Christmas reflections

Christmas Eve we attended midnight mass, it being dry and not too cold for once outside, and was very warm in the church with about 80% full congregation. A very good service with some delightful music, Smiths Mass setting and a Tavener piece to inspire the soul. The sermon was forgettable but caused me to reflect upon those times this last year when the plight of others had been brought to mind by personal experience or witness of occasions. Two such events of contrasting, but by no means less meaningful, were respectively in Edinburgh and Chengdu. The first was the return parade of "the Scottish Regiment" along the Royal Mile. We stood outside the City Hall atop the hill and heard the bagpipes from the bottom of the hill gradually becoming louder as they ascended with the marching troops. As the soldiers passed the Brigadier and Sheriff they gave the salute. We were very moved by the sight of these battle worn men recently returned from Afghanistan and could see the battle stress in their faces. The column of troops was followed by one of their soldiers in his wheelchair.
The other event was at Chengdu Station in Sechuan Province, China where we alighted from the train and found hundreds of young soldiers on the platform with lots of gear waiting to go to Tibet. The Government had brought their parents to see them off and would transport them home subsequently.
To serve in Tibet is considered an honour as to be picked for duty you need to be very fit so that you can endure the harsh conditions and rare atmosphere in that part of the World. These young men are also facing the unknown and their families fearful for their safety and anxious about their returning home one day.
We have not yet been to Tibet but hope to in 2009 or 2010 if we have time. There is a new train service from Beijing to Lhasa taking about 4 days through very spectacular scenery which we would like to try along with two Chinese friends.
Anyway, these memories came to mind whilst at mass and reminded me of others who need us to include them in our prayers.
May your Christmas be peaceful and Happy.

Not another banking story........?

I took this photo in Nanjing in November and think that it is an apt subject for the banking fraternity, showing a forlorn, desperate man on the steps in front of a bank!
My latest experience with Lloyds TSB is pretty unbelievable. In September I used the bank to send a few hundred US Dollars to a person in China, by an express "International Moneymover" as they like to call it. the bank had sent me a text message confirming the completion of the process. I have done this on many occasions in the past. This was a first time payment to the particular recipient whose bank is located in Kowloon. The receipient recently called me to say the money had not been received, so I sent a copy of the Bank Form that had been completed, by the bank clerk, to them as proof of payment. A few days later the chinese person called again to say the money had definately NOT been received. I headed for the bank with copies of all the paperwork, including the recipients bank details which they had emailed to me and which I had given to the bank clerk to use on the bank form. I had checked all the details after the clerk had finished and before the bank sent it off. At the bank I related the facts and handed all the paperwork to "Bill" the friendly bank clerk who said it would take while to check it all out as they ahd to contact the International Dept. OK. After about 50 minutes Bill came back with the Branch Manager in tow, a female called Lucy. Lucy then proceeded to say that the bank form had been filled in wrongly as Kowloon (Hong Kong) is not in China!!!!!
I was flabbergasted by this statement and assured her that Hong Kong IS IN CHINA. She maintained her insistance about this and was very aggressive, defensive and assertive while poor Bill stood to one side in an embarrased fashion. I asked Lucy if she had ever been to Hong Kong and if she realised that the UK had handed back Hong Kong to the Chinese a few years ago. After confessing that she had NOT been to Hong Kong or anywhere near it she gave me a short lecture on her version of the history and status of Hong Kong. Having told her that I have been there 4 times in the last 3 years she merely said that the discussion could go on for hours like this and refused to concede the point. However she did say that as far as the Banking fraternity were concerned Hong Kong is not in China which belied the truth of the matter. Her staff needed more training about THEIR systems and to know this fact. In the end she agreed to re-send the money without further charge and to pay the difference in exchange rate between now and the original date as there was a difference of about 30 cents to the pound!! So I believe that she had admitted their mistake by that action. After she had vanished I looked at Bill who had a wry smile on his face, he is no fool. I told him that her behavious had been outrageous and was no way to treat a customer as the whole argument was in the main banking hall in front of all the staff and customers. I think she must have been suffering from PMT that day or had too much coffee that morning. She is not the right sort of person to be a branch manager and I intend to write to her superiors about the incident. When I returned home to my Chinese wife and told her that Hong Kong is not in China she looked at me in total disbelief!! Gone are the days when bank managers were educated gentlemen with polite and courteous manners. More's the pity. Perhaps if we still had them the current banking mess would not have happened?

