My Big Day Off – In China

I have a business that takes me to China – below is something that I sent to my family and they all said they liked it.  However, they are family and what else could they say?  I have a manager/partner in China whose name is David – we have associates named Eric and Uncle Wong.  I live in Missouri and my relatives live in Wyoming.  This sets the stage for the following recap of My Big Day Off – In China:

We found ourselves on a Saturday in a city I have visited before named Hangzhou (Han-Joe) with no appointments and time on our hands before our plane departed for Shenzhen (Sin-Gin).  There is a lake in Hangzhou named West Lake.  Not a very original name for the Chinese, but using Chinese logic, I am certain – somewhere – there is a North Lake, South Lake, Southeast Lake, Southwest Lake, South South Lake – you get the picture.  The possibilities are endless.
 
David said, “Let’s take a boat ride”.  Great – sounded like a good idea.  Sitting quietly in a boat watching the countryside and relaxing – NOT.  Think Progressive Dinner.
 

We did take a boat.  Not something you would normally see in Missouri – or Wyoming for that matter.  Regardless, I followed David and Eric on the boat and settled in for a comfortable ride. 

This ended at our first stop.  This is a small island in the middle of the lake where a lot (puts new meaning to the term a lot) of people were on this tiny piece of property in the middle of a very large lake (think the entire population of Wyoming visiting a 20×20 foot cabin – and having to stand within its walls).  I saw no reason to get off a perfectly good boat and stand on a very small island for no other purpose – apparent to me – other than to see how many people the island could actually hold (think stuffing a phone booth or a Volkswagen for fun).  However, I figured I would go with the flow and started to get up.  David grabbed me by the arm (at this moment I knew I had selected the proper person to be my partner in China) and he said, “Too many people – we stay on boat”.  A relief of Chinese proportion for certain!
 
We did stay on the boat and many more people got on and we took off.  Out in the open waters we encountered some interesting vessels. 

The first  is an idea I think the water patrol on our nations lakes and rivers should use.  I think it would definitely curtail the urge for boaters to drink alcohol.  One look at a water patrol “dragon boat” coming at you and you might conclude that you already had enough to drink for the day. 

The second vessel we encountered made me wonder what the load limit sign says on it – probably “load until sink”. 

The third vessel we saw  made me wonder what you called this guy – his job title?  Single Paddle Rower? I would think there would be some type of apprentice program – you would not immediately become a SPR person?  There has to be a trick to using a single paddle – on one side of the boat – and make the craft go straight?  I think apprentice spend a lot of time going in circles before they become a fully qualified SPR person.
 

Our next stop was another island in the lake with not quite the crowded space as the first island and it was bigger – think the entire states of New York and New Jersey visiting Rhode Island – on the same day and time.  I wondered what the significance of this island was and David said it has a lake within a lake.  Think a donut in the middle of the very large body of water.  At that time I was certain I felt the land underneath me starting to move.  I was looking forward to crowding onto our next boat – soon!  By the way – David also strengthened my feeling for him over what I felt on Island #1 – when he decided we would not walk on the bridge shown in photo above.
 
We then took an uneventful ride to a dock on the other side of the lake from where we started – again, to be met by millions of our closest friends.  We saw a restaurant across the street and David said we should eat there as it was “World Famous”.  Great – looking forward to it.  However, when we got there the wait was about 10 minutes – not bad given this was a world famous restaurant and we were surrounded by millions of hungry Chinese; however, David said we would not wait.  In fact, I can’t remember ever waiting for a table at any place we have ever eaten.  How is this possible?  Regardless, we skipped the world famous experience for the restaurant next door (maybe the world’s second most famous restaurant) but it did not matter and I did not ask as we got right in with no wait.  The pressure is on whenever David finally comes to America for a visit – I guess we will have to eat nuked burritos at Quick Trip so we don’t ever have to wait to eat.
 
The Hangzhou area is famous for their green tea – named Dragon Tea which seems a little more Chinese, and original, than West Lake.  David said this is the best time of the year for Dragon Tea as they are harvesting it and it is fresh – if you come at other times of the year the green tea is old and the experience not quite the same, I guess?  He said we needed to go drink some of the tea for good luck.  Great – I am all for a little luck.  He wanted to rent some bicycles – I already felt lucky when they were all rented out (think a training bicycle (size) without the training wheels).  Therefore, we stood there looking for a way to get from the second most famous restaurant in the world to the lucky tea place – but so were a million other people.  It never ceases to amaze me that we can find that one lone taxi among millions of people – and Eric seems to get it for us.  I think it has to do with bargaining skills – since we are starting to import products into China then I think this skill will come in handy.  So we jumped in this cab and were on our way to the lucky tea place.
 

