China

As promised, a post on China.  China is a very interesting country.  They are in the midst of rapid modernization, with buildings being built all over the place and people being transferred from the outlying countryside to the growing cities, at a 20 million/year clip.  I see more English written here than in South Korea.  Not just at airports, but in the small cities (4 - 8 million people!!) that I've traveled to.  This present trip I've been to Beijing, Changzhi, Jinan, Rizhao, and Qingdao.  I've had to travel by planes, trains, and automobiles (great movie for one-liners).  Even in the more remote places, like the Wang Qu Power Station outside of Changzhi and the last remote power plant I was at, Zhundi Generating Station Ordos Inner Mongolia, there were quite a few signs that were in English.  It's almost like modernization requires that English be used in society.  Even in my trips to Germany, great place BTW, it has been rather easy to communicate with local people.  It makes traveling easier, especially when not having to be fluent in the local dialect to get around.  Eating in restaurants on the other hand is interesting when the menus haven't a letter of English on them.  Just point and hope it tastes good.  On a side note in a similar vein, ever wonder what a Chinese keyboard looks like?  Look down.  All computers use the US layout and have a program that converts English letters into their spaghetti-against-the-wall characters.  It's really neat to see an accomplished typist create documents in Chinese.  I'll try to grab a video the next time that I am out.
The people of China are very kind, at least one-on-few.  Once you get into a crowd, it is everyone for themselves.  Boarding a airplane here is an experience.  In the States, people crowd around the entrance of the gate area and wait for their assigned seating area to be called and then get in line.  In China, once the doors to the jetway open up, the whole crowd of passengers form a big blob of humanity to board at once.  It sure is funny to see a China-bound plane board in the States.  The airllines should have signs up in Chinese at the boarding area to avoid confusion and/or hurt feelings.  But, the sadists behind the counters need to have their fun too.

One-on-few is very nice.  Most do not understand a lick of English, but through pantomiming and pointing one's point gets across.  Learning to say "Thank you," and "You're welcome," in the local language is huge to these people.  Come to think of it, that comment would apply world-wide.  Walking through the shops and restaurants in Rizhao, many people like to stare.  Not many Americans, or any Anglo-Saxon/Germanic people for that matter, make it to that town.  Just a kind nod and a smile, and you may have changed someone's opinion of Americans for the better.  Not like there aren't enough American jerks that I've encountered on my travels.  Overall, I'd have to say that the people that I have interacted with in China, so far, remind me of the folks in the Upper Midwest.  Kind to strangers.

I guess since there are 20 million people moving into cities around here, there are a lot of strangers.  The newcomers are fairly easy to spot:  they have ragged clothes and a complexion of a farmer that's been in the field all day (probably that's because they had been).  The Rizhao power plant is rather clean and well kept.  Makes sense, as there is a huge abundance of manual labor around:

Pulling weeds in a 2 square mile facility

These people are often "unseen," by the plant's personnel.  The plant people just walk by or through them as the laborers are getting things done.  Sad to see.  Their faces do light up when I smile and say "Nihao!" to them.  Again, trying to make good impressions here.  At the end of this current visit, there was a group of laborers that have been working around a scupture in the middle of the plant.  Every morning I'd wave in greeting.  When I walked by today with my Pelican case and a bunch of other crap, they all stopped and said "Bye!" in pretty good English.  I was touched.

On the other side of the spectrum are the ones with power.  They are the plant managers and the mucky-mucks in charge of stuff.  They are too easy to spot:  chubby, sunglasses, and driving Audis (usually).  I had to hang out with the site manager during the two-day visit to Wang Qu power station.  It was funny watching everyone of his underlings vie for his attention and laugh, more than I'd think normal, at his witty comments. This guy understood English quite well, but rarely spoke anything but Chinese.  Turns out that he is a friend of Steven Chu (Energy Secretary of the US).  Too bad I did not know this fact when I mentioned that Chu was probably culpable for the Solyndra scandal.  Oops.  These guys love to talk politics and geo-political events.  Right up my alley.  Nice to talk about the Communist system (of which they love) with these guys, especially when I bring out certain Libertarian views.  Makes for intense converstaions, to say the least.  More so when I throw in historical facts to support my cases.  Anyway, I digress.  Currently they are all hopped up about the South China Sea and the Philippines.  Gonna be some action soon, as they've forbidden their citizens to travel to the PI as of the 15th and imposed an embargo on all goods from the PI.  Gonna get some long-awated territorial gains I suppose.