Madness

On the subject of madness I believe that we all have the capacity for some madness, in fact it might be that the more intelligent we are the more capable of madness we are! You may ask why I make this statement? Well, given the recent events in the World financial markets and banking I think my point is copiously illustrated. The bankers and financial "wiz-kids" have been very clever in their conjuring with our money with sub-prime lending hedge funds, devised to make us (them) rich, have finally been exposed as totally indadequate in their profession. Further more their greed has caused them to panic and create even greater mayhem than necessary and probably to line their pockets even more through commissions on stock trading whether prices are going up or down.
Added to this is the further injury that no less than an ex-president of NASDAQ has just been exposed as the author of probably the world's largest single scam which may exceed $50 BILLION!!! The large banks bought into this scam, again a hedge fund, and now stand to lose billions themselves. So how does this leave us, the taxpayers, who have already baled out these inept bankers with our tax dollars?
Unlike the millions of people who have borrowed to the hilt on plastic at the encouragement of the banks, those of us who have no debts or mortgage but have endeavoured to lead to a financially prudent existence are the ones who are suffering most of all. With the possibility of a zero interest bank rate our savings are returning very little and our pensions invested in stocks have plummetted in value too. Whereas the "spend - spend" brigade with huge mortgages and on oversized houses and gas guzzling chelsea tractors are going to benefit the most from the governments two year payment holiday on mortgages at our expense!!
I believe that it is time to go back to basics where banks etc only lend 1.5 to 2.0 times the annual salary of the principal wagearner of the household and NOT 3 or 4 times the joint income. This would lead to more sensible property values and more affordable homes for ordinary people. Likewise overdrafts and credit card lending should be limited to the same restrictions and the banks get back to having real "bank managers" instead of these inexperienced twits who only want to sell you something (usually an overpriced service that you don't want or need) rather than to provide sound financial advice and sensible help when you need it.
So my friends, the inmates have been running the asylum for too long, it is time to lock up these idiots so we may retain our sanity.

What more pictures?

I've had complaints about not enough pictures of China but there is an album to view if you look at the previous blogs with a webaddress to go to for viewing it!!
But I will add some more pics here anyway so here they are.............

Final days in Guangdong

The last few days have been spent relaxing, dining with family and friends and attending wedding dinner number 3. Walked around the local village market and then realised with horror that the flight is tonight, not tomorrow!! The 00.40 flight from HK always catches us out, we forget that means go to HK Thursday NOT Friday as the 00.40 is Friday morning. This is the fourth time in succession that we have made this mistake, you would think that we would have cottoned on to it by now!?
Good return flight and slept for 10 of the 13 hours so arrived home 10am and went to bed usual time and awoke usual time next day so was not beaten by jetlag this time.
If you would like to see more photos of the trip please copy and paste this URL into your browser: http://www.photobox.co.uk/album/83799077

Xiqou Mountain

Today we visited Xiqou Mountain which is the home of the largest seated Buddha in the world measuring in excess of 60m tall, quite a spectalcular piece of engineering formed in copper sheeting as the external envelope. A bit similar to the Statue of Liberty in that you can climb up inside to viewing points within it. The whole thing sits atop the mountain which lies twixt Shunde, Longjian and Foshan with fabulous views over the adjoining lake, village and the city.
It was quite a climb, I lost count of the steps, but well worth the effort.
I did a rough calculation last night and estimate that we have travelled over 5000 miles within China this trip! No wonder my dear wife was feeling a bit tired when we returned to Guangdong Province!!
We had a most enjoyable lunch yesterday with former colleagues of my wife, who as usual, presented me with gifts of the highest quality tea!
Another lunch and a dinner tonight too. My wife has lost 2 kilos weight this trip but I have not lost ANY, it is unfair, I have tried really. I was hoping a diet of rice, vegetables and not much meat, no alcohol to speak of and no cake or chocolate biscuits would do the business.

