Friday 10/31/2008

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!


Not much celebration going on in China. Just another day. We made some progress at work today. It is staring to look and perform like a sort facility.



Today when we got to work we saw something pretty cool. I have found that if the Chinese don't have it they will make it. Well, they needed a table saw...and low and behold...they made one. It was pretty cool. It was make from a sheet of plywood and a skill saw.





I also found a new mode of transportation for myself. I figured if the Chinese could use anything that rolls for transportation, so could I.





When we got back to the hotel, I found a guy with two baskets hanging from a bamboo stick across his shoulders. I thought that was only in the movies. I guess not.




Tonight we ate at the Guangzhou Restaurant. At first we were skeptical because we pretty much had to order out food by looking at pictures. However, I think it turned out the be the best meal we have had so far. We had Egg rolls, Dim Sum, shrimp, corn, carrots with pine nuts, pork something, and scallops and veggies with cashews. It was very, very good. I did not realize, though, it is difficult to eat corn and pine nuts with chop sticks.


Tomorrow we are off to Hong Kong. Should be an eventful weekend.

Thursday 10/30/2008

Things are progressing slowly at work. Found some issues with some of my code and am working to get that worked out. Tonight we went to eat again at the Greenery Cafe. They menu had like 50 pages, so you can eat something different every time. Once again when you think you have seen everything China has to offer, you stumble upon something else. As we were walking back tonight we went down the food alley. WOW, I finally got to see some scorpion on a stick, and other things as well. I did not get a picture of this, but I believe I saw fish skin...yes I said fish skin on a stick...yum...yum. It just amazes me what these people eat over here. They will eat literally anything.

Wednesday 10/29/2008

Things are a little slow at work. Not that we don't have enough work to do, it is that there is still a lot to do before things start coming together. However, we keep forging on.

Tonight when we got back we went walking down yet another street, and once I thought I had seen everything I thought I could see, we came across something new. Snake wine. It was CRAZY. Real snakes in big jugs of wine. I could not believe it. There were some interesting names of the wines as well.




On our way to this Italian Restaurant we had heard about from some of the other people we are working with we stumbled upon a seafood store. They had everything you can think of...STILL ALIVE. I got a picture of the eel bucket. They had , crab, lobster, shrimp, clams, oysters, even some live fish swimming in a pool. Just waiting to be..I guess...Dinner for someone. Probably on a stick.



Then we went to eat at the Italian Restaurant. Very NICE, very good food.

After we walked back down a different street and say some locals playing badminton in a small park. It was pretty cool. We stopped and watched for a while. It was neat. We walked a little further and some guys were out racing their remote control card. These cars were really nice. Probably about $300 to $400 RC cars in the US. I snapped a picture of part of the race track as a couple of the cars were going buy. On the other corner, there were some other young people playing with some type of hackie sack with a tail on it.

Tuesday 10/28/2008

Another exciting day at work. Things are starting to come together for me. There were issues today, but hopefully that will be fixed tomorrow. Not too much happened today as far as out of the ordinary. However, I did see a a couple of things. On the way to the work this morning we saw an armored car and guys with machine guns guarding it. Something that you don't see everyday.



Also, out gravel road that we usually get to work on was closed. Looks like they dumped some gravel down, but that did not keep some of the motorcycles from coming up it.



When we got back to the hotel tonight, I did see a bicycle carrying a large amount of stuff. After that we ate at Pizza Hut again tonight and came back and went to bed early.

Monday 10/27/2008

Things are progressing nicely at work. It looks like we will be working days again this week. Working nights starts next Monday night.

Before we left for lunch today we went out side for a minute and saw some of the workers taking their lunch break. It appears that they take a nap as part of their lunch break. Below is an example of some of them outside.


Chris arrived last night and worked his first day at work. We got back to the hotel about 7:15 or so and changed clothes and went out looking for a place to eat. Trying to find a place that takes credit cards can be an adventure in itself. We took Chris on a tour of the Pedestrian Walk tonight and ended up at a different version of The Greenery Cafe tonight. Since the menu is literally 50 pages, we figured that there was plenty of different items to eat on the menu. We also assumed they took credit cards since the one we went to last night did. I had some Thai Fried Rice and Japanese Seafood Soup.



We did experience something new tonight. It seems to be the norm that you see at least one new thing every day that you don't expect to see. Tonight it was in the bathroom in the restaurant. The picture below is the "toilet". As you can see it is very different from what you might expect.

