Another Chinese meal

A nursery grower found out that a US tree guy was in China so i was requested to visit their nursery to inspect and advise on their digging, wrapping and loading of trees.

So we went there on Sunday.  Again about 2 hours out of town to a small village.

We spent time in the nursery and started to watch the digging of 2 trees that will get transported to the golf course.

At lunch time we were invited to their home to eat.  Now i am really starting to wonder what kind of meal i will get!  I don't want to offend them by not eating and i don't want to up-chuck either. 

This is the entry way to their home property.  All of the homes in this area have tall walls and large decorative doors that you can drive a car through.

My translator "Kevin" on the left in the brown pants.

Next to him is the son of the Family nursery, and he wants to learn.

Guy in the big green coat is his dad, and the last guy was along for the ride.

Their home

True Chinese Green Tea

We had this tea for starters with locally grown peanuts in the shell, not salted, just in their natural state.

So far i am good with this.

The food arrives, it is prepared in another room and brought to where we were.

OK, we have on the left a white rice bread, and yellow corn bread, both good.

Bottom bowl is green beans with pork and spiced very nice, good.

Bowl to the right is like a chowmein with mushrooms and more seasonings, very good.

OH BOY, didn't like the top one.  Made from a type of squash with not to good of taste, pass.

And the white bowels had a watery rice, good.

Not a bad meal and i used chop sticks the whole time.

A little strange in that everyone just dove in with chop sticks, NO plates.

American X-Mas in China

Merry Christmas to all

Even though the Chinese don't observe Christmas, they cater to the foreigners. 

I have purchased my ticket to a Buffet Dinner, it should be good.

398 RMB sounds like an expensive dinner but it exchanges to $63.30 in US.

A very large tree in the center of the lobby. 

They even decorate around their Chinese art sculptures.

There is water flowing from this all the time, and the circular ball rotates on a pool of water.

The pastry chiefs here serve some really fancy deserts.  I think they take great pride in designing top looking and tasting items.

The gingerbread house below is very large.

When you come in the front door this miniature house is there.

Yes that is a real live Santa's helper in side.

They only problem about the X-Mas that they put on here is that they play the younger Michael Jackson X-Mas music all the time,,,,,,,,,I am so sick and tired of MJ's music!!!

Some people i work with

This would be Windy.

As you can see she is a CARD.

She is also a translator that i use in the field, she is in charge of tree variety and location on the golf course.  She is my go between on tree issues that i want corrected and changed.

She is 5 foot 1/4 inch,,,,,,maybe 1/2 inch.

I am alway bending over to have a conversation with her.

To much fun!

Also in the picture is, who i call "SUMO"

This is "SUMO"

A group of us went to a so called Mexican restaurant.

Sumo, as i call him, doesn't speak english but i can tell he is a hoot to be around.

Here he grabs a hat off the wall and starts to ware it.

First Chinese Lunch

During our outing to find trees, we stopped here for lunch.

A smaller town, but i could tell this place was for the richer clientele.

Across the street were some building that looked like they should be tore down.

The growers of the nurseries that we visited bought lunch.

Yes my FIRST official Chinese meal.

You will see a small clear cup with a handle on it.  They put a white wine made from grain in it at 45% alcohol.  The little tiny clear glass next to it is what you drink the white wine from.  It is customary to make a toast with someone.  Well the one guy trying to sell trees likes to drink,,,,,,,and he liked to "toast" me a lot,,,,,,well it takes about 4 of these little things to make a US shot,,,,,,,,,so we had about 10 or 12 "toasts"

I would get about 2 bites of food and there he was standing up saying something???and toasting me.

It was translated later to me that the American is a good drinker.

Anyway i found most of the food good.  We were in a separate room on the second floor, and i assume that this is the way it is done here for a nice meal.

And yes i tried the chop sticks.

Oh, the glass circular lazy susan was a challenge, you need to be quick! or someone else will spin it as your getting something.

Last nursery, i know you are tired of me talking about tree nurseries, but some interesting facts.

This one was in the mountainous region, in fact we went past a small ski slop where they were making artificial snow.

Notice the cement water tank.  All of the trees here and other nurseries are irrigated by water ditches.  I can only imagine how many Chinamen/Chinawomen work these nurseries in the summer months.

I am guessing this nursery was 100 acres.

Had a GREAT sunset from on the mountain.

Work Vehicles

These things are running EVERY WARE.

You see them in small towns, larger towns, and on ALL the roads with the exception of paid toll roads.  You will even see them in heavy city traffic during rush hour on 4 lane roads!