Chongqing to Guangzhou

What I really like about the Chinese Railways is provided by the existence of a Communist State!! Surprisingly they have a 2 tier system in place for the "priviledged classes" whereby you are allowed a separate waiting room and are allowed to board your train if you have purchased "upper class" tickets, or in some stations merely pay an extra 15 RMB (about £1.40) to gain entry to the "VIP" lounge which usually sports easy chairs, sofas, a bar serving fresh coffee or tea and various snacks to consume there or on the journey. This is well worth it as the ordinary class waiting areas are invariably tremendously overcrowded with insufficient seating, can be dirty, very noisy and when permitted to access the platform resembles a stampede of Wildebeest crossing a crocodile infested river. Also some very dubious looking characters wander around looking for easy plunder and quite a few "professional" beggars who are persistent to the degree of justifiable homicide by the unfortunate traveller who is their target, especially westerners who are considered rich beyond imagination by the beggars. Sometimes infants are used (trained) for this purpose and on one occasion when travelling from Beijing to TaiYuan I was accosted by the same woman each end of the journey!!! Presumably she "costs in" the price of a ticket for her trade as to even gain access to the platforms without a valid ticket would be almost miraculous as the Chinese Rail officials are vigorous and aggressive in their scrutinising the travellers who are funnelled through the substantial barriers twixt waiting areas and platforms.
So British Rail, PLEASE take a laef out of the China Rail book and re-introduce First Class Waiting rooms!! (Why on earth did they do away with them in the first instance?)

20 hour train journey from C to G but very comfortable and the "facilities" were very clean for once thanks to the scrupulous attention of the smart, polite and friendly conductoresses who attend each carriage.

The scenery was very attractive on the trip with a variety of landscape being framed by the carriage window, mountains, huge rivers, forests, terraced hills, wide valleys and lots of paddy fields. The peasants seem to be benefitting from more income nowadays as their dwellings gradually improve from mud structures to brick clad reinforced concetre framed buildings. This is to protect from earthquake damage. While we were in Chendu there was an earthquake in the province but we felt nothing on the 16th floor of the hotel.
The evening of the day of our return to Foshan saw us at another wedding dinner, near Shunde, in a village. There were at least 500 guests in the outdoor dinner with the caterers cooking upon fires and stoves inthe open too. They did very well and the service was slick. We ate amongst other things crocodile and snake, the former being a bit tough but the latter quite delicious. Neither tasted like chicken!!


Today we will be at yet another wedding dinner, this time my wife's cousin is the lucky lady.
It looks like i will have to return to Beijing late December for another meeting, bit of a nuisance just before Christmas.
Looking forward to a few relaxing days in Canton province before returning to the UK.

Chongqing

This City is so large that it is a county also and in some ways a bit like Hong Kong architecturally and layout but around a river not a bay.
Execellent meetings with Deputy Director of the Board of Trade then the Dean of the University who agreed for me to give a lecture next visit and finally a meeting with Chairman of the Board of a large investment and property development company. Also chairs the Chongqing Conservation Board. All agreed for future co-operation.
Fairly tiring day and a bit hectic but rewarding.

So this is Sechuan Province

Well, since Beijing had a brief stop at TaiYuan capital of Shanxi province and met some delightful people who could speak English, which was nice for me.
Then on to Xian where we met Becky who I had not seen since 2004, who also speaks English quite well. While there we did the obligatory trip to see the Terra Cotta army, which was an interesting and worthwhile visit. Very well designed buildings and visitor center. Also went to the Bell Tower and Drum Tower in the City Center which are beautiful buildings from past dynasties. Xian is a pleasant city and the people friendly and polite.
Moved on to Chengdu capital of Sechuan province, where they like very hot and spicy food. Again a lovely city and quite "laid back" by comparison with other cities so far visited. Met the brother-in-law and his brother-in-law plus his wife who looks more Japanese than Chinese and is extremely beautiful and charming. Nice to see Chen again as it is 3 or 4 years since we have seen him as he works away from home so much.
The weather has not been very kind except for a few hours of sun at Xian but there is a cold wind mostly which makes for a lot of dust. We had to go and see the Giant Panda research center yesterday and I must admit the creatures are very adorable to watch, especially at feeding time when they lay on their backs and get stuick into some serious bamboo crunching!
Now to go and get and write some postcards.