After dinner we walked down to the River and showed Chris around and went to the White Swan. While walking around we were each offered a massage and was handed one of the cards below. We all busted out laughing and I could not resist taking a picture of it and putting it on here. I guess you were right Natalie, they do "Love You Long Time" over here.



Can't wait to the find out something new and interesting tomorrow. It is always an adventure.

Sunday 10/26/2008

Slept in today. Woke up at 10:00 am. It felt nice to sleep in. We went to the China Motel today to meet with David Hunt and another David to go to the Electronics area of the city to buy some things. WOW. There were at least 10 buildings with 5 or more floors of every kind of electronics you can think of. Computers, laptops, IPhones, IPods, Memory cards, PS3, Wii, EVERYTHING. Most of them were fake also. Amazing. I got a 32GB fake Ipod Nano for $15. It looks like an Ipod, but does not exactly work like one.

Tonight Chuck and I went to dinner at The Greenery or something like that down fro our hotel. We order the Western Set Meal. Set Meals are common in China at restaurants. It is like a combo, which includes a soup, salad, meal, desert and a drink. We had so much food, and it all cam out a once. It was all good, but I have had better steak. However, the funnest thing I have ever seen happened when Chuck went to pay. Chuck and I have been alternating paying for means, so tonight was his turn. He gave the waitress his Diners Club card and she returned with the receipt for him to sign. He signed it and she left then returned with another receipt for him to sign. He signed it again and she left again all this time keeping his card. Another person...a manager...returned with yet another receipt for chuck to sign. At this point, we were confused and I am laughing and she told him that his signature on the receipt did not match the one on the card, or at least we figured out that was what she was saying, because she was talking chineese. At this point, I start laughing uncontrollably, because...Chuck had written "Ask For ID" on the signature part of his card and that is what they were looking for him to sign on the receipt. So he did, and they took the third receipt and then came back...We were both laughing hysterically, and the manager asked if his name was "Ask For ID" and Chuck...aka..."Ask For ID"...said yes, and they gave him his card back and we left laughing so hard we were crying...It was so funny. I am laughing so hard right now, I can barely type this...

Saturday 10/25/2008

Today we worked until 2:30.

When we got back I took a nap and Chuck and I went out walking. We were going to eat at a place called Tao Tao Ju, but decided not to and instead ate at Papa Johns. We went into KFC, but it was completely packed. After dinner we walked to the Pearl River where the White Swan Hotel is located. Took some pictures from the bridge of the river. They actually have TV screens on the side of the buildings. One our way back we stopped at Starbucks and had some coffee. Since it was Ashley and my Anniversary today, I had the Anniversary Blend...LOL

Friday 10/24/2008

Another day at work. Made some progress.

We found one of the homemade brooms they use to cleanup. Also I finally got a picture of Chuck working.



For dinner we went to Pizza Hut. It was very nice and the pizza was AWESOME.



We are working a half day tomorrow until like 2:00 and then have off on Sunday to check out some of the local sights.

Day 3 at Hub 10/23/2008

Things are going well at work. Not so good as far as my stomach goes. I SHOULD NOT have eatent the mystery stuff last night. I think I will stick to the stuff I know for a while. Had Breakfast at the buffett this morning. Well, kinda. Fried Eggs, ham, some type of steamed bread, a sticket rice wrapped with a bananna leaf, and some Dim Sum.


I have told you how the driving is. This morning I took some on the way to the hub this morning.





I have also talked about the interesting vehicles we see here. On out way back from lunch, we saw one of the "Mad Max" vehicles. They are AWSOME!!!

Day 2 at Work (10/22/2008)

Another exciting day in China. I think I have gotten my sleep patterns situated. Slept decent last night. The beds are like sleeping on plywood so that may be an issue effecting my sleep.

Got some things done today and things are staring to come together. Still have some issues to work out, but everything is progressing nicely.

Took some pictures of the ride to and from the hub. Driving is crazy around here, as I said before, everyone is everywhere on the roads, sidewalks, etc.

We ate McDonalds at lunch today. What a wild place. I took a picture of the menu and will post it below. Similar to the US, I guess. I had McChicken Wings and they were spicey. They were fast though. There were about 15 to 20 people behind the counter and I bet they searver atleast 20 to 25 people in the 5 mintues it took us to order and get out food. WOW, not that is fast food.

After we got back to the hotel Chuck and I decided to eat the Buffett. They have some very interesting food in China. I ate some things that I did not eat these.

I ate this.

After dinner we went for a walk. There is a pedestrian walk behind our hotel that leads to a big square. It is pretty cool there is a jumbo tron and all kinds of advertising. It is like a mini "Times Square".