When we got to the lucky tea place we first had to wash our hands in water from the lucky well .  I felt I would play along; however, it was tough getting to the well with all the people around let alone getting some of the lucky water – but I managed.  Eric also washed his face in the lucky water but for all I know the lucky water came from the lucky toilets up the hill?  I had to draw the line with washing my hands – no one seemed to take offense. 
 
The cab driver then introduced us to this young girl who led us down a long flight of stairs into a small building and then into a small private room – I was wondering, at the time, just how lucky was I expected to get? 

Relief came over me when I discovered it was a private tasting room for the Dragon Tea or lucky tea.  We drank our tea and boy was I feeling lucky – I was thinking where was a lottery machine when you really needed one.  David said we also needed to go to the temple and burn incense for more business luck – wow, was this my lucky day or what!
 

The same cab driver was waiting – amazing!  He took us to the temple, where I discovered, we were not the only ones seeking a little more luck. 

Bottom line – we came to see Mr. Big.  There were many smaller Mr. Big’s around and in the temple – but the guy in the photo was the one who could really make our day. 

However, we first had to go the Lucky Wall to pick out the specific area of luck we wanted.  I asked David if it was discouraging if you wanted a symbol that was at the top of the  lucky board?  He said the top board symbols were duplicated on the bottom – very Chinese. 

I asked him which one was I to touch and he suggested the one  that translated to “more and more” – which I assumed meant for us more and more business (David agreed).  So I touched the wall and we proceeded to the next stage.
 

To become lucky one pays an admission fee to see Mr. Big and then pays for the incense to burn for Mr. Big.  I felt the only ones probably getting lucky were the ones selling the tickets and the incense.  However, you get your incense – light it  and go through the ritual.  I thought it was a one time deal – touch the wall, burn the incense, and be done.  Lucky – Lucky – Lucky so to speak.  However, after the first lighting (you take your incense in your hands and bow three times to the building where Mr. Big is located) there are two more occasions (stages) were you have to burn incense.  At the second burning I asked what the first was for – he said a “good girl friend” – after 43 years of a good one I figured I could have skipped that stage.  The second stage was for good health; however, at this point I was sneezing so much from all the incense I was wondering if this stage was actually working for me?  Maybe because I was not a true believer?  Also, by this time we had taken a long boat ride, had a few glasses of the lucky tea, and I was more interested in finding the lucky bathroom than anything else.
 

The last stage was the biggest stage – most luckiest if you will.  It was for good business – or whatever you touched on the wall.  For the other stages you burned a group of smaller incense.  For this stage you burned one big incense.  For this stage we bowed first to the east, then to the south, then to the west, and then to the north – I guy could get dizzy before he could get lucky.  I went along for the ride.  To prove I was actually there.
 
About this time we had about two hours to get to our flight and I knew we were among millions who probably wanted to go somewhere as well.  I knew David had an entrance strategy, but when we walked outside the temple, I knew he had no exit strategy.  There were literally lines and lines of people waiting for taxis of which there were few – very few (taxis not people)!  However, Eric came through again and we got a taxi but we had just a little over an hour before our flight departed. I knew the airport was a long way from the temple plus our bags were still at the hotel.  I have learned not to get excited or ask a lot of questions – I just got in the taxi and hoped for the best.  We took off for the airport – along the way David said he called the hotel and they were bringing our bags to the airport.  Boy was I thanking Mr. Big!
 
On Friday a factory we were visiting in Hangzhou (we were in Shanghai at the time) sent a car to pick us up – it is about a three hour drive one way.  However, David did not tell the factory how many people were with us and they just assumed it was David an me so two people from the factory came to pick us up.  However, we had four of us (the good guys) so we needed to leave Uncle Wong in Shanghai – which was OK because his dad lives there.  He was to meet us at the Hangzhou Airport – but when we got there no Uncle Wong?  David said, “We lost Uncle Wong”.  Although I have grown to like Uncle Wong very much I figured he really was not lost – he is in his mid-50’s and probably could take care of himself.  But we certainly had misplaced Uncle Wong – he was no where in site.  We barely made the plane before the doors closed – and what did we see but Uncle Wong sitting on the plane. Again – I think Mr. Big had something to do with it.
 
The flight back to Shenzhen was uneventful.  We arrived and it is now Sunday and I have a little time on my hands – can you tell.