Day 4 in China; Part I: We Meet, I'm Off!

This is the first day of meetings. We had two presentations in the morning. It was class with people from the area talking about business in China. Gregory Harris from the US Commercial Service of the American Consulate General addressed us. From the meeting I conclude we need to focus in BioRICH to be good at what we do. When we have something the Chinese want, then we have something to bargain with. He was not the guy to help us find businesses that want to sell us something made in China. I know there people out there, but it was not going to be with help from the US Consulate General. One quote he did have that was well worth the presentation was “China may be the best thing since sliced bread, but you still have to make a business case for doing business there.” Words well spoken.

Our next presenter was Sam Crispin from Crispin Property. He did not paint a rosy picture either. As a result of these two meetings, I have come to have serious doubts about the business and about my ability to make this business happen.

The afternoon was for shopping or sightseeing or meeting with people we had set up for interviews. I had none of those on my plate. After lunch, everyone left and I was sitting there. Ken Ericson, person in charge of class came over to see what I was doing. I enlightened him and he said “You know what you should do? You should go to Suzhou and see the water village… by myself, with no planning, no itinerary, no end goal, is anyone getting the picture here? It almost seemed like half dare. We ask the waiter to spell the name o f the city in Chinese and I am advised to see if the consignor can get some tickets to the town on the train. So I go up to my room, did a bit of research and I’m off. I kept my journal up during the day, so the rest of this is from my journal as I went. Try to keep up! Here it is verbatim:

I go down to the desk. Yes there is room on the 2:21 train and there is one back at 17:53. I think I can pull this off. I tell him I need a cab to the train station. I am feeling the whole Amazing Race thing going on, except I am by myself and Phil is not going to be there at the end to tell me I did it right.

In the cab. Like WOW! Got the juices flowing now. Going to the water gardens in Shzhou. Ken said it was cool. No one else wanted this much adventure.

Cab ride to shanghai railway station was 22 RMB. Found the ticket office. They had an English speaking counter, but that didn’t help that much.. If you get off the beatin path, you better be resourceful. Okay the fact the ticket was partly in English helped, but where to go to catch said train.

Here is what I deduced. (by the way, they sold me a first class 31RMB ticket). So I cross the road from the ticket office. All the PA announcements are in Chinesese. I find my train number, D432, but what track?

First I find the entrance to the station, Gate 3 (I guess…) then I notice the train is in yellow on the sign boards and at the top. I surmise “boarding now” because I can’t read the remarks.

By the way, I only have about $10 US worth of RMB on my person….FIND AN ATM…NOW!
Found one! Yeah!! In a large hallway, found my sub-hall, waiting area, and everyone is sitting. I see a sign pointing to my train, people are running to the gate. I must be late, I don’t have a watch. Clocks seem to be in short supply. I keep going through gates and showing my ticket and they keep letting me through.

I go upstairs, downstairs, finally to a train. Which door? First class is up front, right? I go through the door, they nod, point to the back and I go in. I find a nice window seat, begin writing and start to relax.

“Scuse me…seat wrong…you go not here”….oops, assigned seats!! I don’t have a window seat, isle seat up front! Now the pre-takeoff briefing on the TV screen. You guessed it…Chinese. Oh well! Guess if I stay in my seat and look like I know what I’m doing.

It’s supposed to be a 30 minute ride. Did I mention this turns out to be a bullet train? WE ARE S-M-O-K-I-N!

First class with flight attendants handing out water. I there was a charge….no water. Then someone comes by with coffee service. I don’t think I need coffee today.

I believe I am the only American on this train. I could be wrong, but I am the only one with their head above the top of the seats. They all look at me and smile. They are people, I am people. Smiles communicate.

A lot of orchards along the way on our trip. Train speed is 202 km/hr according to the teleprompter. That part is in English, the rest….well you already know the answer to that , don’t you?

I’m in the “burbs” now. The houses are single, multistory dwellings with satellite dishes.

So now some time for reflection. Why did I take this trip? Go back to 1970, boy scout camping with the coyotes howling outside our camp. I was scared. My leader made me go for a walk with him out in the woods walking around the camp. Dark, no flashlight. Results…I was not scared when I got back to camp. I think I will not be afraid of China when I get back now, will I??

Construction everywhere! The plan is to get a ticket back to Shanghai when I get there. This is a 35 minute ride at 200KM/hr. I am a long way from Kansas now, Dorothy! Maybe I should buy me a Bolex when I get there.

In the space of 60 seconds, here is what I see outside the window (now we have slowed to 157 km/hr):
-rubble
-water
-orchard
-construction
-trash
-houses
-farm ground
-more of the same

MY STOP! That was fast. I go to the booth with a page that says “ Shanghai 18:00?” Got my ticket, got in line for a cab (done that before) and I’m off! MAJOR MISTAKE COMING UP….I didn’t actually know WHERE the water village was.

My cab driver….no English! Too late to change, now we are under a bridge stopped on the Interstate trying to communicate. Things are not going well right now for the home team. I am still in camp worrying about coyotes. So what do I do? Say it louder, slower and then…write it down. Nothing. He gets in the back and we look at maps. I know where I’m at, I just don’t know where I want to go. “Water Village”….how hard can that be?