Light lunch with Wang Qu's Site Manager

In talking with a couple of people that understood English and spoke it fairly well, there is a sense that change is afoot.  There is a transfer of power happening this fall (2012) and people are afraid that it'll be more of the same.  As they gain more knowledge from the internet, about the way of life in other countries and the corruption of the people in charge in China, the more likely that there will be rebellion of sorts.  Many have forgotten about Tiannamen Square from the 80's, and are willing to stick their necks out to bring about change.  Hard to comprehend the fact the 9 people control the power and direction of a country of 1.4 billion people, but that is the way things are currently.  We sure do live in interesting times.

It is getting late here in Qingdao and I have a early flight.  I'll leave you with a few pictures from this most reecnt trip:

Chinese Power Plant Guard, wearing Chucks!!!

A Roman Catholic Church in Jinan, who knew?

Another day at the office.  Pucker up!!

Thank you for reading.

Kev

South Korea

Well, it's been another spell since I've last written.  Since that time, I've been to China twice and South Korea once.  Currently I am sitting in a hotel room in Qingdao, Shandong, China.  Nice place and it is a 10 minute walk from the airport.  I have been thinking about what to write about pertaining to my China experiences.  Thus far I've only been a tourist once in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia.  That was fun, but these recent trips have been all business.  My impressions of South Korea will make up this post.

I'll start with Korea, as I've spend a week there at the start of April.  Soeul-Incheon is a large and very busy city.  There are American-style highways that loop all over each other.  Luckily, I guess, a service tech gets to travel 90 minutes via taxi to get to our usual destination:  Yeongheung-do.  This place is a little fishing village about 15 - 20 miles southwest of the Incheon Airport.  Yup, west of Incheon and in the middle (well not quite, surrounded by) the Yellow Sea.  Absolutely nothing to do during the time off in this town.  The restaurants close to the hotel offer Chinese cuisine and some local fare: seafood.  The only good thing about this place is the fact that the owners of the hotel we stay at are a really friendly, English speaking, family of 5.  I've always received great service from them and it seems like I am a long, lost family member each time I arrive.  The momma-san (mom-in-charge) even gets up early to cook an American-style breakfast each day:  bacon, eggs, toast, fruit, and apple juice.  A great reprive from all of the still-moving squid tentacles that is the local speciality.

The Koreans take their power plant security very seriously.  There've been times in which I've had to take all of the crap out of my Pelican cases to prove that I'm not a sabotour from Pyongyang.  Heck, they even give random breathalyzers to the driver after lunch.  I'd hate to think what they'd do if we had a few bottles of Jinro (BTW:  Mmmmmmmmm!!). 

Korean Super Trooper Guards

I guess since the country is still officially at war, one could not really blame them for being too overly-cautious.  The tide in the area is quite amazing. The locals say that it goes up and down by nearly 33 feet a day. In the morning, there is wet seabed, but by the afternoon the sea returns. The locals take their garage-made fishing contraption out onto the seabed and pick up sealife off of the ocean floor before it dies and eventually kill it in a pot of boiling water. It actually does not taste too bad, even though some of it dies from my teeth as I bite down. The people are rather nice and willing to help whenever I need it. There is a kind of detached interest in seeing an American in their midst, only because of the remote location. In Incheon, there are quite a few Americans out and about.

"Just the tip," of an island in the frame.

The rest of the island at high tide.

Travelling to South Korea gets lonely quickly.  Again, there is not a whole heck of a lot to do and with the 15 hour time difference, it makes it hard to pick up the Skype and call home.  Even channel 1 & 2 gets boring after a fashion.  You'll have to go there to find out what I'm getting at.  Simon, former coworker, and I walked into "town," about two years ago.  That was a wasted trip.  All they have there is a police station, a couple of docks, and two fish markets.  Yippee.  At least there were a couple of Maseratti's at the dockyard.  Apparently, fishing is a rather lucrative business in those parts.  I have more pictures on my Facebook page if you're interested in seeing more.  This last trip to Korea was actually delayed by a half hour between Qingdao, China and Incheon, Korea.  Thanks to the North Koreans feeling frisky and launching a rocket over the Yellow Sea.  I guess with all of the travelling that I do there is bound to be some excitement, just as long as a repeat of Sept. 11, 2011 into Detroit doesn't happen again.

Yeongheung Power Station.  There are power lines heading North...

Next up: China.  Thank you for reading,

Kevin