Austrian lady beside me has asked me to help her get her bag from baggage claim because she has a sore wrist and shoulder. We will see how this goes - she doesn't speak English other than "thank you" and had to get the flight attendant to translate her request for me.

Update - we got the lady her bags, she was very thankful for the help.  

I also was successful in getting on earlier flight that leaves at 4:30 as opposed to 6:45.  That makes me happy so I can get in at 1am Vienna time, not 3am...