Visited the Emporers Summer Palace this morning which I did not get to in 2005 as I was unwell that day when my son went there! I am so pleased to have seen it at last as it is so splendid with a beautiful lake, temples and pavilions. There were still a lot of people there despite being "off season" but not so many westerners.
We then went to the Nest area and found that VERY busy and only 50Yuan admission! It is a superb piece of architecture and engineering BUT seems a lot smaller than when watching the Olympics on TV. Well worth a visit.
Having a relaxing evening tonight as meetings again tomorrow, the Chinese companies work Saturdays. Also lunch date with friends. Then leave Beijing Saturday night to go to Chengdu via TaiYuan and Xian.

Beijing

It is very cold in Beijing right now but there was some sunshine yesterday. The hotel is newish and the taxis have trouble in finding it, as they did with the Shanghai one too!!
Had a very good but nerve racking meeting yesterday with PRC Government officials.
Going to "The Nest" today.

China Progress

Nanchang was an interesting City but not inspiring, whereas Shanghai was fairly inspiring architecturally but overwhelming with people and traffic, moreover I was tailed by a street gang of 6 men in their 20's in the style of Fagin's pupils.
Managed to elude thm eventually but a very uncomfortable experience and far TOO MANY people in the city (I was told 40 million!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
We managed to track down a new bar & restaurant recently opened by Wayne Ho, the cousin of Gary Ma who runs a UK restaurant which we frequent for its fabulous Cantonese cuisine.
Wayne treated us to a lovely meal prepared by his own hands of a local speciality and we really enjoyed the experience. He will be back in the UK next April so we will meet again then.
I wont be rushing back their too soon although I do have a conference there in 2010.

By contrast the old capital of China, Nanjing, is superb and very beautiful and of a more human scale wit no noticeable beggars or petty criminals encountered. I was given the royal treatment by very kind hosts, the president of the company which I was visiting acted as chauffeur and treated us to lunch and dinner and then the Dean of the University where I was giving the lecture also gave us a wonderful meal the next evening. We lunched with the head of drugs from Nanjing hosptal on the last day and apart from some spicy dishes too hot for my delicate palate, the local food is extremely good,, especially the smoked duck.
We move on to Peking (as still referred to here) next.

China Again

Great flight to Hong Kong, very impressed by HR Terminal 5, a bit like Lok Sen but bigger.
Weather not as good as expected by day 2, must have brought it from UK! Still it is good to see the family and friends. A Bonus was that we were able to attend the Wedding Dinner of Ling, a very pretty girl and David her fiancee, a great guy. Also spent time with Cat and her fiancee Pang, both delightful couples.
Visited factory at Nanhai then to dinner with English Language School owners and head teacher to discuss prospects with Lorna and the UK company.
Today we go to Guangzhou then to Nanchang by overnight train to see Jimmy.

Temple Courtyard

Back on the train again, a few more days yet to go.........soft sleeper thank goodness

Quite some wall this and a hell of a climb to get up here. Strange to see peasants selling "iced" coke at the top!!

 
 
A nice trip to the countryside in the highlands area where just very slightly less hot and quite beautiful scenery. Thankfully the odd small "bar" was to be found for a little light refreshment!

 

Anyone for a drink, the only way to get through a hot evening

 
 
 
 
You can't beat a long cool "Legendario" which we though to be the really very best 9 year old Cuban Rum, shame you can't get it in UK, but you can get it in Espana!

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The apartment kitchen as my brother-in-law prepares eveining meal, still very hot with no breeze!

 
We are really enjoying the weather and the local RUM!!!

 
 
 

 

This lovely weather makes for some great shots, but must change continents soon. The food here is quite awesome, especially the lobster which is the speciality of a chinese restaurant we found run by a guy who came here from China about 20 years ago. He is fluent in Spanish now but his english is shaky so my wife speaks to him in Mandarin.