GilfordGrok

I am nearing the end of my two week journey in China. We have left the green pasture land of Liuzhou and landed in the city of Shenzhen, home to some six million Chinese. Shenzhen is just north of Hong Kong. I’ve been here twice before and each time I come here the construction multiplies exponentially. For our last meal together, my hosts treat me to another domestic dinner. They give me a choice of either sashimi (Japanese) or fresh fish cooked (Chinese). I had eaten sashimi for the last two dinners so fresh fish was the dinner of choice. When they say fresh fish here in china, they mean “fresh” fish. Ever wonder why all those Chinese restaurants have fish aquariums in the lobby? Well, actually it’s for two reasons; Chinese believe the fish will bring them good luck and this is where you choose your dinner. We choose a lively fish and a worker immediately catches it with a net, kills and weighs it. Additionally we select some fresh clams, snails, squid topped off with some fresh broccoli and rice. Within minutes it’s cooked and on your table! There are no western eating tools here so the neighboring tables enjoy some entertainment as I struggle to master chop sticks.

Today, I am visiting a factory that makes electronic power supplies. They are a 500 billion dollar company and the last time I visited, we succeeded in selling them U.S. made equipment. This will simply be a courtesy call to thank them for their business. After our visit I’m off to my original airport, Shanghai. This is where I’ll hunker down for the night and catch my flight home on Thursday.