They usually travel in the right lane, but not always.  When my driver takes me to the job site in the morning, when it is dark, they are already out.  The older ones don't have any lights, but there they are puttin along.

I hope this video works for you.

My first attempt to load one here.

Field trip to find trees

I went on a field trip with 4 other people, (2 spoke Chinese & English) we got into what i call the true China landscape and small towns.

Below is a typical home.  Garden on the right and the stored corn on the roof of the home to feed chickens.  Some homes had 3 to 4 of these corn wire cribs on top, thus a richer family.

Small town street, a lot of bicycles, mopeds, and rickshaws.

Selling their goods along the street.

Type of tree that the course is looking for to place around the Club House.

This was by the street and we walked through this slat stone yard to get to the trees.

All of this "scrap" is cut down and made into decorative pieces shown in the next picture.

There's TON's of it.

This is the final product and can be used as a backsplash in kitchens or bathrooms, etc.

ALL of this will be shipped to the USA.  And there was a trailer load of it ready to go.

You may see it soon in a Home Depot near you!

Getting a phone for China

I need a work phone while in China, i knew this in advance so i brought an old iPhone that i upgraded from to China with me.  You can get your phone, what they call "broke" so that it will run on different services.  Well the Chinese are great at this.  And copying everything.

My Chinese translator has a brother in the phone service, everything here is about helping family, kickbacks, payoffs, and bribery.

His brother jumps on his 2 wheeled scooter and 30 mins later he is back with my phone, "broke" and ready for China Unicom service.

The main thing is it works and with a data plan so that maps, etc work.

The phone now receives info in both Chinese and English, how cool.

The area where we were at to get my phone running.

Notice the sign on the building across the street.

Dental, Hospital

And right next to Mobil Oil, how convenient.

I do not care to get sick here!!!

Beijing Airport and my room

The Beijing Airport is huge and very modern.

After going through customs you go down to the rail system that takes you to baggage.

I met my driver, he was holding up a sign with my name, and a good thing because there must have been about 300 people around the area where you leave the secure area.

My driver didn't know any English, so it was an 1 hour and 20 min drive to Tianjin listening to Chinese music.

Not to bad

Nice room on the 17th floor.    26 floors total.

Rain head shower!

They use a neat system where you have to insert your room card into a slot inside the room to turn the light switches on.  When you leave and take your card, all the lights go off.

Flight Path

Sorry it has taken me some time to make this first post sense i got to China.

It seems that China and the Government here does not like sites like Face Book and now Blogs.

Google Blog has been added to the list and i had to do some creative internet search to find a site that breaks through and now i can send my Blog.  All it takes is $

They also block content on other web sites that a person wants to look at, certain pictures and news.

You really start to appreciate the USA and the freedom that we have!!!

The Chinese people hear are blind folded when it comes to the internet.

I flew from Houston to Toronto on Air Canada. In Toronto they had this nice but different piece of art. 

Had a 2 hr layover and got on a bigger Air Canada plane that was 9 seats across. Got 3 good meals but with the last meal the question was "do you want chop sticks or a fork" I thought to myself, i hope i get this choice in China, or i may get darn hungry.

Notice the flight path, we got pretty far north. I thought we went further west than needed, but maybe they were scared that the little snotty nosed boy in North Korea might send another missile up. 

Had a nice smooth flight. A little snow on the ground when we landed in Beijing.

Last good meal?

Well not knowing what kind of food i will be getting for the next 6 weeks, i had to enjoy a good Texas steak.
Leave tomorrow for China, all packed, hope i didn't forget something.

Going to China

Well I am heading to China!

12/13/2012 flight

Tianjin China is building a high end golf course.

I moved trees on a Jack Nicklaus Signature Course a number of years ago in Heber City UT.  Moved juniper trees there and they can be touchy to keep alive.  Well we had a great success rate and the man in charge at that time is now helping to build the new course in China.  Well the Chinese workers are have a hard time perfecting digging and moving trees for the course.  SO i have been requested by the guy from the UT course.

I am now a teacher!!!

I have compiled numerous pictures and assembled them into flip page booklets.  I am to have a translator with me on the job site, but i think pictures will get my thoughts across for training even better.  Should be FUN.

More to come on this Blog page.  FaceBook does not work in China so my friends there are SOL

You can see some of my other photos that i have taken in the past at my web site.   www.robertploen.com    I am still working on it and will be adding pictures from time to time.

Arlington National Cemetery